Big 12 team preview: Can Utah crack the College Football Playoff in inaugural Big 12 season?

Editor’s note: This story is the 15th in a series previewing each football team in the Big 12 in 2024.

Kyle Whittingham has accomplished a lot during his illustrious 19-year run as the head coach of the University of Utah’s football team.

A Mountain West conference championship? Check.

An undefeated season and BCS bowl win over Nick Saban and Alabama? Check.

Two Pac-12 championships? Check.

There’s only one accomplishment, aside from a Rose Bowl victory, that has eluded Whittingham and his team — a berth in the College Football Playoff.

The Utes have been close before, notably in 2019, when they entered the Pac-12 championship game against Oregon with an 11-1 record and a No. 5 ranking in the CFP poll.

A win against the Ducks would likely have punched the Utes’ ticket to the playoff, but Utah was manhandled along both lines in uncharacteristic fashion, losing 37-15.

While the Utes won back-to-back Pac-12 titles in 2021 and 2022, they didn’t have the sterling regular-season record to be considered one of the top four teams in the nation.

But this season, the College Football Playoff expands to 12, and the five highest-ranked conference champions will receive an automatic bid. The top four highest-ranked conference champions will receive a bye and move directly to the quarterfinals. This means the champion of each of the four major “autonomy conferences” — SEC, Big Ten, ACC and Big 12 — are practically guaranteed a berth — and a bye — in the playoff.

For Utah, it’s simple. Win the Big 12, and the Utes are in the College Football Playoff for the first time in school history.

“Our players were excited about the opportunity. We control our own destiny. If we’re able to win the championship of the Big 12, we are going to the playoffs. We don’t have to hope somebody votes us in,” Whittingham said.

Utah football in 2024

From Whittingham on down, the expectations are high for the Utes in their first season in the Big 12.

The media agrees, voting Utah No. 1 in the preseason conference poll.

“The state of our program right now, where we are, we expect to play for championships every year. That’s just how it should be. That’s the expectation that we’ve created. Certainly, being able to have access to the playoffs like never before is a motivating factor,” Whittingham said.

Whittingham says that Utah’s roster is equipped to compete “right away” in its new conference home, led by quarterback Cam Rising. Rising returns after missing all of the 2023 season due to knee surgery rehab and is the main reason for the optimism in Salt Lake City.

Cam Rising

Over his two seasons as the full-time starter, Rising has thrown for 5,572 yards and 46 touchdowns over his Utes career and led the Utes to back-to-back Pac-12 titles.

The sight of him under center again is a welcome one for Utah’s coaching staff after Bryson Barnes and Nate Johnson largely failed to get the “throw game” going last year. Though Barnes did have a good showing in wins over Florida and USC, the Utes’ passing offense ranked No. 117 in FBS last year (165.8 yards per game) and the offense as a whole mustered just 23.2 points per game — No. 98 in FBS, one spot ahead of rival BYU.

A healthy Rising — he played every minute of spring practice and looked like his old self — should fix Utah’s passing game woes if he plays at the level that he did in 2021 and 2022.

He’s perfectly suited to Andy Ludwig’s offense and has helped elevate it to new heights, as Utah averaged 36.1 points per game in 2021 and 38.6 in 2022.

“He immediately makes us better,” Whittingham said.

He continued, “And Cam has that ‘it’ factor. As much as he does for us in play, it’s his leadership that really is probably the most valuable asset that he brings to the football team. He’s one of those guys that’s able to make everybody around him better. And that’s really what a great player does, is he makes his supporting cast play better.”

Wide receivers

That supporting cast includes a talented group of pass catchers, headlined by USC transfer Dorian Singer, who has already developed chemistry with Rising during the offseason.

That was on display at Utah’s spring game, where Singer led all receivers with 92 yards on five receptions during Rising’s three series, including a 40-yard deep ball.

“He’s such a hard worker. He always wants to go out there and throw, always wants to go catch the football pretty much, and because of that, I think we’ve developed a lot of chemistry in such a short time and it’s just going to keep getting better,” Rising said.

