Utah Football Scrimmage: Devon Dampier, Pass Catchers Shined
Apr 5, 2025, 1:05 PM | Updated: 1:08 pm
Utah football tight end Landen King. Photo courtesy of Utah Athletics.
SALT LAKE CITY—Utah football held a scrimmage at Rice Eccles Stadium today, where Devon Dampier and his pass catchers shined today.
It was a beautiful day for football, and Kyle Whittingham’s Utes got after it. After roughly 90 minutes of action, here are some takeaways and thoughts from today’s viewing.
The defense has largely controlled and dictated things throughout most of spring ball. However, today, the offense and passing game, specifically, had their way.
It’s beautiful day for a 𝐒𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐆𝐄 🙌#GoUtes pic.twitter.com/2HbwppmzBT
— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) April 5, 2025
This is Devon Dampier’s Utah football team
Devon Dampier is very clearly the top guy for Utah. It was crystal clear how much more comfortable he was executing the offense than the other quarterbacks.
That is exactly why Utah wanted to bring in Dampier with Jason Beck, and it was evident how beneficial the move actually was. His command of the offense is just on an entirely different level.
Dampier operating behind this offensive line was also fascinating to watch. The line provided him time in the pocket and you could almost feel the stress it puts on the defense. As his time in the pocket increased, the threat of him running grew and defenders got caught between coverage responsibilities and keeping their eyes on Dampier. That created multiple opportunities down the field for Dampier, which they converted more often than not.
Dampier had a very productive day throwing the ball. He made good throws on a variety of different routes and just did a lot of good today.
Utah’s backup quarterbacks Isaac Wilson and Byrd Ficklin
Watching Isaac Wilson and Byrd Ficklin, you can see the difference in knowledge of the offense from Dampier.
Wilson didn’t have the protection Dampier did behind the second-unit offensive line, and the defense created more havoc against him. He’s going through the growing pains of learning a new offense. He made some throws that still reminded you of the talent, but it was clear today that Wilson needs time.
Ficklin has an advantage as an athlete, as it gives him something to hone in on in the offense – the read-option. He’s found a lot of success there because of his ability to run and throw off that. He’s also competing against the second and third-team defenses. However, the flashes of his ability are promising.
Some will scoff at his throwing motion, but he’s a lefty, and it just looks different. He’s tightened his motion from his high school film, and it’s really seemed to help. He has a live arm, throws a really tight spiral, and made some really impressive throws. Ficklin has plenty to learn and work on but the natural ability is exciting.
Utah’s tight ends were prominently featured today
The tight end room is still very prominent in the offense. Landen King, Dallen Bentley, and Hunter Andrews all made plays in the passing game, some big plays too. Despite concerns or questions about it, the tight ends are going to be heavily involved in Beck’s offense.
Bentley made one of the highlight grabs of the day. Streaking down the sideline with a defender all over him, he went up and made a contested grab, while getting a toe inbounds to complete a 30-ish yard reception.
Andrews made one of the more impressive plays, as he caught a pass, not on the move, but turned around with defenders around him and then outran everyone for about 55 yards to get it into the end zone. Whittingham previously shared that Andrews is a 4.4 guy, and that was very apparent in that play.
King caught multiple passes, in fact, multiple touchdown passes today. He looks to have good chemistry brewing with Dampier.
A collective effort from the receivers in scrimmage
As illustrated to this point, the passing game had a good day, and the receivers played a big role in that. Multiple guys caught passes from Dampier and contributed to the big day for the passing game.
Zacharyus Williams was probably the biggest producer, he caught multiple passes down the field as well as a touchdown. However, Justin Stevenson, Otto Tia, Creed Whittemore, and Rayshawn Glover all helped today as well.
There have been plenty of concerns about this group and there is validity to it. However, this group is still producing as a collective bunch. Utah certainly needs someone to emerge as a go-to option. Williams looks the closest to that type of guy but there still needs to be more from him.
Dillon Curtis has a LEG
Today’s effort was really encouraging on the kicker front. Dillon Curtis has brought a dynamite leg to Utah. He booted multiple kicks from 50+ yards out and did so with room to spare. Accuracy was good but there is still room to improve there, however, it seems Utah has upgraded here.
Defensively, a few guys stood out
Scooby Davis had a pretty impressive day. He made a couple of aggressive plays that sort of speak to an increase in confidence in what he’s doing. He nearly intercepted Dampier by correctly jumping a route. He also made a couple of tackles at the line of scrimmage by reading the action and aggressively making a tackle.
Nathan Tilmon showcased tremendous read and reaction skills today. From his safety position, he made a tackle for loss against an interesting run action. Then a few plays later, he had a strip sack of Ficklin, as he blitzed off the edge.
Jackson Bennee may have had the defensive play of the day. After notching a tackle for loss fighting through a block to stop a screenplay, Bennee then added another big havoc play. Bennee absolutely destroyed a running back, which created a forced fumble and led to a defensive score.
💥 @BenneeJackson ➡️ @lancefrmdabean 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐗‼️#GoUtes pic.twitter.com/XbSWBvHIQ7
— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) April 5, 2025
Utah defense held its ground vs the run game
The Utah offense is new and it features a great diversity of run plays. However, it was clear today that the Utah defense was determined to limit the run.
Utah’s interior of Dallas Vakalahi and Karson Kaufusi did tremendous work throughout the practice of clogging up the middle.
Others, whether it be John Henry Daley, Johnathan Hall, or Rabbit Evans, all made plays knifing into the backfield to get stops.
There were positive gains on the ground here and there, but the defense controlled the run game for the most part.
