Utah Football: Isaac Wilson's Debut | Kyle Whittingham updates major injuries | Dijon Stanley RB1?

How concerned should we be with Isaac Wilson's performance last Thursday and should dejon Stanley be moved all the way up to rb1 all that and more coming up on today's locked on Utes you are locked on UTS your daily podcast on the Utah UTS part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day hello everyone and thank you for making locked on you it's your first listen every single day we are part of the locked on podcast Network and available wherever you get your podcast or on YouTube this if this is your first time tuning in make sure you like And subscribe love interacting with all of you in the YouTube comments as well as on social media where we can follow our show on X lockon mutes if you are in the market for a second listen today recommend you check out lockon college football or locked on Big 12 for all the latest happening across the sport we love so much that is officially back today's episode of Locked on NES is brought to you by ultimate college football head coach it's a brand new mobile game that is completely free has no ads and 100% playable offline you can use the promo code locked on CFB all caps to go inside the game store to receive a free boost to your program you can begin your coaching Legacy today my name is JT wherel former intern inside the University of Utah athletic department excited to be joined on Today's Show by KSL sports's Alex napis and Alex we got a lot to run through KY Whittingham in his weekly press conference so he talked a lot about the things from Thursday's game so we're going to be focusing on a lot of the things like we've had a chance to sit back rewatch a lot of the game now really digest our thoughts from having Utah football back so everything from quarterback play running back offensive line receivers usage everything really about this Utah football team and then briefly we'll discuss a little bit about the the upcoming Baylor matchup that we have closing in soon and you were at the Baylor game uh last year too so excited to get your uh your thoughts on that Bears team but I thought we should start with Isaac Wilson because that was such a Hot Topic point over the off season was who's going to be team's backup quarterback hey Isaac Wilson looked really good in the spring maybe he'd probably win it if it was named today but that's really far away Spring ball I mean fall Camp a lot of things still to play out and Isaac Wilson wins it in Fall camp and cam rising and the first team offense play so well on Thursday that we see Isaac before halftime even he comes in and he struggled that very first drive it's a tough spot to put him in like that his first ever colge snap just that step up in rackle stadium just all the look anytime you make your first play like that there's going to be a lot of pressure and eyeballs on you and look I just think it was a thing where Isaac he had to go out there and experience that and I think in a lot of ways had to make mistakes and to answer my question I posed earlier How concerned as I am I feel pretty good about Isaac still I do not think Isaac's gonna come in and win on the road at Oklahoma State I don't think if Isaac Wilson's this team's quarterback in a big 12 championship game and even like the Arizona game like it's going to be tough but can Utah win with Isaac Wilson playing I still think the answer to that question is yes because what do we see over the course of the game we saw Improvement we saw some bad interceptions but the touchdown throw to Caleb loner that's a dime and there were several other plays throughout the game where I thought he showed gross and Improvement I think this is much more of a case of a guy who came in had to experience college football had to fail and learn from it and now that he did even over the course of that game I saw Improvement so I still feel like Utah can do really good things whenever they need if they ever need to turn to Isaac on the season you hit the nail right on the head JT there's no need to be concerned there's no need to worry about Isaac Wilson um yes it's unfortunate I mean his first his first ever play at the Collegiate level will go down as that sack and his first drive will end up in in an interception but I mean Kyle Whittingham said that it probably wasn't the best situation to put him in towards the end of the uh at the end of the half he said it wasn't the best situation probably should have waited maybe for the start of that second half but they wanted to get they wanted to put him in a situation where he can run a two-minute offense just try to shake off those nerves and I think that's just what we saw JT I think we just saw nerves um I I'm not concerned at all about his performance because like you said he did kind of grow into the game he looked a lot better in the second half he I love the touchdown pass the touchdown pass I think was absolutely fantastic but you know I was just having this conversation other day I think you have to allow the kid to fail you have to allow you have to put him into those situations because he is a true freshman he is 18 He just graduated high school you're throwing him into his first ever college football game even though you're at home even though it is right cycle Stadium the whole stadium is looking at you everybody knows I everybody knows Isaac Wilson even on the national level everybody knows who Isaac Wilson is there's a lot of eyes on Isaac and so you throw him in that situation and allow him to fail and allow him to learn and allow him to grow you absolutely allow him to grow and another group you're going have to allow to grow this season is the offensive line the offensive line was not perfect the very first play of the game Spencer Foo gets beat inside cam gets hit right away he has to throw the ball away because he's gonna get hit that there was a sack given up as we mentioned to over Kyle Whittingham gave the offensive line in his press conference he gave him a B plus I think that's a very I think that's probably what they should grade out as but we're obviously going to be concerned