Utah
How did Utah fare in the transfer portal?
On the heels of a 5-7 season and an offseason offensive renovation with the hire of new offensive coordinator Jason Beck, the University of Utah had an extremely busy December in the transfer portal.
The fall transfer portal window officially closed on late Saturday night for Utah players, bringing a 20-day college football free agency blitz to an end, at least until the spring.
The tally, as of Monday morning? Twenty-four players entered the transfer portal from Utah, with the Utes picking up 15 players. That’s right on target, as coach Kyle Whittingham said in November that the Utes were expecting to add around 10-15 players through the portal, though the Utes might not be done yet.
Though the transfer portal has closed for most teams — teams playing in the postseason get a five-day extension for their players to enter following the conclusion of their seasons — programs can still pick up those in the portal at any time (the deadline is only for players to enter their names), so Utah can still add players to their team as the calendar turns to January.
That said, the majority of transfer portal action has concluded, so here’s an overview of how the Utes fared.
Quarterback
This was by far the biggest need in the transfer portal for Utah after two seasons of dismal play at the position. Shortly after the school hired New Mexico’s Beck as the schools offensive coordinator, his quarterback announced that he was coming along for the ride.
New Mexico quarterback Devon Dampier, a sophomore, was the perfect fit for Beck’s quarterback-run-heavy offensive scheme, helping the Lobos generate 484.2 yards per game and become the fourth-most-productive offense in the country last season.
Dampier was one of the most productive quarterbacks in the nation, accounting for 3,934 yards of offense in 2024 (2,768 passing and 1,166 rushing). While there are some accuracy issues he’ll need to clean up as he makes the move to the Big 12 — he threw 12 touchdowns and 12 interceptions and competed just 57.9% of his passes — there’s one thing that’s almost guaranteed: Utah’s offense is going to be a lot more exciting to watch than the last two years.
Dampier has a lot of upside and raises the ceiling of Utah’s offense. As long as he can be more accurate in 2025, the Utes will be in a much better position under center.
Behind Dampier, the presumed 2025 starter, the Utes have Oklahoma freshman transfer Brendan Zurbrugg, a 6-foot-2, 207-pound freshman that redshirted last season, and Isaac Wilson, who removed his name from the portal and returned to Utah.
Running back
If quarterback was priority No. 1, running back was definitely priority No. 2 for the Utes in the transfer portal. Every scholarship running back — Micah Bernard, Jaylon Glover, Mike Mitchell, Anthony Woods, Dijon Stanley and John Randle Jr. — either ran out of eligibility or entered the transfer portal.
A complete revamp of the room was necessary, and that started with the addition of Washington State’s Mark Atuaia, who was brought in by Beck to be Utah’s new running backs coach.
Washington State freshman Wayshawn Parker, who rushed for 735 yards and four touchdowns on 137 carries in his true freshman season in Pullman, was perhaps Utah’s biggest transfer portal pickup. The 6-foot, 199-pound running back was ranked by 247Sports as the No. 2 running back, and 40th overall player, in this year’s transfer portal.
Behind Parker is New Mexico junior NaQuari Rogers (74 carries for 382 yards and five touchdowns) and UNLV freshman Devin Green (29 carries for 123 yards and one touchdown). Utah had a commitment from New Mexico State’s Mike Washington (725 yards and eight scores on 157 carries), but he flipped to Arkansas.
Overall, Utah met its needs here, though keeping Mitchell, who played injured most of the year and was a candidate for a better 2025 season, would have been nice.
Wide receiver
Utah initially landed a coveted wide receiver transfer in Tulsa’s Joseph Williams, who was named the American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year. Williams, who had 30 receptions for 588 yards and five touchdowns, had offers from numerous Power Four teams, including Michigan, USC and Colorado.
Williams never signed with Utah after committing, however, and a visit to Colorado sealed the deal for the Buffaloes. Williams’ flip was a blow to Utah’s transfer portal receiving class, as the Utes lost their premier pickup.
Utah still brought in three receivers — Mississippi State’s Creed Whittemore, who chose to redshirt after four games (four receptions for 65 yards, 41 rushing yards); New Mexico’s Ryan Davis (54 receptions for 747 yards and three touchdowns) and Utah State’s Otto Tia (44 receptions for 434 yards and seven touchdowns).
Whittemore could see time in the slot for Utah, while Davis brings chemistry and time with Dampier. Tia is perhaps the most intriguing player, bringing size (6-foot-4, 220 pounds) and experience as a senior to the room.
Having Joseph Williams would have really completed the room, but Utah picked up some promising pieces.
It remains to be seen if one of these transfers breaks out as a WR1 for the Utes, or if it will be one of the returning players like Zacharyus Williams (who came on strong during the last four games and finished with 10 catches for 101 yards) and Dadrien Zipperer (eight catches for 122 yards).
