Utah Football Finishes Early National Signing Day With A Top 25 Class
Dec 22, 2022, 9:17 AM
Whittingham discusses what his team can take away from their lopsided win over the Thunderbirds. (Photo courtesy of Michelle Bodkin)
(Photo courtesy of Michelle Bodkin)
SALT LAKE CITY- Life is good for the Utes and it seems like there are no signs of that stopping anytime soon. Early National Signing Day for the 2023 class was a smashing success for Utah football who finished the day with a Top 25 class for the first time in program history.
Earlier in the week, head coach Kyle Whittingham alluded to the fact the Utes felt very confident they would set some records with signing day, and they did just that.
Utah ended the day with the No. 21 recruiting class in the country- the best class in program history, while adding 19 new faces to their deep 2023 roster. There are still some questions as to who will ultimately be staying or leaving either through the NCAA Transfer Portal or for the NFL, but those questions likely won’t have answers till after the Rose Bowl. Still, the Utes are sitting very pretty to this point and feel confident about their future moving forward.
Coach Whittingham gave his thoughts on our @Utah_Football signing class… ✍️#GoUtes | #UtahNSD23
— Utah Athletics (@utahathletics) December 21, 2022
The Makeup Of A Utah Football Top 25 Signing Class
As mentioned before, Utah has added 19 new faces so far for the 2023 season. 10 of those players will be on offense and nine will participate on defense. The Utes will have added three new offensive linemen, running backs, defensive linemen, linebackers and cornerbacks to their roster. They also will have two new wide receivers and one each of quarterback and tight end.
As per usual for the Utes, they have added a ton of a diversity to the team with athletes that hail from all over the country. Five will be joining Utah from California, four from Utah, two each for Texas, Hawaii, and Florida, and then one each for Mississippi, Idaho, Arizona, and Kansas.
- Roger Alderman, OL, CA
- CJ Blocker, DB, TX
- Owen Chambliss, LB, CA
- Hunter Clegg, DL, UT
- Spencer Fano, OL, UT
- Brock Fonoimoana, LB, HI
- Jonathan Hall, DB, TX
- Mateaki Helu, LB, UT
- Mack Howard, QB, MS
- CJ Jacobson, TE, ID
- Jonah Lea’ea, DL, CA
- Caleb Lamu, OL, AZ
- Mikey Matthews, WR, CA
- Mike Mitchell, RB, FL
- Stanley Raas, DL, HI
- John Randle Jr., RB, KS
- Smith Snowden, DB, UT
- Dijon Stanley, RB, CA
- Daidren Zipperer, WR, FL
.@UtahCoachWhitt is up to talk about the @Utah_Football 2023 Signing Day.
Basically, it's been a really good day for the #Utes #GoUtes #UteProud https://t.co/I5Y9DHtLyq
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) December 21, 2022
A Straight-Forward Affair
Sometimes Signing Day can be dramatic, but this year was pretty straight-forward for the Utes. The players Utah was expecting to commit did so and there really weren’t any surprises to speak of for those in the know.
Perhaps for the more casual follower of Utah recruiting, the signing of running back John Randle Jr. from Kansas was a bit out of left field as was athlete Carlos Wilson choosing to go elsewhere, but outside of those two instances, everything went according to plan.
Needs Yet To Be Addressed
Immediately in the aftermath of the Early Signing Period, head coach Kyle Whittingham says Utah is in pretty good shape, but acknowledged there will most likely be some movement after the Rose Bowl that the Utes will need to address for the late Signing Period in February to wrap things up.
“Still not finished, obviously with transfers in play and not knowing possibly who we are going to be losing from the roster down the road,” Whittingham said. “There will be more to come, but for the moment we’ve got all of the signees we expected.”
Michelle Bodkin is the Utah Utes Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of both the Crimson Corner Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and The Saturday Show (Saturday from 10 a.m.–12 p.m.) on The KSL Sports Zone. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram: @BodkinKSLsports