Singer had 66 receptions for 1,105 receiving yards and six touchdowns in 2022 for Arizona, but his production fell after transferring to USC last season. He had 289 yards and three touchdowns on 24 receptions.

After a good spring, Utah is hoping for a 2022-like season out of what could be their new WR1.

While the Utes lost two of their top four receivers from last year, senior Devaughn Vele (43 receptions for 593 yards) and promising Mikey Matthews (29 receptions for 261 yards), Utah reloaded well with the additions of Singer and Syracuse transfer Damien Alford. The 6-foot-5, 210-pound senior was the Orange’s leading receiver last year with 33 receptions for 610 yards and three touchdowns, and is a deep threat.

“We feel really good about the additions we made this offseason with Dorian Singer and Damian Alford. Two really good players, and a couple others as well, and so we’ll see how they end up performing but just going into it we feel like we definitely helped ourselves this year,” Whittingham said.

Key returning receivers include Money Parks (31 receptions for 293 yards), Munir McClain (15 receptions for 269 yards) and Micah Pittman, who returns from season-ending surgery.

Tight ends

Then there’s a tight end room that Whittingham calls “maybe as good as it’s ever been in Utah,” led by preseason All-Big 12 selection Brant Kuithe, who returns from knee surgery rehab that kept him out for last season. He has a pair of 600-plus-yard seasons, including 611 yards on 50 catches in his last fully healthy season, 2021. With a return to that form, he’ll be one of Rising’s primary targets.

Auburn transfer Landen King, who had 14 receptions for 166 yards in his first season in Salt Lake City last year, UCLA transfer Carsen Ryan (13 catches for 205 yards), Snow College transfer Dallen Bentley and blocking tight end Miki Suguturaga round out the room.

Expect Ludwig to return to 12 and 13 personnel this season.

“We like to feature tight ends if the personnel warrants it, but I think this year it should really be a much more prevalent personnel group for us,” Ludwig said.

While quarterback, wide receiver and tight end all look to be set to have good years, there are questions about two of Utah’s historical strengths — running back and offensive line.

Running backs

Unlike in previous seasons, there’s not one clear “every down” running back, position group coach Quinton Ganther said, but there’s plenty of talent.

“Who’s going to emerge as the bell cow running back, if anyone does, maybe it’ll be by committee, which if that’s the case, that’s not a problem as long as we’re getting the production we need,” Whittingham said.

Micah Bernard will likely start the year as RB1 after missing all but two games due to an injury last season. In 2022, Bernard rushed for 533 yards and four touchdowns while adding 314 receiving yards and a score through the air. He’s Utah’s most-versatile back, and its best pass-catching option at the position.

Jaylon Glover, who spent last year as RB2, will start the season in that same slot. After a slow start, he had a strong finish to the 2023 season, capped by his first 100-plus-yard game in the regular-season finale against Colorado. If he continues on that trajectory, he’ll be a viable option for the Utes this season.

Mike Mitchell, who is the power back that the room badly needs, and the speedy Dijon Stanley are other options at the position, and Mitchell especially could see increased time this season.

Offensive line

The offensive line also has to replace three starters — center Kolinu’u Faaiu, who transferred to Texas A&M, left guard Keaton Bills, who is now with the Buffalo Bills, and right tackle Sataoa Laumea, who was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks.

While that’s a lot of lost production, Ludwig is confident in this year’s group after a less-than-stellar performance last year.

“I believe the offensive line will be the strength of the offensive unit. I think that says a lot,” Ludwig said. “That group, in terms of length, athleticism and depth. Depth, that’s one thing across the board. I just feel like you got eight, nine guys that are game ready.”

The retuning starters are Spencer Fano, who started at left tackle as a true freshman but will move over to right tackle this year, and right guard Michael Mokofisi.

Caleb Lomu, who played sparingly last year as a true freshman, turned heads in spring camp and is ready to step up at left tackle.

Tanoa Togiai, who played 355 snaps last year and started two games, will make the jump to full-time starter at left guard, while Jaren Kump and Johnny Maea, both of whom have starting experience at Utah, will battle in fall camp for the starting center position.