Cornerback
One of the more surprising portal entries this cycle was from Ute cornerback Cameron Calhoun, who couldn’t turn down an offer from Alabama and transferred to Tuscaloosa.
With Calhoun’s transfer, plus the transfers of CJ Blocker and Randle Jr., who spent time at cornerback this season, and the graduation of Zemaiah Vaughn, Utah went after three players in the portal to fill the room back up.
Utah is an easy sell to a cornerback transfer and as a result, the Utes snagged Blake Cotton, a UC Davis junior who was ranked the No. 20 cornerback in the transfer portal by 247Sports, and Jeremiah Caldwell, a Garden City Community College product who is ranked the No. 5 junior college cornerback by 247Sports.

The Utes also added Texas A&M junior Donovan Saunders, who played 33 snaps over two games with the Aggies.
Elijah Davis returns and could be slotted in a starting spot, Smith Snowden returns at nickel and Kenan Johnson was trending toward a return to Utah, Whittingham said in November. That’s a solid starting group, though the loss of Calhoun, who seemed to be poised to be a starter next year, definitely hurts.
Overall, despite the loss of Calhoun, the Utes did a great job regrouping and bolstering the cornerback position.
Defensive tackle
Utah knew it was already going to have to replace one starter at the defensive tackle position after Junior Tafuna graduated, but the Utes didn’t expect to have to replace another.
Keanu Tanuvasa threw his name into the transfer portal in a very surprising portal entry that came weeks after he seemingly reaffirmed his commitment to the Utes on social media. On Monday morning, he reportedly transferred to rival BYU, dealing a blow to Utah’s defense.
Throw in the transfer of Simote Pepa and the graduation of Tevita Fotu, and the defensive tackles room is going to look a lot different in 2025.
Aliki Vimahi and Dallas Vakalahi both started in 2024 when Tafuna and Tanuvasa were injured, and should compete for the starting roles, but a transfer portal addition to the room is needed.
Utah
911 recordings detail hours leading up to discovery of Utah girl, mother dead in Las Vegas
CONTENT WARNING: This report discusses suicide and includes descriptions of audio from 911 calls that some viewers may find disturbing.
LAS VEGAS — Exclusively obtained 911 recordings detail the hours leading up to the discovery of an 11-year-old Utah girl and her mother dead inside a Las Vegas hotel room in an apparent murder-suicide.
Addi Smith and her mother, Tawnia McGeehan, lived in West Jordan and had traveled to Nevada for the JAMZ cheerleading competition.
The calls show a growing sense of urgency from family members and coaches, and several hours passing before relatives learned what happened.
MORE | Murder-Suicide
Below is a timeline of the key moments, according to dispatch records. All times are Pacific Time.
10:33 a.m. — Call 1
After Addi and her mother failed to appear at the cheerleading competition, Addi’s father and stepmother called dispatch for a welfare check.
Addi and her mother were staying at the Rio hotel. The father told dispatch that hotel security had already attempted contact.
“Security went up and knocked on the door. There’s no answer or response it doesn’t look like they checked out or anything…”
11:18 a.m. and 11:27 a.m. — Calls 2 and 3
As concern grew, Addi’s coach contacted the police two times within minutes.
“We think the child possibly is in imminent danger…”
11:26 a.m. — Call 4
Addi’s stepmother placed another call to dispatch, expressing escalating concern.
“We are extremely concerned we believe that something might have seriously happened.”
She said that Tawnia’s car was still at the hotel.
Police indicated officers were on the way.
2:26 p.m. — Call 5
Nearly three hours after the initial welfare check request, fire personnel were en route to the scene. It appeared they had been in contact with hotel security.
Fire told police that they were responding to a possible suicide.
“They found a note on the door.”
2:35 p.m. — Call 6
Emergency medical personnel at the scene told police they had located two victims.
“It’s going to be gunshot wound to the head for both patients with notes”
A dispatcher responded:
“Oh my goodness that’s not okay.”
2:36 p.m. — Call 7
Moments later, fire personnel relayed their assessment to law enforcement:
“It’s going to be a murder suicide, a juvenile and a mother.”
2:39 p.m. — Call 8
Unaware of what had been discovered, Addi’s father called dispatch again.
“I’m trying to file a missing persons report for my daughter.”
He repeats the details he knows for the second time.
3:13 p.m. — Call 9
Father and stepmother call again seeking information and continue to press for answers.
“We just need some information. There was a room check done around 3:00 we really don’t know where to start with all of this Can we have them call us back immediately?”
Dispatch responded:
“As soon as there’s a free officer, we’ll have them reach out to you.”
4:05 p.m. — Call 10
More than an hour later, Addi’s father was put in contact with the police on the scene. He pleaded for immediate action.
“I need someone there I need someone there looking in that room”
The officer confirmed that they had officers currently in the room.
Addi’s father asks again what they found, if Addi and her mother are there, and if their things were missing.
