Micah Bernard Makes Strong Case For Utah’s Lead Running Back

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Utah running back Micah Bernard made a strong case for the Utes’ lead tailback position on Saturday against BYU.

Micah Bernard had a career night, rushing for 146 yards on 12 carries and one touchdown. He also caught four passes for 18 yards in the loss to BYU.

The Utes are still figuring out their lead running back position but Bernard’s performance might have solidified that spot.

“Yeah, he played very well tonight, ran hard, ripped off some big runs,” Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said after the game. “He’s also a great receiver out of the backfield. So he’s a weapon for us. He played heart out. That’s another thing, there’s no quit in our guys, not that anybody’s alluding to that but I was proud of our guys for hanging in there to the very end and continued to battle and that’s encouraging. There’s a lot of fight in these guys, but came up short. But back to your question, yeah, Micah certainly seemed to get some separation between him and the other backs tonight.”

Not the outcome we wanted but it was a great feeling to go out and get my first touchdown of college at such a pivotal moment in the game https://t.co/0cVcUVPHuH

— Micah Bernard (@ctb_mb) September 12, 2021

Tavion Thomas fumbled the ball twice. The first one was in the first quarter and the second one was later in the game but his knee was down before the ball popped out.

In 2020, Bernard played in all five games and finished with 15 carries for 76 yards.

Utah will wrap up their non-conference schedule on Saturday, September 18 against San Diego State in Carson, California. Kickoff is at 5 p.m. MDT on CBS Sports Network.

Trevor Allen is a Utah Utes Insider for sports.ksl.com, Co-Host of Faith, Family and Football podcast with Clark Phillips III and host of the Crimson Corner podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @TrevorASports.

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