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Freshman QB Nate Johnson’s ‘spark’ revealed a glimpse into Utah’s future

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Freshman QB Nate Johnson’s ‘spark’ revealed a glimpse into Utah’s future


Estimated learn time: 5-6 minutes

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham stated his group wanted a “spark” on offense.

Earlier within the week, offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig, his offensive personnel that was with out its two dynamic tight ends and a banged-up operating again room, he discovered his man — the spark the offense wanted in opposition to Arizona.

Buried within the depth chart was freshman quarterback Nate Johnson, a former four-star recruit with “blazing pace,” in accordance with Whittingham.

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Till just a few weeks in the past, Johnson had been the chief of the scout group unit used to get Utah’s protection higher. However when Ja’Quinden Jackson switched from quarterback to operating again halfway by means of the season, all of the sudden his scout group duties shifted to that of the group’s third-string quarterback. He even bought to journey to the away video games now.

The intent, although, was to by no means have Johnson on the sphere, or not less than not until Utah’s season had been drastically altered with the 2 quarterbacks forward of him unable to go for no matter purpose. Johnson, nonetheless, was one play away from being the group’s quarterback had Bryson Barnes wanted a alternative in his begin in opposition to Washington State.

It by no means occurred and Johnson maintained his function as a deep backup on the sidelines.

Barnes led Utah to a 21-17 victory over Washington State in his first collegiate begin, although it got here in lower than fascinating circumstances when beginning quarterback Cam Rising scratched himself from the lineup about half-hour earlier than kickoffs. Barnes was prepared, although, and stepped up when he was wanted.

So when Johnson bought phrase final Monday that Ludwig had schemed up some performs for him to probably be used within the Arizona sport, he ready for his alternative as a lot as he may. There was no assure he’d truly see the sphere, however he stated he was prepared for the second ought to it occur.

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He quoted a well-liked phrase that’s typically touted by backups hoping to see enjoying time: “I simply needed to keep prepared so that you ain’t gotta prepare. I used to be simply staying prepared the whole week.”

Ludwig known as his title with slightly below two minutes left to play within the second quarter. After Arizona had tied the sport up 7-7, Rising marched the group down discipline and bought to the Wildcats’ 8-yard line. It was then that Johnson ran onto the sphere and have become the group’s quarterback.

As if he’d completed it a thousand instances earlier than — and certain he had at Clovis Excessive in Northern California the place he rushed for 812 yards on 94 carries his senior 12 months — Johnson faked a handoff to fellow freshman Jaylon Glover and instantly took off to the nook of the tip zone. Showcasing his pace, Johnson rapidly bought to the tip zone.

His first collegiate rating.

However Johnson wasn’t completed there.

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With a 21-7 lead within the second quarter and Utah on Arizona’s 9-yard line, Johnson, once more, changed Rising because the group’s quarterback. And in related vogue — besides this time he went to his left — Johnson sprinted to the tip zone for his second rating of the evening.

Two scores in his first collegiate look.

“I imply, it was actually enjoyable,” Johnson stated, nearly downplaying the second as if he did not need to look too excited. “First carry, landing; second carry, landing. Simply being on the market with the blokes, being with group, it was actually thrilling.”

It was a short have a look at what Utah may have at quarterback within the close to future. Positive, he did not showcase his arm — although Whittingham assured the media on Saturday evening that Johnson is greater than succesful there, too — nevertheless it confirmed the kind of risk Johnson could possibly be as a real dual-threat quarterback for the Utes.

“Nate’s bought a ton of potential,” Whittingham stated. “He is bought a really excessive ceiling. He additionally throws the ball very nicely. We see it in follow each day. … He has bought loads of — a really excessive ceiling is what he has.”

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And for not less than one sport, Johnson offered the “spark” Utah’s offense needed.

