Utah concluded fall camp on Saturday and has shifted into preparation for the season opener against Idaho on Sept. 3.
Football season is close, and Utah’s players are fired up to play against someone other than their own teammates.
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“I’m just excited to hit someone else other than my teammates and the people that I love around me,” said linebacker Trey Reynolds. “Excited to take it out on some other people.”
One of the biggest takeaways for coach Morgan Scalley is that his team got through fall camp “injury free for the most part.” That hasn’t always been the case at Utah, so Scalley is pleased with where the team is at as August draws to a close
“We got some bumps and bruises, guys that still need to get some rehab in, but we’ll be ready to go for Game 1 and feel very good about where we’re at in terms of depth chart and stuff like that — stuff I won’t talk to you guys about,” Scalley said.
With fall camp finished, the Utes now turn their attention to Idaho. That includes watching offensive film of Grand Valley State, where Vandals offensive coordinator Ian Shoemaker is coming from, and defensive film of Iowa State, where Idaho defensive coordinator Lee Stalker was a defensive assistant.
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Idaho opens the season this Friday against Cal Poly.
“You’re trying to get any sort of information you can get from where these coaches are coming from. The good news is they’ll be playing on Friday, so we’ll get a really good peek at that. But just making sure your guys understand how to study film the right way,” Scalley said.
Utah accomplished what it needed to this fall camp, establishing the depth chart and improving tackling while staying injury-free for the most part.
One area of improvement from Utah’s first scrimmage of fall camp was red zone efficiency. After the closed-to-the-media scrimmage, Scalley had this to say:
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“I’d say red-zone work, kind of a mixed bag. We need to be more efficient, not enough touchdowns in the red zone, too many field goals,” Scalley said.
It’s safe to say that OC Kevin McGiven and the rest of the offense heard that message, as the red zone success rate was up to close camp.
“I’m glad I said that because maybe they got butthurt or something because it’s been fantastic since then. So maybe they thought I was calling them out. Man, really good the next couple days. That was fantastic,” Scalley said. “McGiven is a competitor, man. Maybe he heard that and was like, ‘OK’. No, that was good. Yeah, we’ve cleaned some stuff up for sure.”
As part of the march toward the start of the season, Utah announced its captains and leadership committee for 2026.
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Quarterback Devon Dampier, running back Wayshawn Parker, offensive lineman Alex Harrison, linebackers Jonathan Hall and Trey Reynolds and safety Nate Ritchie were named captains.
Along with the captains, defensive ends Lance Holtzclaw and Ethan Day, safety Jackson Bennee, offensive lineman Zereoue Williams, defensive tackle Karson Kaufusi, safety Rabbit Evans, long snapper Logan Castor, tight end Noah Bennee, quarterback Byrd Ficklin, wide receivers Tobias Merriweather and Braden Pegan and linebacker Cyrus Polu were named to the team’s leadership council.
“You can see it’s a big one, right? You’ve got a big leadership council. You got a lot of guys getting a lot of votes. That’s a good thing. There’s not one guy in that group, whether it be from the captain group or the leadership council groups that you’re going, ‘Oh no.’ Those guys are compelling. They’re bringing others with them. It’s a really solid group,” Scalley said.
Here are three other takeaways as the Utes wrapped up fall camp
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Braden Pegan leads wide receiver group
Utah feels like it has a very deep wide receiver room this year, with Kyri Shoels, Larry Simmons, Creed Whittemore, Ricky Johnson, Tobias Merriweather and Mana Carvalho all potentially having roles depending on the opponent and defensive matchup.
“For the first time in a long time, we’ve had so many good receivers to help our corners at all positions,” said cornerbacks coach Sharrieff Shah.
Utah State transfer Braden Pegan, who transferred from Utah State, should be the group’s WR1.
After catching 60 balls from Bryson Barnes for 926 yards and five touchdowns last season in Kevin McGiven’s offense, Pegan could be a favorite target of quarterback Devon Dampier.
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The 6-foot-3, 210-pound junior is one of the tallest players in the receiver room and has put that height to good use in his ability to snag 50-50 balls. While he’s a big target for Dampier, he also has plenty of speed and was a threat from all over the field. He has sure hands, too, dropping just two balls on 94 targets.
If Pegan’s fall camp performance is any indication, he could have a big season for the Utes.
“If Braden Pegan does what he’s been doing to us, which I believe he will … It not only frustrates you, but you recognize that, all right, if we get a fifty fifty ball from him, we’ve done good. We’ve done good,” said cornerbacks coach Sharieff Shah.
Utah feels confident in offensive line travel group, but still needs to decide on starting five
The good news for offensive line coach Jordan Gross is that he feels that he has 10 players that he’s confident in playing in a Big 12 game.
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“It’s been an outstanding fall camp. All the credit goes to our players on that offensive line. Everything from no returning starters to a new offense to a new O-line coach, there’s just so much that they’ve had to take on and every day has been just even more encouragement to me that they are all in on being a really great unit this year,” Gross said.
The Utes, of course, replace all five starters from last season’s fantastic offensive line, and finding the right combination of players for Utah’s first game has been one of the key storylines in fall camp.
While the Utes have a great idea of who those five will be, Gross is still finalizing that starting unit.
“Honestly, still working to identify who that first five will be when we take the field. And that’s a very good thing. Not, ‘Oh crap, who is it going to be? Dang it, who do I need to pick out of this unit?’ So been a lot of fun. I’m very lucky. It’s a great group,” Gross said.
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Alex Harrison, Zereoue Williams, Keith Olson, Solatoa Moea’i, Kelvin Obot, Isaiah Garcia and Cedric Jefferson are expected to at least be in the rotation. Which combination of those players will start is still to be determined, and could even change after the first game if the starting group isn’t playing the way they need to.
Byrd Ficklin’s role will be fascinating to watch
After last season, Utah coaches are not going to let Byrd Ficklin sit idly on the sidelines. Not after directly contributing to three Ute wins and rushing for 513 yards and three touchdowns last year.
“A lot of explosiveness. A lot of explosive plays. Even when I’m on or off the field, no matter what’s going to happen, something exciting is going to be on the field,” Ficklin said. “Every player is going to be exciting, a lot of speed, a lot of gos, everything.”
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Utah has largely kept the specifics of Ficklin’s offensive involvement under wraps, but he will see the field plenty this year in a variety of different positions, including some packages with Dampier at quarterback.
“I think with Byrd, it’s utilization. How can you contribute and what does that look like?” McGiven said this spring. “He’s like a Swiss army knife and without giving up the ship, there’s a lot of different things that he can do on a play-to-play basis and different places that he can line up. And we need to be able to utilize those and get creative with those packages.”
