Kyle Whittingham’s Availability In Final Week Of Utah Football Spring Ball

Apr 15, 2025, 7:03 PM

Utah Insider

SALT LAKE CITY – On Tuesday, Kyle Whittingham and Utah football welcomed the media back to spring ball for the final week of practice.

Utah’s spring game will kick at 1:00 pm M.T. Saturday at Rice Eccles Stadium, where the offense competes against the defense in a unique scoring format.

Coach Whittingham addressed members of the media and hit on several different topics. Here are the big takeaways from Whittingham’s commentary.

Kyle Whittingham shares assessment of Utah’s roster needs

With the spring transfer portal window opening in just a few hours, Utah feels good about its roster and where things stand with players.

“Time will tell, but the early indications are that [Utah’s own portal activity] shouldn’t be too crazy, but until it actually happens, you never know,” Whittingham shared. “Haven’t had anyone opt out, well we had one quarterback opt out early on (and two cornerbacks), but other than that, it’s been quiet.”

That quarterback was Wyatt Becker, and the two cornerbacks, Quimari Shemwell and Sammie Hunter.

With the portal window opening, Utah will be looking to address its shopping list. Whittingham shared where they feel they might take a player.

He named receiver, running back, defensive tackle, and cornerback as the positions that will likely look to address this spring.

“That’s probably the shopping list, but again, it just depends on availability and who we may lose that we didn’t anticipate losing,” Whittingham said.

Whittingham on Utah’s most improved groups, individuals

From individuals making strides to position groups, spring ball is all about development. After five weeks of work, Whittingham shared which individuals and position groups improved the most.

“The wide receivers are starting to take big steps, Zach Williams in particular,” Whittingham shared.

Last week, Whittingham stated that Williams has started to separate himself as the go-to option. Over the last two weeks, the receivers have been productive in practice and really made a positive impact.

“Safeties are playing really good football, and Rabbit Evans is making plays all over the place. Nate Ritchie is doing a great job, Tao Johnson doing a great job, and I’d say those guys are a catalyst for the defense.”

The experience Evans gained in the final games of the season has really catapulted him forward. He’s made good progress in his game and has seemingly cemented himself as the starter opposite of Johnson.

In general, Whittingham expressed satisfaction with the positive steps his team has taken during the 12 practices. He reiterated, however, that there is still plenty of work to be done.

“We continue to take steps forward and continue to have a long way to go,” Whittingham shared. “You’re never satisfied; you’re always trying to get better, and through 12 practices, we haven’t had a bad practice—some are better than others, but we’ve made some progress every single day.”

Utah football’s spring game format

Utah will continue with their plans to hold a spring game. Though many other programs have changed the format completely or limited access to the game, Whittingham and Utah will move forward with a format that should be fairly entertaining.

It will be offense vs defense, where the defense will earn points for certain havoc plays, defensive stops, and other elements. Here’s a rundown of the scoring opportunities for both the offense and defense.

Offense: