Getting To Know The New Quarterbacks For Utah Heading Into Spring Ball

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – After two quarterbacks left the program following the 2020 season, Utah football is bringing in almost a whole new group of signal callers.

Cam Rising, Cooper Justice and Bryson Barnes are the only Utah quarterbacks that were on the 2020 roster. 2020 Utah quarterback Jake Bentley transferred to South Alabama and Drew Lisk decided to begin the next chapter of his life after football.

Utah went out and picked up two quarterbacks in the transfer portal in Ja’Quinden Jackson and Charlie Brewer. They also signed a four-star prospect in Peter Costelli from the 2021 signing class.

Head coach Kyle Whittingham isn’t concerned with having too many new quarterbacks in the room as spring ball arrives.

“Should be fine in the final analysis, we’ve got spring ball and all summer to work, they’ve already got a good start with quarterbacks and receivers in this first three months of the year throwing on their own and getting familiar with each other,” Whittingham said. “Spring ball is really just trying to get position battles ironed out and get guys situated on the depth chart. That’s our job as coaches to start making those decisions and we are going to evaluate every day and make the decisions that we feel are the proper ones.”

Charlie Brewer is listed as the spring starter. Whittingham basically said without saying it to not read too much into that.#GoUtes @kslsports

— Trevor Allen (@TrevorASports) March 15, 2021

Rising, Jackson, Costelli and Brewer all spoke to the media on Monday morning before spring football practice started for the Utes.

Charlie Brewer Ready To Compete With Utah Quarterbacks

Brewer joins Utah after being a three-year starter at Baylor in the Big 12 Conference. He threw for 9,700 yards, 65 touchdowns and 28 interceptions in 44 games played. With all of the success in Waco, Brewer still decided to enter the portal and quickly picked Utah football.

“I was just kind of ready for a change and get somewhere new,” Brewer said. “Glad it worked out the way it did. Really excited to be here. have a great coaching staff, a great team fortunate to be a part of Utah football.”

Baylor transfer Charlie Brewer said that he is fortunate to be a part of @Utah_Football.#GoUtes pic.twitter.com/51vz1AwXR0

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) March 15, 2021

Whittingham talked about what impressed him about Charlie Brewer.

“The fierce competitive nature that the kids’ got,” Whittingham stated. “Talk to anyone in that program at Baylor will tell you he is the leader on the football team. The guy that everybody rallies around. That combined with some really good statistics, he was the second leading passer in Baylor football history, led them to a bunch of wins. I know that the past season was not what he was hoping for. But you look at his body of work at Baylor, and it’s very strong and more than anything else, his leadership ability to make those around them better.”

Ja’Quinden Jackson

Jackson was a four-star recruit two years ago coming out of high school before enrolling at the University of Texas. After one season with the Longhorns, Jackson entered the transfer portal. Without even visiting Salt Lake City, Jackson picked Utah because of the conversation he had with running back Ty Jordan back in December.

“I didn’t even get a visit so I didn’t know what Utah was really about. So I actually talked to Ty about it and he broke it down to me,” Jackson mentioned. “Once he broke it down and he explained to me that it’s a family and everybody’s together as a unit I just fell in love with it then so from that point on I was just like, ‘I’m coming to Utah.”‘

Utah offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig was asked about what stood out about Jackson and Brewer to where they pursued them in the portal.

“Two very talented quarterbacks, different experience levels with Charlie, obviously a multiple year starter at the Division I level and you Ja’Quinden Jackson, very talented freshmen coming in to join us and we just felt like there were two men that had an opportunity to contribute and compete right away,” Ludwig said. “Anxious to see them with the ball in their hands. We’ve been running around all winter. I haven’t seen them throw the football yet so this afternoon will be a real tell. So it’s a good group, couple football junkies and it’s a great fit in that quarterback room.”

Ja'Quinden Jackson said he has known Ty Jordan since 8th grade. "I called him little Hercules."#GoUtes pic.twitter.com/xAO9Hr5i4J

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) March 15, 2021

Jackson was asked when he met Ty Jordan when they were younger. He also told the media the nickname he gave Jordan when they first met.

“I’ve known Ty since the eighth grade,” said Jackson. “I have played against him in spring football. When I first seen him, he was short, stocky and fast. I called him little Hercules. Me and Ty grew a relationship over time. I took my official visit to Texas We had a conversation about him coming to Texas, which he ended up doing. Then he told me about why he flipped, which I totally understood. That’s when I saw him doing his thing. So I was basically texting him every other game.”

When Jordan passed away on Christmas night to an accidental gunshot wound to the abdomen, Jackson took it hard because he had three people close to him pass away in 2020.

“His death caught me off guard,” Jackson stated. “I actually woke up and seen the news. That following Monday, we were supposed to work out together basically try to get a feel for each other. Because we’ve never been on the same team. We always were competing against each other. That was just another hit to the stomach because I lost three people in one year. 2020 was a tough year. But that was my boy.”

Peter Costelli

Costelli had his senior season of high school football delayed until the spring but he decided to enroll at Utah during the spring semester so he can get acclimated to the team and start learning the offense. It has been a big benefit to him thus far.

“Yeah, I think it benefits me a lot, especially just getting to know the offense as quickly as possible so I can compete as fast as possible,” Costelli said. “Of course, I would want to play I mean, it’s unfortunate situation with without playing high school my senior year, but the benefits are definitely paying off right now just getting to know the offense.”

"The benefits are paying off in getting to know the offense." – True freshman QB Peter Costelli on enrolling early to @Utah_Football #GoUtes pic.twitter.com/7FKiIyvfwh

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) March 15, 2021

Costelli committed to Utah back in April of 2020, eight months before the first signing period and he stuck with his commitment.

“It was just a perfect fit for me, it was just one of those things where everything I need is here,” Costelli stated. “What’s the point of looking somewhere else, so I didn’t really want anyone else to take the opportunity away from me too. So I just wanted to lock myself in and happy to be here.”

Trevor Allen is a Utah Utes Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Crimson Corner podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @TrevorASports. You can download and listen to the podcast, here.

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