Kyle Whittingham: NIL Played Big Role In Loss Of Defensive Starters, Changing Roster Construction

SALT LAKE CITY — As the saying goes, the portal giveth, and the portal taketh, and Utah experienced all of that this past month.

Through the excitement of landing Devon Dampier and Wayshawn Parker, Utah also experienced the pain of losing Cameron Calhoun and Keanu Tanuvasa.

Head coach Kyle Whittingham made it abundantly clear what he felt led to the loss of those two players.

NIL played big role in portal decisions for Calhoun, Tanuvasa

“The absolute overriding factor was NIL, there’s no doubt about it, in my opinion,” head coach Kyle Whittingham shared when asked about the loss of two defensive starters.

Calhoun’s departure came as the first surprise. Utah and Calhoun had agreed to a deal early on in December. However, programs continued to express interest to those around him. Calhoun attempted to renegotiate his deal with Utah, but the disparity was too great, ultimately leading to his portal entry. After a brief portal recruitment, he eventually landed with the Alabama Crimson Tide.

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“Cam ended up in the South East Conference, and he would’ve been battling for a starting job, just like last year, when he was in that rotation,” Whittingham shared.

It’s a similar story for Tanuvasa. After agreeing to a deal with Utah, other programs continued to express interest in him. After wrestling with his decision for a couple of weeks, Tanuvasa ultimately entered the transfer portal.

“Keanu was a very good player for us last year, but they both felt it made more sense to move on for their own reasons, but NIL is something that was certainly in the equation,” Whittingham said.

Tanuvasa has shared his personal reasons behind his decision. However, Tanuvasa certainly benefitted from the market for defensive linemen as well. According to a report from CBS Sports last May, defensive linemen come at a premium in the transfer portal. After breaking the seven-figure ceiling in last year’s spring window, the defensive line market is believed to have significantly raised its financial floor this cycle due largely to increased spending motivation (found behind the On3 paywall) before the NCAA settlement is finalized.

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Utah held onto the nucleus of their roster

“It’s far from a level playing field but we feel like we were able to hold onto the nucleus of our roster,” he said. “Retention is the primary concern, but you’ve also got to have an influx of new talent.”

Spencer and Logan Fano, Smith Snowden, Caleb Lomu, Tao Johnson, and Lander Barton are most notable among that nucleus. Utah was able to hang onto each of these players despite significant interest from other programs. That’s not to make it seem easy, but Utah held tight to these prized pieces.

“We’re doing what we can, it’s always a challenge, and you are always wanting for more,” Whittingham admitted. “The discrepancy between most schools and some of the upper echelon schools is dramatic, I mean, five or six times the amount of resources for some of those schools.”

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Beyond the big names, Utah has brought back 44 scholarship players from this past season’s roster. They’ve welcomed 30 new faces to the program this month—15 midyear transfers and 15 early enrollees. They also expect to welcome 12-16 more, comprised of their remaining signing class, returning missionaries, and potential portal additions come summertime.

Adopting NFL roster value models

Another interesting piece from Whittingham’s commentary was the adoption of an NFL spending model. Given the NIL resources Utah had available to it, they attempted to follow the NFL’s lead in where to allocate their focus.

“We use an NFL model, as far as weighted positions, the more valued positions—the positions you sink more money into,” Whittingham shared. “We had it all mapped out and adhered to it closely. There were a few discrepancies here and there, but for the most part, where the NFL is sinking its resources, we followed a similar blueprint.”

So, how are positions valued in the NFL? Here’s a rundown of the average spending total for each position group across all 32 NFL teams. This isn’t necessarily the model Utah is following but it is a summary of spending totals provided by Over The Cap.

NFL teams are spending more on offense than on defense. The most money is spent on the offensive line, followed by edge rusher, receiver, and then quarterback.

Utah retained their top two offensive tackles, while adding another from the portal. They held onto nearly all of their expected ’25 defensive end group and added two more edge rushers. Utah brought in four receivers while also pursuing an additional season of eligibility for their top pass catcher this season. At quarterback, they secured their top priority, Devon Dampier, added another in Brendan Zurbrugg, and convinced Isaac Wilson to withdraw from the portal.

Steve Bartle is the Utah insider for KSL Sports. He hosts The Utah Blockcast (SUBSCRIBE) and appears on KSL Sports Zone to break down the Utes. You can follow him on X for the latest Utah updates and game analysis.

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