Utes Bulletin: Things Happening In Utah Athletics (Week Of 6/5/23)

SALT LAKE CITY – We have officially reached the summer “break” for Utah Athletics, but the Utes Bulletin will continue on with reviews of what happened the week before and points of interest in the weeks ahead.

This week’s Utes Bulletin features the end of the 2023 season for Utah softball, some interesting football news, a cool event coming up that was revealed on Crimson Corner among other upcoming items for Utah Athletics this week. If you missed anything from the previous week, you can check that out here.

Without further ado, here is this week’s Utes Bulletin that includes stories from the week before and what is on the radar for the coming week of 6/5/23.

Incredible season!! 🙌

Beyond proud @Utah_Softball 🫶#GoUtes https://t.co/4RGWrfnx4l

— Utah Athletics (@utahathletics) June 3, 2023

Utah Softball

Unfortunately, Utah softball’s run in the World Series was a short one after nearly a 30-year wait. Not much went Utah’s way in Oklahoma City after their first game with Washington was delayed due to weather and ultimately moved to Friday morning.

That move made it so the loser between the Utes and Huskies would have to play another game Friday evening. Utah ended up being the team on the short end of that stick and it was just too much to overcome.

In between games, head coach Amy Hogue made some touching comments about encouraging her team to just take in the moment and enjoy adding a few more memories with each other. It was the perfect bow on an overall extraordinary Utah Athletics season.

Utah Basketball

After a couple of months wondering what would ultimately happen with Runnin’ Ute big man Branden Carlson, Utah got their answer, and it was great news.

UTE NATION!!! pic.twitter.com/ClgTLIaRGJ

— Branden Carlson (@ballerbranden35) May 31, 2023

Carlson announced last week he would be coming back for a fifth season at Utah after having explored his value in the upcoming NBA Draft. Carlson’s return should provide the Utes an extra boost along with the work they’ve done in the Transfer Portal for the 2023-24 college basketball season.

The Utes welcomed everyone back into the gym last week as they begin summer workouts in preparation to make another push in the upcoming season.

Got some fresh faces checking in 😎 pic.twitter.com/ULIvvGgvjM

— Utah Basketball (@UtahMBB) June 2, 2023

Utah Football

Did you know that we are now 13 weeks out from the Utes’ season opener hosting the Florida Gators? In our continued effort to count down the weeks till the 2023 football season kicks off for Utah football, we took a look at the Southern Utah University game from a year ago in search of the best play.

As we continue to march closer to the start of college football, a few newsworthy items have come down the pipeline for Utah football starting with some key kickoff times for the first couple of games. One of those games happened to be Oregon State whom we examined a little closer in our post-spring ball countdown.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by KSL Sports (@kslsports)

The Pac-12 solidified some key information for the impending season, releasing where Media Day will be held in it’s new home in Las Vegas.

It’s also worth mentioning that Utah football is back in business with everyone in town and participating in summer conditioning.

Back in business 💪 pic.twitter.com/7YQIHY4pj0

— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) June 2, 2023

Longest Active Home Win Streak

Utah football is top five in the country in active home win streaks coming in at No. 4 with 14 straight wins at home with no losses. We took the opportunity to look closer at how the Utes have fared at Rice-Eccles since joining the Pac-12 in 2011 and let’s just say they’ve been pretty dang good.

Pro Utes

Another week, another big play from former Utah quarterback Troy Williams for the USFL Pittsburgh Maulers.

Additionally, former tight end Hunter Thedford and former safety Terrell Burgess have found new homes in the NFL with the Browns and Commanders.

College Football Hall of Fame Utes?

Earlier today the National Football Foundation announced their candidates for the 2024 College Football Hall of Fame and two former Utah greats are on the ballot.

Congrats to Alex Smith & @weddlesbeard ‼️ https://t.co/PAcIWr93W5 https://t.co/c7rKXpfLzd

— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) June 5, 2023

Former quarterback Alex Smith and safety Eric Weddle were part of the “Original BCS Busters” who helped pave the way for other small schools to have opportunities at the highest levels of the sport and are now being recognized as potential CFHOFers.

Crimson Corner Goes Ute Proud

Crimson Corner had former Utah punter Hank Mondaca on to talk about his charitable organization Athletes For Life and a very special project they have coming up.

For the past few years, Athletes For Life has been running football camps at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota which is one of the poorest countries in the country. Now Mondaca and his crew are turning to the Uintah-Ouray Reservation in an effort to give back and continue to build bridges with the Ute Tribe whom the University of Utah and Utah Athletics gets their nickname from.

Stay tuned to KSL Sports for more announcements and coverage of the upcoming event.

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

Follow @bodkinkslsports