Utah Utes College Football Pregame Quote, 11/25/2024

Opening Statement
“We had our chances on Saturday night to pull out the win, but didn’t get it done. We took the lead in the game with five minutes left and couldn’t get that last stop on defense that we needed. Unfortunately, we came up short again. Disappointing. A lot of positive things in that game; I’m exceptionally pleased with the way the special teams played. It was the best special teams performance of the season. We made some impact plays‚Ķrecovering the muffed punt return from the opponent set the offense up on the 17-yard line. We blocked a punt for a touchdown. Some real impact plays that occurred special teams-wise. It was good to see, because we had not done much of that this year.

“Luke Bottari came in and really provided a spark. Just like last year when he was called upon in the Colorado game; he will be the starter this week. Isaac (Wilson) will not be available. For a guy that started the season as the fifth-string guy and didn’t have a whole lot of chance to play, he continued to keep himself ready every single week in case. Last week was the week that he got his opportunity. He really did some good things, came in and provided a spark for us. That was good to see Luke do that‚ĶDaidren Zipperer came in and did a nice job. We were missing a couple receivers, so he had his opportunity and made the most of it. Keith Olson‚Ķwe were down to our fifth guard overall, and he came in and really played well. First opportunity to play as a Ute and did some good things. A lot of positives in the game, but weren’t able to get the win.

“Now we’ve got Central Florida on the road, Friday, so a little bit of a short week. Today we’ll be back on the field and practicing as if it was a Tuesday, and proceed through our paces during the week. Central Florida is really potent on offense, leading the conference offensively. They’re running the ball exceptionally well, as is the case with any Gus Malzahn team‚Ķthey’re running it for over 250 yards a week. Another couple hundred (yards) throwing the ball, so just over 450 (yards) a week of total offense. They’re scoring points, good on third down, good in the red-zone. It’ll be a challenge for our defense this week, particularly to face that rushing attack.”

“I will evaluate after the season’s over and see what the situation is. My decision will be made on what’s best for the program, not what’s best for me. It’ll be completely determined on how I feel this program is best served going forward.”

On the quarterback room going into the offseason…
“We’ve got to solve our quarterback problems, I can tell you that. That has been a difficult thing this year. We’re now on our fifth QB. We have one left after that; we have six total in the program. Dallen Engemann will be backing up Luke Bottari in this game; that’s all she wrote after those two. I don’t have a good answer. I hope it doesn’t come to beyond that. Quarterback, as I’ve said over and over, is the most position in football and in team sports period. 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.”

On the futures of Kenan Johnson and Levani Damuni…
“They both would like to come back, as of our most recent conversations. That, like everything, is subject to change. But Levani’s been rehabbing and doing very well. If he decides to come back, he’ll be ready to roll in January with offseason conditioning and jump right into it. Kenan’s a different story; he had a very significant injury. I’ve heard some opinions that it may be up until Fall camp before he’d be ready to (go), maybe not quite at the beginning of Fall camp. There’s a lot more to it than Levani. But they both have indicated that they would love to come back for another year, at least as of our last conversation.”