Oklahoma completed the flip of three-star Oklahoma State quarterback pledge Jett Niu on Wednesday morning following the start of the early signing period.

Niu, a 6-foot-2 quarterback from Lehi, Utah, is ESPN’s No. 73 pocket passer prospect in the 2025 class. Committed to Oklahoma State since September, Niu’s commitment comes two days after the Sooners hired Washington State offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and fills a hole in the Sooners’ 2025 class that had remained after four-star passer Kevin Sperry (No. 132 in the ESPN 300) flipped his pledge to Florida State late last month.

“After much thought and reflection, I’ve decided to decommit from Oklahoma State and commit to the University of Oklahoma,” Niu wrote in a statement posted to social media. “I am incredibly grateful for the amazing support and opportunities I received from Oklahoma State and their coach staff. Thank you for believing in me and helping me grow. I’m looking forward to this new chapter at OU and can’t wait to see what the future holds!”

Initially committed to Appalachian State, Niu gave his pledge to Oklahoma State on Sept. 10 over interest from Washington State, Arizona and Arkansas State, among others. Niu’s offer from Washington State notably came with Arbuckle, the Sooners’ new 29-year-old playcaller, and the pair will now land at Oklahoma as the program prepares for potential change with the futures of quarterbacks Jackson Arnold and Michael Hawkins Jr. uncertain in 2025.

Niu emerged as a breakout star in 2023 when he threw for 3,005 yards with 33 touchdowns in his junior season at Utah’s Lehi High School. He led the program to a 9-3 finish with 2,857 yards and 29 touchdowns to 10 interceptions as a senior.

Minutes after Niu’s pledge, Oklahoma lost the commitment of four-star wide receiver Cortez Mills (No. 120 in the ESPN 300) upon his flip to Nebraska Wednesday.

Mills’ exit marks the latest departure from the Sooners’ wide receiver class and leaves Oklahoma without a pass catcher committed in the 2025 cycle. Four-star wide receiver Marcus Harris (No. 138 in the ESPN 300) decommitted from the Sooners on Sunday before giving his pledge to Washington on Wednesday morning. Three-star pass catcher Gracen Harris remains uncommitted after pulling his pledge from the Sooners on Monday.

Oklahoma began the early signing period Wednesday with the No. 16 recruiting in ESPN’s latest class rankings for the 2025 cycle.

Sen. Mitt Romney is nearing the end of his first and only term in the U.S. Senate, after deciding against a second run. Romney, who earlier served as governor of Massachusetts and was a Republican presidential nominee, said it was time for the “next generation” of leaders to step forward.

Romney served during a tumultuous six years, starting his service in January 2019, midway through Donald Trump’s first term as president, and a year before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. was also roiled during the summer of 2020 by demonstrations — sometimes violent — that spread across the country in the wake of the death of George Floyd.

And then there was Jan. 6, 2021, when rioters at the U.S. Capitol tried to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden as winner of the presidential election. Romney called the events of that day an “insurrection” and said Trump “incited” his supporters to action.

He also traveled to Israel after the Hamas terror attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, and fought for funding for Ukraine after Russia invaded in February 2022.

Romney saw some of his most productive legislative years after President Biden took office in 2021, when Democrats had control of the House and Senate, but were well short of the 60 votes needed to pass legislation in the Senate.

Romney and a group of like-minded senators, including then-Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona — who both later left their party to become independents — worked with other Republicans, including Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, to help negotiate and pass legislation like the infrastructure bill and the CHIPS Act.

During these negotiations, Romney also focused on securing funding for projects in Utah, including for Hill Air Force Base, the Great Salt Lake and for a new passport office.

He admits there are many things left undone.

When Romney decided to run for Senate in 2018, he said he wanted to tackle the national debt — and it’s only grown since then, despite his and others’ efforts.

Romney sponsored and championed a bill, the Fiscal Stability Act, that aimed to force lawmakers to face the growing national debt. Despite the bill receiving bipartisan support, he couldn’t get it across the finish line.

During his last visit to Utah, he listed five of his biggest worries — the debt, growing authoritarianism in the world, AI, climate change and performative politics.

But on Tuesday, Romney took a moment to look back at his record in the Senate and celebrate the wins he feels he was able to accomplish.

“In just one month, I will reach the end of my Senate term — time has flown by,” Romney said in the intro to the report. “Over the last six years, we have faced many challenges. Yet, we’ve been able to accomplish important things for the Beehive State and our country. I’m also grateful for the tireless efforts of my team to improve the lives of Utahns.”

Romney released a video to accompany the report on what he considers his top ten accomplishments.