because when you play a team like Southern Utah versus the Slate of Big 12 opponents you have coming up you wanted that to be an A+ but once again also kind of first game type thinks kale lomu his first ever Collegiate start Spencer Foo first time settling back in on the right side in live game action to this new look offensive line with a lot of things being shaken up so I do think there's a lot of reasons this offensive line will improve I think you know things like hey spener Fel got beat inside a few times throughout this game those are kind of things that I feel like he'll learn from take take going forward and get better I still have confidence that this offensive line is going to continue to improve because they have young starters over the course of the season and I mentioned a couple of guys that struggle I do want to give a lot of credit to jiren CP I thought he was really good last Friday last Thursday and that was a guy I talked about that based on what we saw last season I had concerns about him being the center but based on what I saw last week I feel good about him I thought Moi was still pretty good tongai still getting settled in at left guard but the offensive Line's another position that I feel like will continue to grow with time and I even expect them to take a step forward in play as the competition steps up this week in the Baylor Bears absolutely you just got to give that you just got to give them a little bit of time to Jill a little bit of time to to to get that cohesiveness I mean you can obviously build that in in Fall camp and throughout the summer but it's just not the same I don't think until you actually face game time situations until you face opponents um and and it'll take a minute for for them to kind of jail together and build up what we what we anticipate this o line to be I think a B+ is a fair assessment from from Kyle Whittingham I think it's a good assessment and you obviously there's room for Improvement but uh I do think that this o line will come around and once and once it does once it does I think the running back the running game will come along with it as well yeah we we are going to talk about the running back room shortly but before we get that we do have to discuss some of the injuries that were disclosed by KY Whittingham unfortunately Kenan Johnson it is a season ending injury and it's just a heartbreaker for a guy who came over to Utah wanted to have one really good final season win a lot of games then go off to try to hear his name called in the NFL draft now KY winingham did mention he has he will probably slam dunk to get a medical red shirt so hopefully it all works out there but you just hate to see it happen to a guy who came in look was going to be a huge part of this team so he's done for the season aliki viahi is not for done for the season so a little bit of good news there still sucks we don't know when he's going to be back but um two losses for this Utah team the defensive tackle room is still incredibly deep for Utah they will miss vaki who was their third best defensive tackle at least based on what Utah showed last week but Junior tuna and Keanu tanasa for my money is probably the best defensive tackle duo in the Big 12 especially with how good tanov Vasa looked last week he looks like he's just taken another step forward Dallas vaky came in and he looked fantastic I'm still waiting to see the simote Peppa David fotu is another guy that can contribute this Utah team just always has good defensive T tackle play and yeah I think kenan's a bigger loss probably on the outside just because of the difference you feel in the depth out there but Smith snow looked really good it's a guy Kyle Whittingham said maybe we'll play him outside more Scooby Davis is is a guy they really liked a lot of what they saw from him last week cam Calhoun turned a lot of heads during Camp two so this this is still a Utah defensive backfield they me Kyle Winningham mentioned after the game on F Thursday that they also were thinking about moving Tao Johnson back down to be that kind of nickel Corner because they have guys like Gilman and Nate Richie at safety so once the cornerback position is another area where I'm like okay the Johnson loss is a big loss for this team but they still have the bodies there to be able to navigate that loss and have it not derail their season yeah when it comes to when it comes to the defensive tackle depth I don't think there's much concern there I think that it's a very deep room and someone's gonna someone's going to step up uh while while viahi is out but when it comes to Kennan Johnson I think we're having a completely different conversation because we heard a lot of positives so many positives about Kenan Johnson when he transferred over uh throughout fall camp and throughout spring camp as well there was so there was a lot of chatter and a lot of talk about how impressive uh Johnson had B I was super excited to see him and zamaya vau out on the outside together I thought that was going to be a really really good cornerback combo in in the Big 12 however now we can't see that obviously because of the unfortunate injury when it comes to who's going to step up I absolutely think all the attention turns to a guy like Smith Smith Snowden who we're very familiar with JT we saw him play a lot at Skyridge uh absolutely phenomenal athlete and so I think it's going to I think a lot of heads will turn to him but I think a lot of people will be surprised by cam Calhoun as well it's unfortunate that he wasn't able to go through fall Camp because of uh because you know he's he'd been dealing with injury issues but now he is back he is available he's going to be integrated into the group this week uh per per Whittingham so it'll be interesting to kind of see what cam Calhoun does um and and I think it's a big chance for a guy like Calhoun who's who's coming in as a transfer from Michigan to kind of take over that opportunity to be the guy alongside zayon it is exciting to see who steps up speaking of stepping up dejon Stanley did that last week and he led this team in rushing and receiving yards when you do that from the running