The officer, who was not on scene, said he had received limited information.
5:23 p.m. — Call 11
Nearly seven hours after the first welfare check request, Addi’s grandmother contacted police, describing conflicting information circulating within the family.
“Some people are telling us that they were able to get in, and they were not in the hotel room, and other people saying they were not able to get in the hotel room, and we need to know”
She repeated the details of the case. Dispatch said officers will call her back once they have more information.
Around 8:00 p.m. — Press Conference
Later that evening, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police held a news conference confirming that Addi and her mother, Tawnia McGeehan, were found dead inside the hotel room.
The investigation remains ongoing.
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Utah
Ban on AI glasses in Utah classrooms inches closer to passing
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — AI glasses could allow you to get answers, snap photos, access audio and take phone calls—and now a proposal moving through the legislature would ban the glasses from Utah school classrooms.
“I think it’s a great idea,” said Kizzy Guyton Murphy, a mother who accompanied her child’s class on a field trip to the state Capitol on Wednesday. “You can’t see inside what the student is looking at, and it’s just grounds for cheating.”
Mom Tristan Davies Seamons also sees trouble with AI glasses.
“I don’t think they should have any more technology in schools than they currently have,” she said.
Her twin daughters, fourth graders Finley and Grayson, don’t have cell phones yet.
“Not until we’re like 14,” said Grayson, adding they do have Chromebooks in school.
2News sent questions to the Utah State Board of Education:
- Does it have reports of students using AI glasses?
- Does it see cheating and privacy as major concerns?
- Does it support a ban from classrooms?
Matt Winters, USBE AI specialist, said the board has not received reports from school districts of students with AI glasses.
“Local Education Agencies (school districts) have local control over these decisions based on current law and code,” said Winters. “The Board has not taken a position on AI glasses.
MORE | Utah State Legislature:
Some districts across the country have reportedly put restrictions on the glasses in schools.
“I think it should be up to the teachers,” said Briauna Later, another mother who is all for preventing cheating, but senses a ban could leave administrators with tired eyes.
“It’s one more thing for the administration to have to keep track of,” said Later.
The proposal, HB 42, passed the House and cleared a Senate committee on Wednesday.
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Utah
Kalshi sues Utah over efforts to stop prop betting in the state
SALT LAKE CITY — A prediction market is suing Utah over plans to regulate proposition betting that it says would run afoul of federal regulations.
Kalshi is a New York-based prediction market that allows users to place “event contracts” on future outcomes and earn a payout if they are correct. Those transactions are regulated through the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, the company said Utah has plans to prevent the company from offering contracts in the state and asked the courts to block any enforcement that “interferes with the operation and function of plaintiffs’ futures market.”
“Plaintiff KalshiEX LLC believes the governor of Utah and the Attorney General’s Office of Utah will imminently bring an enforcement action against Kalshi with the intent to prevent Kalshi from offering event contracts for trading on its federally regulated exchange,” the complaint states. “Defendants have repeatedly represented that they believe Kalshi is operating unlawfully under Utah anti-gambling laws.”
The lawsuit points to a couple of posts from Gov. Spencer Cox and an op-ed written by Attorney General Derek Brown in the Deseret News on Sunday. After Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Mike Selig announced that his agency would “defend its exclusive jurisdiction” over prediction markets last week, Cox took to X calling the markets “gambling — pure and simple.”
“They are destroying the lives of families and countless Americans, especially young men,” he wrote. “They have no place in Utah. Let me be clear, I will use every resource within my disposal as governor of the sovereign state of Utah, and under the Constitution of the United States to beat you in court.”
He followed that up last Thursday, saying Utah is “ready to defend our laws in court and protect Utahns from companies that drive addiction, isolation and serious financial harm.”
In his op-ed, Brown argued that prediction markets are “the newest iteration of gambling” and said he didn’t see a difference between betting and trading futures.
“Although traditional sports betting apps are illegal under Utah law, these platforms argue that they merely allow users to hedge their risk,” he wrote. “But what is the real risk to hedge when you are simply predicting whether LeBron James will score more or less than another player? It’s simply a bet, dressed up in different clothing.”
The lawsuit also comes as the state Legislature is advancing a bill that would clarify that proposition betting — or betting placed on specific players or events during games — falls under the state’s definition of gambling, which is prohibited by the Utah Constitution. HB243 has passed the House and a Senate committee and is awaiting consideration on the Senate floor.
But Kalshi says its contracts are lawful thanks to a carveout in Utah’s anti-gambling laws that allows for “lawful business.” Its lawsuit claims Kalshi’s attorneys made “multiple attempts” to contact Brown about potential action against the company but were “met with silence, even though the Utah AG had previously been willing to communicate with counsel.”
Asked about the lawsuit on Tuesday, Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, said he is “standing with the governor on this one.”
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
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