Here is what Romney sees as his 10 greatest accomplishments during his six years in the Senate:

1. Bipartisan infrastructure bill

In 2021, President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law, with Romney and nine other U.S. senators present for the signing. Romney was one of 10 senators — five Republicans and five Democrats — who worked closely on the legislation. Romney said at the time the bill “represents the largest investment in infrastructure in our nation’s history.”

Part of a $1.2 trillion package, including $550 in new spending, the bill included billions of dollars for road, public transit and water projects across the U.S., including in Utah.

The bill — which saw about $3 billion go towards Utah infrastructure repair — was rejected by Utah’s four Republican congressmen and Sen. Mike Lee at the time. Still, Romney said he was “proud” to have worked on the bill, “which includes historic investments that will benefit Utah and rebuild our nation’s physical infrastructure,” he said. “This legislation shows that Congress can deliver for the American people when members from both sides of the aisle are willing to work together to address our country’s critical needs.”

2. Drought and wildfire work

Representing a state with a plethora of breathtaking landscapes, Romney contributed to numerous initiatives to preserve Utah’s outdoors as a beloved space for both locals and tourists to enjoy. The legislation he sponsored included:

• Enhancing Mitigation and Building Effective Resilience (EMBER) Act: Introduced in June, Romney and Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) worked on the legislation to modernize wildfire Prevention and management across the country.
• MATCH Act: A bipartisan bill between Utah, California and Colorado to accelerate aid and cleanup for communities affected by wildfire disasters.
• Central Utah Project: Ensured $160 million “to provide water for municipal use, mitigation, hydroelectric power, fish and wildlife and conservation” for the state of Utah.

3. The Great Salt Lake

In 2022, when the lake was reaching record lows, Romney introduced the Great Salt Lake Recovery Act to allow “engineers to study the hydrology of saline lake ecosystems in the Great Basin,” as well as in the Great Salt Lake “to investigate the feasibility of a project for ecosystem restoration and drought solutions in the Great Salt Lake.”

“It is incumbent on us to take action now which will preserve and protect this critical body of water for many generations to come,” Romney said when the legislation was initially passed.

4. Combatting international threats

Romney has been outspoken on the threat he believes authoritarian countries pose to the United States. In 2021, the Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and included a measure from Romney on the U.S.’s growing dependence on products from China related to its national security.

“This bill is one of the most important pieces of legislation we have taken up this year, and I’m proud that it includes my measure to require the United States to develop a unified, strategic approach to China,” Romney said. “We must take decisive action now to confront China’s growing aggression and dissuade them from pursuing a predatory path around the world, and this year’s defense bill will help us accomplish that end.”

5. Passport agency in Salt Lake City

After three years of effort, Romney and Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced earlier this year that a new passport office would open in Salt Lake City. The closest passport office to Salt Lake is currently 500 miles away in Denver, but after work by Romney and other members of Utah’s congressional delegation, an office will soon be open in Utah.

Utah will be the home of one of six new passport offices, with the Salt Lake City passport agency expected to open in 2026.

6. Combatting teen vaping

In an effort to reduce youth vaping, Romney supported multiple laws to limit access to these products, including prohibiting the sale of e-cigarettes and other tobacco products to anyone under the age of 21 and banning the online sell of tobacco products to children.

While serving on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, he also introduced the Resources to Prevent Youth Vaping Act and the ENND Act.

7. Prioritizing the family

To combat child poverty in America, Romney introduced the Family Security Act again in September as “pro-family, pro-life and pro-marriage legislation that would modernize and streamline antiquated federal policies into an expanded Child Tax Credit for working families.”

The act would provide a “monthly child allowance of $250 for school-aged children and $350 for younger children, with a yearly maximum of $1,250,” Deseret News previously reported. “Billed as deficit-neutral,” Romney said it would be paid for “by killing or streamlining existing programs and ditching federal deductions for state and local taxes.”

He also co-sponsored two bills related to abortion — one prohibiting abortions past the 20-week mark and another that gives a child who survives an abortion the right to medical care.

8. Bipartisan COVID relief act

Romney helped lead a bipartisan, bicameral effort to negotiate the December 2020 COVID-19 relief package — a $908 billion proposal that included $560 billion in unused CARES funds, lengthened the benefit timeframe for federal unemployed workers, and provided emergency aid for small businesses.

9. Strengthening Utah’s role in national defense

While in the Senate, Romney worked to secure funds for Utah’s Hill Air Force Base, including over $30 billion for the Air Force’s F-35 program and about $7 billion for the Sentinel program since 2018. Nearly $100 million was also secured for infrastructure updates at the Ogden Air Force base.

“With the growing threats we face, it is paramount that our military has the resources, equipment and capabilities it needs to keep our nation safe. This bipartisan and bicameral legislation strengthens our national security and supports our service members at this critical time,” Romney said after Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024.

