What Stood Out From Kyle Whittingham’s Week Three Press Conference
Sep 8, 2025, 1:34 PM | Updated: Sep 9, 2025, 10:14 am
SALT LAKE CITY – On Monday, Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham met with reporters for his third in-season press conference of 2025.
The Utes are fresh off a 63-9 home-opening win over Cal Poly and now shift their focus to a tougher Week Three road test at Wyoming.
Kickoff from War Memorial Stadium in Laramie is set for 6:00 p.m. MT, airing on CBS Sports Network.
Back on the road for 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝟑‼️
🆚 Wyoming
🏟️ War Memorial Stadium
⏰ SAT 09.013 | 6:00PM MT
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The session lasted about 15 minutes. Here are five key takeaways from Whittingham’s comments as Utah prepares for its second trip away from Salt Lake City this season.
One – Did Utah make a change at QB2? Not Necessarily
In Saturday’s contest against Cal Poly, true freshman Byrd Ficklin entered the game for Devon Dampier, while sophomore Isaac Wilson remained on the sidelines. That understandably caught the attention of Utah fans, wondering about the backup spot.
However, in the post-game presser and again on Monday, Whittingham reiterated that there hasn’t been a change at the QB spot.
“As we talked last week, Isaac Wilson does have a redshirt year,” Whittingham started. “That, combined with wanting to find out more about Byrd in live situations, led to what you’ve seen the last couple of weeks.”
Whittingham then added some additional clarity on the backup situation. “If it were a long-term situation, then I’m not saying that has necessarily changed,” he said.
Still, Utah’s true freshman signal caller impressed not only with his talent but his ability to manage the offense.
“Byrd did do a great job; he really handled the offense well,” Whittingham said. “Four for four throwing the ball, had a really nice run on the touchdown, really looked poised and did some good things.”
Two – Total production is what matters most in the run game
Utah’s running back tandem of Wayshawn Parker and NaQuari Rogers has been quite productive through two games. Utah has preferred a workhorse to emerge under Whittingham. However, the rushing attack has taken on a different look and feel under Jason Beck.
Against Cal Poly, nine different players notched a rushing attempt. Against UCLA, that number got to eight different ball carriers.
With Parker and Rogers emerging as a formidable one-two punch, Whittingham emphasized that all that matters is total run game production.
“The bottom line is the overall output, and we’ve rushed for nearly 300 yards both games,” Whittingham said of the run game. “And so, we’re getting what we need right now.”
Utah is currently the No. 8 team in the country at 279.5 rushing yards per game. Parker and Dampier lead the team 112 yards apiece, while Rogers has tallied 92 yards. Between the three of them, they’ve punched it into the end zone six different times.
Three – Devon Dampier’s biggest improvement? Avoiding hits
“I thought Devon performed well again,” Whittingham stated. “He’s around 80% completion for the season, which is outstanding. We knew that was something we wanted to work on, and he worked diligently at that.”
After a big week one on the ground, Dampier’s individual production was a bit more modest. He finished 17-of-23 for 192 yards and three touchdown passes—tying a career-best. However, added just 25 yards on the ground.
Yet, Whittingham acknowledged that Dampier did a much better job of protecting himself.
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“It was good to see Devon did a good job of breaking out on some runs and avoiding hits,” Whittingham said. “He did a much better job this week of staying out of harm’s way than last week.”
Still, Whittingham made it abundantly clear that there is still a long way to go for Dampier, the passing game, and the team in general.
“It’s only two games, you can’t get too far ahead of ourselves, but through two games he has definitely made big strides in that regard, as well as protecting the football,” he explained. “It’s something that needs to continue to improve, off to a pretty good start, but not real explosive.”
Four – Source of secondary struggles? Poor eyes
After Whittingham credited the defensive secondary for a strong performance in week one, the group didn’t have the best showing against Cal Poly.
Utah allowed Cal Poly receivers to get behind them far too many times. However, Whittingham shared what they identified as the core issue of the mishaps in coverage.
“Poor eyes,” Whittingham said. “That’s really the key is disciplined eyes, particularly in man coverage, because we’re a heavy man coverage team.”
“As soon as you start getting nosy and looking in the backfield, you’re going to lose your guy,” he continued. “And that was the case on just about every route that we turned loose.”
Five – How recruiting has changed over the last couple of years
In-season recruiting used to be everything in college football. Getting players to officially visit for the big games on the schedule was the top priority.
“It’s a lot less visits, in fact, we have zero visits scheduled as of this point in time,” Whittingham revealed. “I’m sure we’ll come up with a few during the season, but as of now, we have nothing scheduled.”
During the summer, Utah hosted somewhere between 50-60 players for official visits. Most players have made decisions but as the season develops, sometimes prospects emerge, and others look to change their commitment status.
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“98% of guys are making summer visits and decisions early,” he said. “There are still a few stragglers, others who change their minds late.”
However, the recruiting calendar has changed over the years, and summer has become the priority. That’s made a big difference for in-season recruiting, which is something Whittingham has enjoyed.
“It has really changed the timing of recruiting,” Whittingham shared. “I like it better now because it gets really hectic when you’re trying to prepare for a game and all that, while still entertain and have official visits.”
