Utah
New Mexico quarterback Devon Dampier transfers to Utah
Utah has its new quarterback.
New Mexico quarterback Devon Dampier is following his offense coordinator, Jason Beck, to Salt Lake City.
Dampier, a sophomore, was the catalyst for the Lobos’ high-powered offense, which generated 484.2 yards per game (fourth-best in the country) and scored 33.5 points per game (No. 27 in the country).
In his first season as a full-time starter, Dampier was one of the most productive quarterbacks in college football, totaling 3,934 yards of offense in 2024 — 2,768 passing and 1,166 rushing.
Against Power Four (and former Power Five) competition this season — Arizona, Auburn and Washington State — Dampier threw for a combined 725 yards with five touchdowns and four interceptions. He added 354 yards and five touchdowns on the ground.
New Mexico’s offense was the reason why the Lobos finished the year with a 5-6 record, their best mark since 2016, despite a defense that allowed 38 points and 492.1 yards per game, and Beck and Dampier will try and replicate that production at Utah.
Beck’s spread offense makes heavy use of the run-pass option and is at its best with a quarterback that can run, and Dampier fits the bill. He executed Beck’s offense at a very high level this season and was durable despite running the ball 155 times — playing in every single game this season.
Under Beck, Utah will look to run first, with the quarterback run being a huge factor. In 2024, New Mexico had the fifth-best rushing offense in the nation (253.6 yards per game), with Dampier leading the way with 1,166 rushing yards and 19 touchdowns. Running back Eli Sanders wasn’t far behind with 1,063 rushing yards and nine scores.
Dampier is a true dual-threat quarterback and is at his best when he’s running the ball. He possesses top-end speed, can make defenders miss (he forced 51 missed tackles this season, according to Pro Football Focus), and is explosive when the ball is in his hands. While there were a lot of designed quarterback runs called by Beck for Dampier, he’s also adept at both reading the defense and knowing when to run the ball on the RPO and at scrambling when there’s no receivers open.
“We don’t win without him,” New Mexico coach Bronco Mendenhall — now at Utah State — said about Dampier after a 38-35 win over No. 19 Washington State.
“And when your quarterback could run the ball like that, that tough and that physical, with the deception also of having Eli Sanders and NaQuari (Rogers) running the ball, as well. Gosh, well, that’s what winning and really good football teams do, right? They run when they need to, and you stop the run when you have to.”
Utah has never had a 1,000-yard rusher at the quarterback position. While other quarterbacks at Utah have shown the ability to run the ball in the past, Dampier does it at a level that hasn’t been seen at the university since Alex Smith ran Urban Meyer’s spread offense in 2004.
Dampier is a fantastic runner, but that’s only half of the equation that makes up a dual-threat quarterback. This season, Dampier was one of the least accurate passers in the FBS, completing just 57.9% of his passes, and had a 1:1 touchdown-to-interception ratio (12 touchdowns, 12 interceptions).
To continue the success he enjoyed in the Mountain West Conference at the Power Four level, Dampier must improve his accuracy this offseason. With a starting season under his belt and another offseason working with Beck, he should progress in that aspect ahead of a crucial 2025 season for Utah.
Dampier’s 2,768 passing yards ranked No. 34 among FBS quarterbacks this season and he showed that he can make plays through the air. With his scrambling ability, he has the ability to buy time for himself and was the least-sacked quarterback in all of college football. He had two 300-plus-yard passing games and nearly another against Auburn, where he racked up 291 passing yards.
As Utah begins to install a new offense for the first time since 2019, when offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig was hired for his second stint at the university, having a quarterback that is already well-versed in Beck’s system is extraordinarily important and will make the transition easier for the offense.
Dampier should have a clear path to start right away at Utah after every quarterback that played this season, except Cam Rising, entered the transfer portal this offseason. Rising has not made an official decision, but a report from 247Sports national reporter Matt Zenitz says that the current expectation is that the 25-year-old quarterback will not be on Utah’s roster next season.
Since the regular season ended, Isaac Wilson and Brandon Rose both announced their intentions to enter the transfer portal, and Luke Bottari is out of eligibility. If Rising does indeed decide to move on, the only quarterbacks — aside from Dampier — on Utah’s roster are incoming three-star freshmen Wyatt Becker and Jamarian Ficklin.
The Utes will likely try to get another quarterback from the transfer portal to shore up the position ahead of the 2025 season.
Jon Anderson will be charged with moving the Orem school forward following the death of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk on campus last year.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Incoming UVU President Jon Anderson poses for a photo with his family after an event announcing his selection at Utah Valley University in Orem on Friday, July 17, 2026.
BEAVER COUNTY, Utah — A massive community effort is underway as volunteers and Beaver County crews distribute thousands of sandbags to protect homes from the potential path of floodwaters.
After the Cottonwood Fires, residents have been waiting for weeks for relief to come in the form of rain, though officials now warn it may come all at once with an increased risk of flooding and debris flow.
Emergency Service Director Les Whitney believes that the fire has left plenty of debris to bring trouble for residents.
“We got a lot of water. We’re bringing debris with it, so tree branches, tree limbs, logs, lots of different size firewood, and that’s all in the creeks. We’re worried about that plugging up our bridges and stuff, so we have heavy equipment and excavators located in strategic places so that we can keep those bridges open,” said Whitney.
An estimated 140 homes and condominiums were spared from the flames, but remain in the paths of floodwaters.
Residents can also pick up sandbags at the Beaver County Sheriff’s Office or at the Beaver County Rodeo Fairgrounds.
EAGLE MOUNTAIN — An Eagle Mountain man currently on pretrial release in 4th District Court who is accused of abusing his dog has been arrested again for allegedly punching the same animal.
Keith Reaves Davis, 43, was booked into the Utah County Jail on Wednesday for investigation of aggravated cruelty to an animal.
Utah County sheriff’s deputies were called Wednesday afternoon to a grocery store on a report that a man was beating his dog after it had gotten off its leash and was stopped by a bystander, according to a police booking affidavit.
“I reviewed security camera footage from the grocery store, and an individual matching the description of the suspect was seen holding the dog in the air by one paw and repeatedly striking the dog on the right hind leg area. I observed the male strike the dog several times before dropping the dog from approximately 1-2 feet. The strikes appeared to be as hard as the male could hit,” the arresting deputy wrote in the affidavit. “The dog did not cry out or whimper as if the dog was accustomed to the abuse.”
When questioned, Davis “admitted to striking the dog because it was not behaving,” the affidavit states.
An animal control officer who responded to the scene to take custody of the dog noted it was the same dog he had taken from Davis exactly three months earlier during another animal abuse investigation.
In that case, Davis was charged in 4th District Court with aggravated cruelty to an animal, a class A misdemeanor; and public intoxication, a class C misdemeanor, after deputies received a tip from a neighbor that a dog was being abused at Davis’ home, according to charging documents. When questioned, Davis “acknowledged hitting his dog as punishment,” the charges state.
Deputies also reviewed videos that the neighbor had filmed. The neighbor told investigators “there was blood from the dog on the ground of the garage and (the neighbor) can hear the dog screaming as if it’s being hurt. Deputies got the videos from the (neighbor) and you can hear very loudly the dog screaming and crying with a lot of loud banging noises. In one of the videos, you can hear the dog sounding like it is being choked by a collar and is grasping for air,” a police booking affidavit states.
Davis’ next court hearing in the April case is scheduled for July 28.
In their latest booking report, sheriff’s deputies note that they “believe further harm will be inflicted on this dog if it is released back to the male a second time,” and have recommended the dog not be returned to Davis.
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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