“Simply in search of a manner to offer some extra spark, you realize, simply inventive methods to offer spark, and he positive did that,” Whittingham stated, talking in regards to the group’s determination to make use of Johnson. “You noticed how briskly he’s. He’s the quickest child on the group, so far as what he did in monitor when he was in highschool, so he is bought blazing pace. I feel you noticed that manifest tonight.”

Johnson’s season outlook stays one with a redshirt tag seemingly connected to it — he can play in as much as 4 video games this season and preserve redshirt eligibility, per NCAA guidelines — however there’s potential for Johnson to see extra motion because the season comes nearer to an finish, particularly because the “spark” the offense may use to transform touchdowns within the pink zone.

“We’ll see what occurs going ahead and what Andy comes up with,” Whittingham stated. “That was all coach Lud’s brainchild and implementation. And so if it seems like it’ll be one thing that we are able to dangle on to and proceed to get mileage out of then we’ll do this.”

Whether or not it results in extra enjoying time or not, it was a chance for Johnson to showcase among the abilities he was recruited to Utah for as probably the group’s subsequent beginning quarterback. On the very least, it gave him confidence that his collegiate journey is off to a great begin.

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“Offers me loads of confidence,” Johnson stated. “I imply, as a real freshman, most true freshmen quarterbacks do not actually play; they’re sometimes redshirting, so it gave me a very large confidence booster.”

Utah Utes running back Nate Johnson (13) takes the ball into the end zone for a touchdown as Utah and Arizona play at Rice Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022.
Utah Utes operating again Nate Johnson (13) takes the ball into the tip zone for a landing as Utah and Arizona play at Rice Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake Metropolis on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022. (Picture: Scott G Winterton, Deseret Information)

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Josh is the Sports activities Director for KSL.com and beat author of College of Utah athletics — primarily soccer, males’s basketball and gymnastics. He’s additionally an Related Press Prime 25 voter for school soccer.

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Amid traffic, Utah walked to Leafs’ arena pregame

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Amid traffic, Utah walked to Leafs’ arena pregame


TORONTO — The Utah Hockey Club said players were forced to walk to their game against the Maple Leafs after their bus got stuck in Toronto traffic Sunday night.

The team posted a video on social media of team members walking to Scotiabank Arena, with player Maveric Lamoureux saying the bus was “not moving at all.”

Several city streets had been closed during the day for an annual Santa Claus parade.

The Maple Leafs earned their fourth consecutive win by defeating Utah 3-2.

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The viral incident prompted Ontario Premier Doug Ford to call the congestion “embarrassing” and “unacceptable,” highlighting his government’s plan to address the city’s gridlock through bike lane legislation.

It wasn’t the first time a Toronto visitor had to ditch their vehicle to make it to an event on time.

In June, former One Direction band member Niall Horan had to walk through traffic to get to his concert at Scotiabank Arena.



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Utah Highway Patrol responds to your suggestions on making Utah roads safer

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Utah Highway Patrol responds to your suggestions on making Utah roads safer


SALT LAKE CITY — FOX 13 News is Driven to Change and that includes bringing you reports on important topics like road rage, construction, and wrong-way drivers. During our coverage, we continually ask for any questions or concerns you may have along Utah’s roadways.

The feedback has gotten an enormous response, so FOX 13 sat down with Lieutenant Cameron Roden on Good Day Utah to help address input we have been getting, from the perspective of Utah Highway Patrol.

Speeding in Utah, there’s so much of it, and then you can sometimes say that that leads to tailgating, which may lead to road rage incidents. What are you seeing out there in terms of speed and what can we do to lessen the effects of that?

Lt. Cameron Roden: Speed is our number one thing that we see. That’s our number one traffic stop that we make, and we know that it leads to the majority of crashes in the state of Utah. So we definitely put an emphasis on speed and it does lead to other things. Not just crashes. It leads to road rage and other things .So, as far as what changes can we make, we need to start with ourselves, and really say, ‘Hey, do I have a problem?’ You know, we just need to start with ourselves and not think that it’s something else’s problem. If we slow our speeds ourselves, and then it’ll start to to catch on and people will do that speed limit. So, but the legislature has definitely taken some steps to help us address, especially the the speeds that are those excessive speeds where we have that one zero five law now that addresses those speeds and increases fines and and hopefully discourages people from those extreme speeds.