“It also includes measures which will bolster Utah’s role in our national defense and help address the current military recruitment crisis — which has real and immediate impacts on our national security — by enhancing military recruiter access to high school and college students,” he added.

10. Working across the aisle

Many of what Romney sees as his achievements while in office were the result of bipartisan efforts, including:

• Reforms to the Electoral Count Act.
• Bipartisan gun safety legislation.
• Securing religious liberty protections in the Respect for Marriage Act.

“We still face big issues. The rise in authoritarianism around the world, our growing national debt, and the threats posed by AI will demand that elected officials come together, in a bipartisan manner, to find effective strategies and solutions to these great challenges,” Romney said in the report.

In many ways, 2024 felt like déjà vu for Utah fans.

Starting quarterback Cam Rising missed the majority of the season after missing all of 2023, the production behind him never materialized, and the regular season ended with fifth-string Luke Bottari starting once again.

Sound familiar?

Yet again, offense was the weak link on Utah’s team as the Utes scored 23.6 points per game (14th in the Big 12), passed for just 199.4 yards per game (15th in the Big 12) and rushed for 130.4 yards per game (12th in the Big 12).

A season that began with such promise never materialized, as Utah went from preseason Big 12 favorites to finishing 13th in the 16-team league.

Injuries piled up once more on the offensive side of the ball, as Rising, quarterbacks Isaac Wilson, Sam Huard and Brandon Rose, tight end Brant Kuithe, running back Anthony Woods and offensive guard Michael Mokofisi all suffered season-ending injuries.

While the Utes were dealt another bad hand injury-wise, the offensive doldrums, just like last year, came down to the fact that there wasn’t a solid plan if Rising went down with injury.

Unfortunately for the Utes, Rising missed all but 2.5 games, injuring his fingers in Week 2 against Baylor, then suffering a season-ending leg injury in Week 6 against Arizona State.

Without a quarterback that could elevate the offense, Utah suffered seven-straight losses — the longest losing streak in the Kyle Whittingham era and the program’s lengthiest since 1986 — before winning the season finale at UCF with Bottari at quarterback.

The Utes missed a bowl game in a full season for the first time since 2013 — just the third time that’s happened in the Whittingham era.

Utah knows that it has to solve the quarterback quandary that has plaguetd it for two years to find success again, and it’ll be a huge priority this offseason.

“Well, we got to solve our quarterback problems, I can tell you that. And that has been a difficult thing this year,” Whittingham said. “… Quarterback, as I’ve said over and over, the most important position in football, in team sports, period, and you better be good there if you want to have a chance to win. So we’ve got to evaluate just like I’ve got to evaluate my situation, we’ve got to evaluate the quarterback situation and make sure we have ourselves covered for next year.”

With the season wrapped up, here’s a look at how each position group on the Utes’ offense performed in 2024.

Quarterback

With Rising on the sidelines for the majority of the season, backup duties fell to Corner Canyon High true freshman Isaac Wilson, who won the QB2 job in fall camp.

With Rising returning as the undisputed starter, Utah couldn’t attract a quality backup in the transfer portal. The school tried, offering multiple quarterbacks, including Michigan State’s Sam Leavitt, but starting-level quarterbacks wanted to go somewhere where they wouldn’t be the backup to start the year.

Whittingham and the Utah offensive staff decided Wilson would be the best backup — over Rose and Huard — and for the first couple of games, it felt like the right decision.

The true freshman helped Utah to road wins over Utah State and Oklahoma State, and while there was stuff to clean up in both games, he was able to get the job done.

As Wilson started in three of the next four games, his play left a lot to be desired as the losses piled up, offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig resigned, and the Utes failed to score more than 14 points with the true freshman at the helm. After losses to Arizona, TCU, and a poor first half at Houston, Wilson was benched.

Season-long issues kept creeping up over and over — he had a tendency to hold onto the ball a little too long, his processing never improved to an FBS-starter level, and he threw too many interceptions (11 on the season).

Wilson’s final stat line: 1,510 yards, 10 touchdowns, 11 interceptions on a 56.4% competition rate.

“He comes in on his own and watches a ton of film so we’re doing everything we can. He’s doing everything he can to continue to develop and see things quicker,” Whittingham said. “And that was another issue in the (Colorado) game particularly early on. It got better as the game wore on, but holding the ball too long and need to go through those reads and spit it out or tuck it and run.”

There were still flashes of potential, like a 40-yard touchdown pass against Colorado that was Wilson’s best throw of the season, a 71-yard score against TCU, or a throw against Utah State where Wilson didn’t take the easy underneath first-down completion, but instead made a tougher downfield throw to Money Parks, dropping the ball perfectly between two defenders for a 20-yard gain.

Those moments were too far and in between, however.