Utah football defense

Defensively, Utah brings back the majority of a group that allowed only 19.3 points per game (19th in FBS) and 82.8 rushing yards per game (fourth in FBS), despite being on the field more as a result of Utah’s offense last year.

The defensive line returns all of the major contributors from last year except one, and it’s a big one — defensive end Jonah Elliss.

While one player may not be able to match Elliss’ production — 37 tackles, 12 sacks, 16 tackles for loss, a forced fumble and three pass breakups in 10 games — Utah has one of the most talented defensive lines in the conference.

“Defensive line should be a strong suit for us. Defensive end position is loaded. We’ve got four or five, maybe six guys that we feel really good about. Junior Tafuna and his crew inside are two and three deep,” Whittingham said.

Tafuna, Utah’s lone preseason All-Big 12 selection on defense, started 11 games last year with 17 tackles, three tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and two pass breakups.

Other returning starters along the defensive line include ends Logan Fano, Connor O’Toole, Van Fillinger and tackle Keanu Tanuvasa. Fano, who had 14 tackles, 3.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and a pass deflection in just five games before suffering a season-ending ACL tear, has “no limitations” according to Whittingham.

Linebackers

The linebacker group should be strong, even with the season-ending injury to Levani Damuni, who was Utah’s leading tackler last year with 87 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and 0.5 sacks.

Lander Barton, who had a breakout season last year, is back from a season-ending injury alongside senior Karene Reid, who had 67 tackles, an interception and four pass breakups.

Sione Fotu, who returned to the program last season from a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and played the most snaps of any linebacker not named Barton, Reid or Damuni in 2023, will be LB3.

Defensive backfield

The defensive backfield will see the most change from last year, as the Utes replace three starters.

At cornerback, Zemaiah Vaughn — who had his best season at the position in 2023 with one interception and seven pass breakups — returns to lead the group.

With Miles Battle (Kansas City Chiefs) and JaTravis Broughton (TCU) gone, the Utes brought in Georgia Tech transfer Kenan Johnson, who had 29 total tackles, three pass deflections, two forced fumbles and an interception for the Yellow Jackets last year.

Smith Snowden, who played 118 snaps at nickel last year, will take over the starting spot with Tao Johnson moving to safety full time.

Utah replaces its two starting safeties from 2023, Cole Bishop and Sione Vaki, who both were drafted this spring. Johnson, who played over 100 snaps at safety at times last year, is set to move into what Whittingham feels is his more natural position after playing nickel last year.

“Speed. He’s got really good speed over the top. He’s got great ball skills. … Cole and Sione were very good, very good safeties, could play on the back end, but Tao just with his ability to cover ground is really pleasant to see back there,” defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley said.

Nate Ritchie, Johnathan Hall and Stanford transfer Alaka’i Gilman will battle for the other starting spot, and Ritchie has the edge coming into fall camp after playing 154 snaps at safety over 11 games (starting three) with 22 tackles and a sack.

Utah football’s special teams

After some shaky years kicking-wise, Colorado transfer Cole Becker stabilized Utah’s kicking game last year, and he returns in 2023. He converted 15 of 18 field goals in 2023 — including a game-winner at USC — and made all 28 extra points; his field goal percentage ranked No. 26 in college football.

One area for improvement is on kickoffs — 17 touchbacks on 35 kickoffs last year — but the Utes should be confident in their kicking game heading into the season.

Ditto for punting with preseason All-Big 12 selection Jack Bouwmeester, who took a big step forward last season. He averaged 45.5 yards on 55 punts, ranking 14th in the country — though the Utes hope that they won’t have to utilize his services as much this season.

If the Utes can stay relatively healthy — especially at key positions like quarterback — they should be in the running for the Big 12 title.

The first two conference games — at Oklahoma State and vs. Arizona — should tell us a lot about this team’s trajectory. If the Utes can win that pair of games, they’ll be in the driver’s seat for a trip to AT&T Stadium for the Big 12 championship game.