A significant factor in the success of the Utah football team’s defense this season is the considerable talent of the Utes’ safety pairing, Cole Bishop and Sione Vaki.
Yeah, about that …
Vaki has, in wins against Cal and USC over the past two weeks, become a breakout star on the offensive side of the ball, providing some much-needed juice to a previously punchless attack. Clearly the team requires his continued presence on that side of the ball in order to be competitive with the elite programs of the Pac-12.
However, Utah’s coaches are cognizant of not reducing Vaki’s efficacy by playing him too many snaps and wearing him out. The initial idea to avoid such a problem was to keep his number of offensive touches relatively small — but that has quickly proven untenable, given his electric ability with the ball in his hands. From there, the messaging became about finding the right balance for the sophomore from Antioch, Calif., in order to maximize his skills as a two-way star.
Once again, though, Vaki’s offensive exploits are too valuable to limit. So it was that this week, head coach Kyle Whittingham conceded that the eventual solution could well be making Vaki primarily an offensive player — because that’s where his biggest value lies — and thus limiting his snap count on defense.
While that’s great news for an offensive unit that’s generally been devoid of big-time playmakers, it does have the knock-on effect of creating another problem:
If Vaki will be playing safety less going forward, someone will need to fill his shoes there.
“As there are more opportunities for him on the offensive side, as they come to fruition, it requires us to get more people ready,” said defensive backs coach Sharrieff Shah. “Which is nice because a lot of ballplayers in the safety room recognize that. So as a consequence, they’re practicing harder, people are getting a little bit more film time. So it’s kind of a trickle-down benefit for everybody.”
That said, there are two primary candidates.
“If we’re looking for a fill-in for Sione, it’s either going to be Nate [Ritchie] or [Johnathan] Hall — those are the two candidates,” said Whittingham.
The Utes did get something of a dress rehearsal for such a situation this past Saturday in the victory over USC.
Bishop was suspended from playing in the first half against the Trojans because he was flagged for a targeting penalty the week before in Utah’s win against Cal. So Ritchie — a starter in the COVID-abbreviated 2020 season who just returned from a proselytizing mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints about 10 months ago — started in his place.
There were some positive moments, but also some room for improvement.
“Nate Ritchie wasn’t perfect, but did a good job filling in for Cole,” said Whittingham. “… He’s still knocking the rust off from a church mission, but he’s getting closer and closer to being the player he was prior to the mission. He can be a little more decisive, trigger quicker, [he] was a little hesitant on things at times on Saturday, missed a tackle or two. … But just a little more urgency and triggering and maybe a little better backside pursuit.”
Shah, who conceded that defensive coaches were “just waiting, literally counting the minutes” until Bishop could return, and hoping that the secondary could hold its own and keep things at least competitive until was able to take the field, agreed with his boss that Ritchie, after a few hiccups, had some nice moments.
“After he calmed down and felt like he could move, he did really nice. You saw Nate make several really good tackles, he provided a very good presence in the post, he had two or three good quality reps in man coverage. Nate came in and did exactly what we hoped he would do, and that’s provide at least a suitable substitute until Cole was able to get back,” said Shah. “And not only was he suitable, he really excelled in some areas that we thought that he would. So it was nice. You can always say a player is going to do well until he actually gets on the field, has the rep, and does the rep well. So that’s going to benefit us in the weeks coming for him to get those reps against a very good team.”
Ritchie, meanwhile, conceded there was some rust and plenty of room for improvement, and acknowledged it was good to get a few extra game reps, “just to be able to fix little things.”
He acknowledged after Tuesday’s practice that he didn’t know what the plan was for this Saturday against Oregon — or beyond — but maintained that if defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley opted to throw more responsibility his way, he’d be ready.
“We’ll see,” Ritchie said with a shrug. “We’ll see what Coach Scalley has to say about it. We’ll see how Sione does, how much he’s running around. I’m gonna prepare my best so I’m able to help out.”
Ritchie does have experience working in his favor.
But that’s not the only factor.
“You’re also gonna see Johna Hall if we continue to use Sione more and more on O,” said Whittingham, “… because Nate is really more of a free, and Sione plays more of a strong safety for us.”
The true freshman out of Katy, Texas is an intriguing combination of deferential politeness and bold self-confidence.
One moment, when asked about the significance of being a freshman potentially about to have serious responsibility foisted upon him, he’s replying, “Yes sir, I understand that, yes sir.” The next, when asked to reveal a bit of what he’s like off the field, he’s brashly declaring himself better than all his teammates at one thing a lot of them are likely very good at: “I’m probably the best video game player here! [NBA]2K, Madden, UFC — anything.”
Between defense and special teams, Hall has played in all seven games thus far. But he is expecting a bump in playing time if Vaki is otherwise occupied, noting that coaches already have “put me with the ones here and there.”
However it winds up shaking out, Vaki himself is confident that if he winds up taking a breather from defense, whoever it is that winds up filling in for him will get the job done.
“Oh, yeah, we got a bunch of depth,” he said. “… The only thing they’re missing is the opportunity. I have all the confidence in the world with the guys in our safety room.”
