Utah Utes College Football Pregame Quote, 09/25/2023

Saturday’s game had two really good defenses going at it. Offensively, neither team got much generated. But that’s sometimes how games go. There’s all different ways to win a game. That was definitely a defensive battle. Our defense played outstanding; seven sacks, two takeaways, nine yards rushing allowed. There were a lot of good things going on defensively in that game. It started from the first snap when Karene Reid had that pick-six. We got off to a great start and just maintained that, essentially the entire game. Offensively, we didn’t have a whole lot of success against their defense. Numbers weren’t good enough, but we’ll continue to work hard and get things rectified. Special teams was a solid phase for us. The punt game continues to be an asset for us in flipping the field. Overall, it was a good win for us. [UCLA is] a good football team. A win at home against a top-25-ranked opponent.

“We head to Oregon State this week. They’re a really good football team. I know they had a tough loss on Saturday, but they’re an outstanding team. Last time we were up there, we didn’t fare so well. So we’ve got to play better than we did last time. Good week of preparation, hopefully, that’s what it’s all about. Our guys have been good all season long with the preparation. We’ll go through our usual routine and it’ll be a 6 p.m. (Pacific Time) kickoff.

On defending Oregon State’s run game:

You can’t become one-dimensional defensively. We talk about our defense trying to make offenses one-dimensional. We can’t just load up the box and try to take away one thing, then make yourself susceptible to an action pass and balls up the field. You’ve got to have sound schemes that are not going to be able to be exploited. Really, it comes down to fundamentals and technique up front, which is what [Oregon State] is all about. They have an outstanding offensive line, they seem to every single year. They run the ball exceptionally well, predominately the stretch play; that’s they’re No. 1 go-to play. They run it to perfection. So it’s difficult to stop. It’s all about fitting the right gaps and being in the right spot at the right time, with the right fundamentals and technique.

On areas of improvement with the offense:

I think we need to be a little more dominant up front. We expect to be; we’ve got a good offensive line. They haven’t been bad this year, couple games we’ve rushed for over 200 yards. But a couple of the games, we haven’t been so good. Trying to find some consistency up front and physicality. Running back has kind of been a musical chairs position for us, as has a lot of positions. But right now, Jaylon Glover is the lead back, carrying the ball 25 times (vs. UCLA). We’ve just got to be better executing. We’re a zone (blocking) team, we’ve got to be able to execute that better and get the running backs a few more yards after contact. There’s three or four things; probably No. 1 is having a more of a threatening throw game. When teams just know you’re not going to throw, they load up the box, that’s tough sledding.

On the flexibility at safety that Tao Johnson enables:

It gives us a lot of flexibility, first of all. [Cole Bishop and Sione Vaki], I’ve been bragging on them all year, they’re tremendous players. What it does is it brings one of them closer to the box and into the action. There is a little trade-off in man coverage ability. Tao being more of a corner‚Ķis a better matchup. The bottom line is it gets the safeties closer to the box. [Tao] clocked the fastest 40 time on our team. He’s got a great deal of range back there and really can play that center field position really well.

How is this defense similar or different to the 2019 team?

“Very comparable, so far. It’s still early. We’re only four games in, but our defense has been very consistent all four games. Got a lot of really good players, got some depth. They completely suffocated UCLA on Saturday. We’ll have to see how they continue to evolve and develop. But they’re off to a really good start and we’ll see where they can take this thing.

On Jonah Elliss’ progression and his father also being on the coaching staff:

[Jonah] has put on about 25 pounds since he got here. He’s 245-250 (pounds), right in there. When he got here, he was about 215-220. In the weight room, he’s developed himself and put on really good weight. Hasn’t lost a step; in fact, he’s probably faster than he was when he got here. Having played for my father, I know that’s a great motivator. I think it is for Jonah as well. Especially with Luther’s expertise being on the defensive line and that being where Jonah plays. They can talk football and continue to talk about ways to get better at home‚ĶI see it as a plus. I see it because I lived it. I went through it. I think that’s just one more resource and a way to continue to refine your game.

On Jaylon Glover’s skillset:

He’s a guy that can run in between the tackles as well as break it outside on occasion. He’s more compact, he’s not very tall‚Ķhe’s proven to be very durable through the years. He’s got to get better at blitz pickup, we need to continue to work on that. He was very prolific in high school. He rushed for thousands and thousands of yards in high school down in Florida. He was the Player of the Year in the state of Florida‚ĶHe’s a really good running back and he’s getting his opportunity now.

On assessing the tight end room:

[There’s] room for improvement, just like pretty much every position group on the squad. I’d like to see a little more physicality, maybe show up more in the throw game. Especially Thomas Yassmin; he’s such an athlete and has really good hands, big catch radius, really dangerous after the catch. I think that’d we’d like to see some of those guys step up and particularly utilize Thomas more than we are.”