Utah football LB Van Fillinger gears up for Arizona with improved 2024 play
The Utah football team has another solid Big 12 opponent on deck for Saturday night. It’s going to be another game in which the Utes can show they deserve to be talked about as the favorite to win the Big 12.
There’s some added bonus to beat Arizona after the beat down the Wildcats gave to the Utes last year in Tucson. That 42-18 loss is one that reportedly stands out to the coaching staff and players.
After Tuesday’s practice, one of the best defenders on the Utah football team in Van Fillinger spoke about his improvement this season over last year. He also talked about his memory of that bad loss and how he wants to keep Arizona’s streak of not winning in Rice-Eccles since 2014.
“Honestly, I just remember it wasn't fun,” Fillinger said. “But yeah, no, I definitely want to do better this year and not lose. Show them the progress that we've made and how we've gotten better and put that out there”
Utah football star talks Arizona Wildcats
The defensive end also talked about the oddity of both teams being newbies in the Big 12.
“We're familiar with them. We've played against them a few times, so we know how they play and what they do. But I wouldn't say that that makes it any easier or changes our way of preparation. It's just going to be the same. Doing our best every week in order to get better and play the right way.”
He then talked about how he thinks he’s improved so much over last year.
“Just a lot of change. I had to change a lot of things that I felt like I wasn't doing right. I've just been trying to keep my head on my shoulders and do things the right way. I really just dedicated myself to my craft and I made it everything for me so I'm just going to try to keep doing that. There's no reason why anything should change as long as I don't change what I'm doing.”
On the season, the Utah football star has logged four sacks, but even when he hasn’t logged a sack, he’s created chaos. Fillinger has 3 quarterback hits, 4 hurries and 2 passes batted down.