Micah Simon Instilling A Process-Oriented Mindset With Utah Receivers
Aug 7, 2025, 2:15 PM | Updated: 3:57 pm
Utah receivers coach Micah Simon building process-oriented culture with players. Photo courtesy of Utah Athletics
SALT LAKE CITY—As the Utes prepare for the fast-approaching 2025 season, the receiver room is going through quite a bit of discovery in camp. Utah has a nearly entirely new room of pass catchers, which includes two more who joined the program this summer.
Key to Utah’s potential this season is a bounce-back effort on the offensive side of the ball. Kyle Whittingham made changes to his offensive staff, while also bringing around 20 new players who are expected to contribute this season.
Included among the staff changes is receivers coach Micah Simon, who followed Jason Beck to Salt Lake City from New Mexico last season. Simon is relatively new to the coaching scene, but he’s been key to Utah’s recruiting efforts and a newfound culture within the room.
Micah Simon’s process-oriented culture has earned buy-in from his receivers
In a very Nick Sirianni-esque analogy, Utah’s new receiver coach made it known to his players at the beginning of camp that they’re not going to focus on their flowers, they’re going to focus on their soil.
Not the literal kind—though that metaphor probably lives rent-free in their meeting room now—but the daily grind of work, repetition, and habit. Because when you’re focused on the soil—on the work, the details, the habits—the flower will come.
“The ‘soil’ is the daily process,” Simon explained. “The ‘flower’ is the Big 12 championship, and if you’re constantly thinking about that, then you’re not going to take the necessary steps to get there. The ‘soil’ is practice day after day, stacking the positives, and building day after day.”
Simon isn’t just cultivating receivers who can produce in the passing game. He’s building a culture focused on the day-to-day, practice-to-practice, play-to-play situations they work through to build a strong, connected room of pass catchers.
And after hearing from his receivers on Wednesday, it sounds like that culture is starting to take root.
SOIL! pic.twitter.com/1EOv0ANzZ7
— Steve Bartle (@BartleKSLsports) August 2, 2025
Receivers speaking on the process
“It’s just about coming out, being consistent every day, worrying about the process more than the result,” Tobias Merrweather described of his approach to earning WR1 duties. “For me, just focusing on the process, and coming out here to get better every day.”
Coming from Southern Miss and Ole Miss before that, Larry Simmons recognizes the collective buy-in inside the receiver room.
“I feel like everybody—from Tobias, Zip, Creed, RD—I feel like everybody builds each other up. It’s not just one WR1. Everybody as a whole, we all work together to make plays and build each other up.”
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Creed Whittemore, who was here during spring ball, shared his thoughts on his focus in camp.
“Out here in fall camp, our mindset is about making the play that comes to you,” Creed Whittemore shared. “Don’t think about your role, focus on when the ball comes to you, just make the play.”
Acclimating in the offense and with Devon Dampier
Merriweather, a former Notre Dame and Cal pass catcher, put it simply when sharing what led to his decision to transfer to Utah.
“Just the ability to make a difference, that was really all I was looking for: an offense that wants me and wants me to be featured,” Merriweather said of his decision to come to Utah. “Come make a difference, that’s really what it came down to. The message was come make a difference for us, come be a threat for us.”
With a 6-foot-4 frame and downfield ability, Merriweather doesn’t just look the part—he’s quickly become one of the most reliable targets in fall camp. But he credits his fast acclimation to the football IQ in the room.
“I feel like I’ve picked up the offense pretty quickly. I feel like I have a good football brain, so it’s kind of come second nature to me. Guys have also done a great job of helping me,” he said.
As for Simmons, the offense is something that he already feels comfortable with.
“It’s not too hard to learn, I’ve been in a couple of offenses like this; it’s not that hard to learn, and I feel like I’m getting very comfortable with it,” Larry Simmons said of Jason Beck’s offense
The chemistry with Dampier is coming along as well.
“With Dev, we’ve just got to keep working every day in camp, on the field, off the field, in the film room, just getting all the little things together,” Simmons said of his relationship with Dampier.