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Some of our viewers talked about maybe capping some of the speed limits for truck drivers. Is that something that’s even feasible?

You know, that would be something that would have to go through that, that legislative process to see whether we that would be something that would help. But ultimately, if we we start with ourselves, hopefully that will make that change and reduce crashes and fatalities.

There are things being done to try and intervene and stop wrong-way drivers before they happen. But some of our viewers propose things like spikes. What are your thoughts on implementing something like that?

We’ve had over the last several years, a rash of wrong-way drivers, and it’ll come in onesie twos, and then we’ll go for a period of time without that. And so, but this spike over the last couple of years has caused us to to create a task force to look at wrongly driving what things can be done. And so getting all these stakeholders together between UDOT and Highway Safety, looking at what technologies and things that could be implemented, and and things like, wrong way detection cameras. Those are some things that are being actually used in the state of Utah right now to help us spot those and and advance signage, getting people to realize they’re going the wrong way and turn around. The the spike strips have actually been talked about in our task force a little bit. And if something like that would even be, it is that technology available right now. And as what we could actually implement in the state of Utah, there’s nothing that really fits the bill right now because of our environment. We have our snow plows. We have snow and things like that. Something like that really wouldn’t be practical right now.

Probably the most talked about topic that we’ve received was distracted driving, texting while driving. You went out, I saw on the UHP social media page, that you guys just driving and you look to your right and left and you can find someone texting. What kind of enforcement do we have against distracted driving specifically on your phone?

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This is something that we like you said, we see it every day. We go out to crashes,and and we may suspect that a driver may be distracted. And so, it’s something that’s definitely under-reported. It’s it’s a bigger problem than than the numbers really show.And so not only do we address it during our normal patrols.Our officers are seeing it, and addressing it while they’re out there.But we’ll also do targeted patrols where the highway safety office actually gives out additional funds for that targeted enforcement, where we’ll get an unmarked vehicle. We go out driving down the roads where we try to spot these vehicles and and get them stopped because those are those are a big danger on our roadways where our attention and our focus needs to be on driving.

If you have ideas or suggestions for how to make Utah’s roadways safer click here to be taken to our Driven to Change form. There you can share your ideas or suggestions.

DRIVEN TO CHANGE

Share your ideas on how to make Utah’s roads safer





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Utah National Guard gets new, top-of-the-line Apache helicopters

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Utah National Guard gets new, top-of-the-line Apache helicopters


WEST JORDAN, Utah — The Utah National Guard has been serving the state since 1894 with roots dating back to the Minutemen of the 17th-century American colonies.

This weekend, they received quite the boost in the form of the Army’s most advanced attack helicopter.

“These aircraft are extremely fast compared to our other aircraft,” said Col. Patrick.

On Saturday, the Utah National Guard took their new Apache helicopters for a spin.

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“The flight went better than we could have hoped for. A little weather on the east coast, but after that, it wasn’t bad at all,” Patrick said.

The first four of 24 Apaches arrived early Saturday morning after they went under full inspection.

“They’ve got software on there that it’s like playing a video game. You just fly the video game and the airplane… is fast and smooth, which is the good thing, and so it’ll just hold the altitude and airspeed and just keep on trucking along. It’s pretty good,” Patrick said.

The first Apache helicopters arrived in Utah back in 1992.

“It just continues the legacy of the air pirates and what we bring to not only Utah, but really to the global fight and security, really,” Patrick added.

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The colonel calls it a major step forward.

“What a great day for Utah as we advance into the next couple decades of combat operations and what we can provide to, you know, the global security.”





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