Utah shouldn’t write Wilson off after one season — he will continue to develop and he could become a good college quarterback, but he clearly wasn’t ready at this moment. The plan was never to have Wilson play this season except in mop-up time while he sat and learned from Rising for a season, but that went out the window early.

Would the Utes have been better served with Rose as their backup?

It’s a small sample size, and the third-year player wasn’t able to deliver a Ute win when he was inserted into the game in the third quarter against Houston, but Utah’s offense looked the most alive it had been since Rising was the quarterback with Rose under center against BYU before he suffered a season-ending Lisfranc injury.

As Utah moves onto the 2025 season, its next starting quarterback may not be on the roster, but in the transfer portal.

Offensive line

Utah had to replace three starters along the offensive line — tackle Sataoa Laumea, guard Keaton Bills and center Kolinu’u Faaiu — with tackle Spencer Fano and guard Micahel Mokofisi the only remaining starters.

For the majority of the season, Utah went with Caleb Lomu, Tanoa Togiai, Jaren Kump, Mokofisi and Fano.

As a unit, it was an up-and-down performance throughout the season, but one player stood above the rest and was consistently good.

Fano was rated the top tackle in all of college football (minimum 300 snaps) by Pro Football Focus, which gave him a grade of 91.5 (out of 100) on the season. Lomu also had a good first starting season.

Things got dicey in certain games along the interior offensive line, and as the season grew on — and the passing game continued to stagnate and loaded boxes became common — the line struggled to get push at times in the run game.

It’s impossible to completely separate quarterback play and line play, and the offensive line had a tough task this season in the run game due to the lack of a passing offense.

Running back

Utah started the year with a running-back-by-committee approach with Micah Bernard, Mike Mitchell and Jaylon Glover, but Bernard grabbed the RB1 role by the horns and no one really stepped up to be a change-of-pace back this season.

Bernard was the heart and soul of the offense, finally getting a chance to be the lead back after five years in the program. He made the most of his opportunity, becoming the 17th Ute to rush for 1,000 yards in a season.

“He’s been huge this year. He has been the vast bulk and majority of our rush game this year. He’s by far got the most carries and the most production,” Whittingham said. “And talk about a guy who maybe thought he was done playing football last year to what he accomplished this year is pretty impressive, and we’re elated that obviously he was on our team this year and came back for this last year.”

While Bernard had some great performances — he rushed for over 100 yards four times this year — the lack of an RB2 was a little bit puzzling.

Of course, when you have an RB1 with the production of Bernard, they’re going to get the ball the vast majority of the time, but it’s nice to have someone that can help shoulder the load.

Mitchell assumed that role at the beginning of the year, but had a nagging injury much of the season and didn’t produce as much as hoped — 158 yards on 47 carries.

Beyond that, there was pretty much nothing. Glover only had 12 carries for 60 yards and Dijon Stanley wasn’t utilized much after the first game.

With Bernard graduating, this is one of the more intriguing positions heading into 2025. Who will grab the RB1 position?

Wide receivers

Dorian Singer is one of the most talented receivers Utah has ever had, and it would have been fun to see what he could have done with a healthy Rising.

Even with the middling quarterback play this season, Singer still had 702 yards and a touchdown on 53 receptions. He was the safety blanket for Wilson for much of the season and was a fantastic route runner, consistently getting open. His hands were the surest thing on the team, too — he dropped just one of his 93 targets this season.

Money Parks was a decent second option, catching 21 balls for 291 yards, but after that, there was a steep dropoff.

Mycah Pittman played through injury and wasn’t able to produce much, and players like Daidren Zipperer, Damien Alford and Taeshaun Lyons rarely saw the field.

One player to watch next season is Zacharyus Williams, who played four games (preserving his redshirt) and ended up with the third-most receptions among receivers — 10 for 101 yards.

Tight end

Perhaps the most puzzling position group on the team this year was the tight end room.

Brant Kuithe played for the first time since 2022 and had a great season with 35 receptions for 505 yards and six touchdowns before suffering a season-ending injury.

But a tight end room that was touted as six-deep never truly materialized this season.

You have to take the lack of production across the board overall into account, but for the majority of the season, Kuithe was the only tight end getting consistent targets. Landen King had just three receptions for 54 yards and Dallen Bentley had just two receptions for 15 yards.

Caleb Lohner had a solid year — he could have potentially been used a little bit more in goal-line situations — and made the most of his opportunity playing college football. He had four receptions — all of them resulting in touchdowns.

UCLA transfer Carsen Ryan was rarely utilized, but a strong game against Colorado — 78 yards on four receptions — made him the second-most-productive tight end this season in terms of yardage.

A lot of things didn’t go as planned for the offense this season, but the lack of utilization of the tight end room might be the most head-scratching.