Some Good Utah Football News…
Nov 9, 2013; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah Utes punter Tom Hackett (33) kicks the ball down the field during the game against the Arizona State Sun Devils in the fourth quarter at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Arizona State Sun Devils won the game 20-19. Mandatory Credit: Chris Nicoll-USA TODAY Sports
Utah Football hasn’t been a place for joy for awhile. And fans seem to fall into two camps, either you’re just down on football or you’re down because of all the injuries to football.
Three things happened yesterday to at least put a bit of a smile on our faces.
The first one was the introduction of new Offensive Coordinator Dave Christensen. This should make you happy for several reasons. He has serious OC chops. He was just fired from Wyoming, so he’s motivated to show that isn’t what his career was about and also he won’t be going anywhere. Ute fans should be happy with this guy, although we haven’t been happy with an OC since 2004 so it probably won’t start now. But this is a truly great move for Utah football.
Second, Dave Christensen is bringing with him, QB Jason Thompson. Now Jason redshirted last season, and according to the Wyoming folks, he has A LOT of skill but is raw. However listen to all of this. Jason was originally offered at Washington to play safety. His brother is Everrette Thompson who has been an edge of the NFL player and he’s cousins with the Asiatas. Either he comes in and wins the QB derby or Utah picked up a hell of an athlete to play safety. This is the Utes getting better.
Finally, Wes Tonga will be returning next season. While Jake Murphy is departing, that means he, Dres, Kenneth Scott all return along with guys we’ve had in the program and JC WR Kaelin Clay who has speed coming out of every place speed could possibly come from. So whomever the QB is, he will have lots of toys to play with.
Speaking of QB, we did hear yesterday that Travis Wilson likely will not participate in Spring Ball, and I don’t think that is surprising to anyone. While I remain more optimistic than most that he will return, if he doesn’t I still think we’re going to be OK.
Also in interesting news, Utah signed JC RB Devontae Booker. Now Booker was suppose to join the team last year but it turned out he forged a transcript to try to get in. Now that doesn’t excite me, but I’m also a 2nd chance guy and as long as he stays correct moving forward, I’m fine with that. Plus this is the Pac 12 and if you’re not USC, you needs to take some chances.
So be happy about some some Ute football news for a change.