SALT LAKE CITY—Alex Jensen and his Utah basketball program have secured the commitment from Elmeri Abbey, a point guard from Finland. He becomes the ninth addition to the new Runnin’ Utes roster.
This continues Utah’s roster overhaul, which has featured mostly transfer portal activity. Abbey is the first international player to commit to Jensen and the Utes.
Utah Basketball: Alex Jensen’s Staff Built, Focus Shifts To Recruiting
Elmeri Abbey commits to the Runnin’ Utes
This is a significant addition for Utah, as Abbey helps to solidify the depth in the backcourt, more specifically point guard.
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Abbey has played for Jyvaskyla Basketball Academy in Finland’s top basketball league. There the 6-foot, 180-pound guard played in 27 games and averaged 19.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 5.1 assists in 26.8 minutes of action.
Regarding his efficiency, Abbey averaged 48.5% shooting from the field, including 27.1% from 3-point range and 56.9% inside the arc. Not the most explosive off the ground, Abbey is still a good athlete for the position. He can get into the paint consistently and finish around the rim creatively.
More importantly, Abbey will add to the defensive identity that Jensen hopes to build. The Finnish product averaged 2.7 steals per game in league play, and just has the sort of foot speed and toughness to be a good defender.
Alex Jensen and staff continue to build out the 2025-26 roster
He joins Babacar Faye, Don McHenry, Seydou Traore, Jakhi Howard, Elijah Moore, James Okonkwo, Kendyl Sanders, and Terrence Brown as Utah’s offseason additions.
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That brings Utah’s roster to a total of 12 players, leaving three open spots. The Runnin’ Utes have added some solid pieces and must continue to secure players who will help them compete in the Big 12 next season.
More importantly, though, Utah should focus on players that have room, in terms of potential and eligibility, to grow under Jensen and his staff.
Martin Schiller Named Third Assistant Coach On Alex Jensen’s Utah Basketball Staff
Setting the foundation: Utah’s culture starts with defense
Roster building is urgent—but culture is permanent. Jensen isn’t just recruiting players. He’s building a program, and that starts with identity. For Utah, that identity will start on the defensive end.
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“I want to build something, I don’t want to build a new team every year, but build some continuity that way,” Alex Jensen said in an interview with NCAA reporter Andy Katz.
“Watching Houston make their run, Kelvin [Sampson] does such a good job, he gets his guys to play so hard,” Jensen shared. “That’s something the assistants I’ve hired talk about. That’s who we measure ourselves to and we’ve got to get kids that are tough like that and compete like them.”
In Jensen’s vision, the Runnin’ Utes will be a disciplined, gritty, tough, defensive-minded program. Think closeouts with purpose. Rotations with urgency. Contests without fouling. Utah isn’t going to outgun everyone—they’ll out-tough them.
Steve Bartle is the Utah insider for KSL Sports. He hosts The Utah Blockcast (SUBSCRIBE) and appears on KSL Sports Zone to break down the Utes. You can follow him on X for the latest Utah updates and game analysis.
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Utah Mammoth (6-2, in the Central Division) vs. Minnesota Wild (3-4-1, in the Central Division)
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Saint Paul, Minnesota; Saturday, 6 p.m. EDT
BOTTOM LINE: The Utah Mammoth visit the Minnesota Wild after Logan Cooley’s hat trick against the St. Louis Blues in the Mammoth’s 7-4 win.
Minnesota has gone 3-4-1 overall with a 1-1-0 record against the Central Division. The Wild have scored 10 power-play goals, which ranks first in the Western Conference.
Utah is 6-2 overall and 3-2-0 against the Central Division. The Mammoth are fourth in league play serving 11.5 penalty minutes per game.
The teams meet Saturday for the first time this season.
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INJURIES: Wild: None listed.
Mammoth: None listed.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
Despite coming off a bye, a massive list of Colorado Buffaloes players are expected to miss Saturday’s matchup against the Utah Utes due to injury.
Seventeen Buffs were listed as out on Wednesday’s player availability report, one is doubtful, three are questionable and six probable. Meanwhile, Utah listed only three players as questionable, including starting quarterback Devon Dampier. If Dampier can’t go, coach Kyle Whittingham is expected to give freshman Byrd Ficklin the starting nod under center.
Below is the first of four daily injury reports heading into Saturday’s Big 12 football matchup between Colorado and Utah:
Sep 12, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; Colorado Buffaloes running back Simeon Price (26) scores a touchdown during the second quarter against the Houston Cougars at TDECU Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images / Troy Taormina-Imagn Images
OUT
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DOUBTFUL
QUESTIONABLE
Apr 19, 2025; Boulder, CO, USA; Colorado Buffaloes defensive tackle Tawfiq Thomas (95) during the spring game at Folsom Field. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images / Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images
PROBABLE
Fortunately for Colorado, the vast majority of the 27 players listed above aren’t starters for coach Deion Sanders. Still, the Buffs are lacking some depth on the interior defensive line with Coleman, Lightfoot, Barnes and Thomas all either out or questionable.
