Spring football is back for another year, and the Utes got after it Monday afternoon for the first time in 2019. There were several new faces donning the red, white and black, plenty of seasoned veterans, and a few who are trying their hands at new positions. Among those working with a new position group is a guy who has jumped back and forth between offense and defense a few times, receiver Tyrone Young-Smith.

Young-Smith spent his first two years as a Ute on offense, and was good enough to start as a true freshman in 2015, when he played in all 13 games- starting four. For his career, Young-Smith has made 28 catches for 341 yards and a touchdown. Unfortunately, Tyrone has also dealt with more than his fair share of injuries, including one that caused him to miss significant time in his sophomore year, another that made him miss his entire junior year, and yet another that limited him to play in only three games in 2018, as a redshirt junior. Now that he’s fully healthy, Young-Smith has elected to move back over to offense for his final season as a Ute, and on the first day of practice, at least, it appears to be a choice that will pay dividends for the Utah offense, as he looked very comfortable back at receiver.

“It feels good, it feels more natural, it feels a lot more natural than defense,” said Young-Smith. “I was just used to offense, since high school. I didn’t play defense until I got to college, but when I got here I started working out with the offensive players, but the coaches said ‘Try both sides, see where you like most’, and I just adjusted to wherever the coaches put me at.”

While Young-Smith’s original move from receiver to cornerback may have been influenced by something the coaches saw in him, along with emergence of some younger receivers, this current position change was left up to Young-Smith. Tyrone approached Coach Whittingham for advice on what he should do in his final season, and Whitt left the choice up to him, expressing full confidence that he would be able to contribute on either side of the ball.

“It was more of a team decision,” said Young-Smith. “I was talking to Coach Whitt and asked him where he feels I should be, and he’s all about his players, and he told me, ‘Wherever you want to go. Wherever you go, I just want you to contribute to the team, so offense or defense, I’m not going to hold you to one side.’ So, as we got going into the offseason, I just started doing both sides, and offense was a little more comfortable.”

Coach Whittingham isn’t the only coach that is confident in Young-Smith’s abilities. His position coach, Guy Holliday, is also excited to have T-Boney back with the receivers, and named him as someone who impressed on day one, along with a couple of others.

“I’m excited about T-Boney being back,” Holliday said. “T-Boney looked really good, Demari (Simpkins) looked great. Solomon Enis looks unbelievable--he’s come a long way. Let’s just see--give me about 10 practices in and we’ll know, but I’m excited about the group.”

While Holliday is excited to have Young-Smith back, and is looking forward to seeing what he can do for the Utes’ offense, more than anything, he’s just hoping that Tyrone will finally catch a break and have a great senior season, after having battled through so much adversity.

“I just want to see him healthy,” said Holliday. “Tyrone has fought the fight, battled through a lot of injuries, made a position switch that I hated, because I loved him as a player, but in that process and going through adversity, he’s grown as a human being and as a man. He’s a grown man, now. So, I just want to see him play to his ability, because he can be a special player, and hopefully his body will allow it.”

Holliday didn’t take it easy on Young-Smith during his first practice back as a receiver, and was often calling him out on things he needed to correct, but that didn’t bother Tyrone. He knows that Holliday wants to make him a better player, and welcomes any feedback that his coach gives him, no matter how often it comes.

“I love it.” Young-Smith said. “I told him, ‘Push me as hard as you can.’ We’re not kids out here, it’s a business, so whatever he has to do to get me better, I’m going to accept it.”

It would be easy for Young-Smith to look back on his time as a cornerback as two wasted years, due to only seeing playing time in three games during that period while he dealt with injuries, but that’s not the case. Instead, Tyrone is choosing to take what he learned from his time and defense and apply it to making him a better receiver.

“I can read a defense a little better than I used to before,” he explained. “I kind of understand some disguises that I see, kind of understand a certain technique a DB is playing. Just little things like what hand he might throw first or where he might move first, and just those little things from playing corner are helping me now at receiver, helping me get off the line, and being able adjust to certain routes.”

Though the Utah receiving corps appears to have plenty of promising young players, Young-Smith brings valuable experience and a mature attitude to the group. Even as he’s getting acclimated to the offensive game again, don’t be surprised if he emerges as one of the leaders of the unit. Despite having an up-and-down Ute career thanks to injuries, Young-Smith appears poised to put a nice cap on things, and could give Tyler Huntley yet another big target on the outside to rely on.