Offensively, Colorado will notably be without five reserve linemen and the running back duo of Price and Taylor.
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Sep 20, 2025; Boulder, Colorado, USA; Colorado Buffaloes defensive end Arden Walker (53) dances after his sack for a safety on Wyoming Cowboys quarterback Kaden Anderson (12) in the fourth quarter at Folsom Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images / Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images
Those expected to return after missing Colorado’s last game against the Iowa State Cyclones include defensive end Arden Walker, wide receiver Dre’lon Miller and safety Carter Stoutmire (probable).
“One thing that I really love about our guys, you don’t see our guys laying around on the field,” Sanders said. “They get up and they get off the darn field regardless of how hurt they are. That’s something that us coaches implemented. We don’t want to see you laying on the field because we have a rule: If you lay down there, we come out there to get you. You ain’t going back in.”
MORE: Deion Sanders’ Buffaloes Poised for Injury Comeback Week vs. Utah
MORE: Shedeur Sanders Proves Leadership Still Strong With Sideline Support for Dillon Gabriel
MORE: Utah Announces Major Injury News Before Playing Colorado Buffaloes
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Oct 11, 2025; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Utes quarterback Devon Dampier (4) scores a touchdown against the Arizona State Sun Devils during the third quarter at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images / Rob Gray-Imagn Images
QUESTIONABLE
According to Whittingham, Dampier was “beat up” during Utah’s loss to the BYU Cougars on Saturday.
“When Devon’s hobbled, that obviously causes you to rethink some of the QB run game,” Whittingham said Monday, per Utah. “You don’t completely go away from it, but when it’s a could go either way situation, you might opt to not do it because of his mobility. He got beat up in this game (BYU) pretty good.”
Kickoff between the Buffs and Utes is set for 8:15 p.m. MT on ESPN.
The Utah football team returns to Rice-Eccles Stadium on Saturday for a Big 12 matchup against Colorado.
The third all-time meeting between Kyle Whittingham and Deion Sanders comes a week after the Utes fell to BYU in a physical and tightly-contested affair between in-state rivals.
Following its second loss of the season, Utah will look to get back on track against a Colorado squad that’s entering the matchup with some momentum following its first Big 12 win over Iowa State two weeks ago.
“We got to be at our best and be ready,” Whittingham said regarding Saturday’s contest. “I know they’re 3-4, but the combined record of those four losses of the teams they played is 25-3. They played some really good teams, and so they are much better football team than their record indicates.”
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As prognosticators send in their picks for Saturday’s matchup, let’s see how a few experts foresee the next installment of the Rumble in the Rockies rivalry game playing out.
Jeremy Cluff of the Arizona Republic predicts the Utes will “get revenge” for the Buffaloes’ trouncing them at Folsom Field last season in a 49-24 win for Sanders and company with a double-digit win of their own on Saturday.
Of course, both sides look much different than when they last met. Liberty transfer Kaidon Salter has taken the helm under center for Colorado and is surrounded by Tulsa product Joseph Williams and third-year wideout Omarion Miller on the outside. Those two account for nearly 50% of the Buffaloes’ production through the air and rank in the top 20 in the Big 12 in receiving yards. Miller paces with 371, while Williams has 370.
Utah, meanwhile, has turned to junior quarterback Devon Dampier to lead one of the most potent rushing attacks in the country. Utah averages 245 yards on the ground per game — good enough for sixth-best in the Football Bowl Subdivision — with its dual-threat quarterback pacing the team with 442 rush yards through seven games (63.1 per contest).
Bleacher Report’s David Kenyon has Utah picking up its seventh consecutive home win over Colorado by a margin of 14 points. All five of the Utes’ victories this season have come in double-digit fashion.
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ESPN’s matchup predictor has been more favorable to the Utes since the start of the season, and that trend continues heading into their Week 9 matchup against the Buffaloes. Utah has a win probability rate of 83.3% according to ESPN’s advanced algorithm.
Utah, which was only favored in five of its 12 regular-season games heading into the 2025 campaign, according to ESPN analytics, is the favorite to win in all five of its remaining regular season games.
Bill Connelly’s SP+ model, a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measurement of college football efficiency, predicts Utah will win comfortably over Colorado when they meet on the field Saturday.
Connelly’s metrics-based formulas have accurately predicted the winner in five of Utah’s seven games so far this season, with the exception being its losses to Texas Tech and BYU.
Odds Shark’s computer projections have Utah cruising to a 21-point win over Colorado on Saturday. That would be the Utes’ widest margin of victory over the Buffaloes since coming away with a 63-21 win in their 2022 matchup in Boulder, Colorado. If that prediction holds true, it would also be Utah’s sixth win of 20 or more points this season.