back position does that mean he should now be Utah's running back one that's what we are going to be talking about in one [Music] moment but first want to take an opportunity to tell you all about our friends at ultimate college football head coach this is the new mobile game that allows all of you guys to get in and on the action and take over your own college football program because with ultimate college football head coach it's an amazing game that in simulation where you get to step into the shoes of a head coach and lead your college football program to Glory can you imagine actually being the coach of the Utah youths from recruiting players and hiring 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make sure to take advantage of this perk and get your team off to that strong advantage to download the game just visit ultimatecleanmusic Network and that is just the fact that we have college football back and because we have college football back that means we have our Live season previews at 7 pm ET that will be going up on for the locked on channel they'll be streaming 247 this four-part series covers each of the four major conferences with discussions on the ACC Big 10 Big 12 and SEC and teams who have a shot at the expanded playoff so make sure you guys check it out you can stream it on lockon College 247 YouTube channel or on the Amazon Fire TV part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day all right Alex I mentioned it to Stanley he was simply put spectacular six carries for 34 yards three receptions for 150 yards some of you may be thinking he only had the two wheel routes well the second play of the game when cam catches it and just kind of tosses that pass in front of him the ball in front of him even though it's more like a handoff it counts as a pass so got he when then turns the corner on the edge that is a pass still even though it looks more like an end round but this is the play right there where you see Stanley still catching the ball so counts to his receiving stats so should he be rb1 no he shouldn't be because he I don't think because of his size he's built for play in play out the physicality between the tackles but he absolutely has to see more time because he's the fastest player on this team right now at least that I've seen especially on the offensive side because that when you have speed to that level Alex you just have to get opportunities and that speed is so devastating that pre-nap cam Rising realizes okay Utah Southern Utah is not aligned correctly Stanley's going to be open right away so because of his speed around the edges to and his quickness overall he has to see more opportunities I understand that the other three guys might be better between the tackles but as a third down back to supplement maai Bernard as well as just in general like you have to use him more even if he's a decoy because the defenses are going to be paying to attention every time Stanley's on the field now you remember last season when ciaki was stepped in and kind of had these had that opportunity I'm seeing a little bit of a similarity in in those packages right where you he can come and he kind of be a Swiss army knife for you he can catch he can run uh he can he he he has the athleticism and the IQ to be to be very good in both situations and so a djon Stan djon Stanley package is I really hope will continue because I think they can bring Utah a lot of su success but I don't necessarily think he he's rb1 yet um still has a lot way to go as far as developing still has a lot a lot of ways to go as far as physicality maybe but I mean dejon Stanley he's he can be your Swiss army knife coming out of the back field for sure I feel so good about this running back room I know there is not a elite College running back in this room I think maai Bernard's really good I think Mike Mitchell's very good I just don't want him to fumble he had that little fumble scare but he got it back I think Jaylen Glover's another guy tough and Stanley with the speed he provides these are all really good running backs that if the offensive line executes will do their job I don't know how consistently these guys are going to break the tackle and then take it to the house but long drives keep the chains moving I absolutely believe all of these guys are capable of doing that I'd still probably have it right and now go McKai Bernard I'd maybe have Jaylen Glover too after what we saw just with the Mike Mitchell fumble but Mike looked really good too and then Stanley in those packages as I mentioned I'm so much more infatuated with his skills as that kind of Gadget guy that use around the edges more than between the tackles but this feels like a lot of really good options for Utah in the running back room there's been a lot made of not having a guy I think Utah's totally fine not having a guy because they have a lot of quality players absolutely they you look at each I think each guy brings uh their own individual kind of unique skill set to to that running back uh to the running back room and Utah can can very well utilize those different skill sets in different situations um um I do think eventually as we get down down the road and into the season into the thick of things I do think one of them will emerge I I'm not sure who yet but one of them will emerge as that guy as the the the Undisputed rb1 could it be a Mike Mitchell could it be a dejon Stanley sure um it it's gonna fall it's we need what we need those guys to step up we need the young guys to step up and and and really take advantage of this running back by committee that Utah is kind of approaching and and take those opportunities to to learn in game get those get those reps get that experience and hopefully take this running back room on their shoulders yeah it'll be exciting to see who of that group does step up and you know one thing a lot of people were hoping to see step up even in just the first game was the wide receiver group and yes Dorian singer had uh two nice catches and was actually looked at we I talked about on yesterday on Drake with Drake toll that a lot of the times when cam Rising actually went elsewhere with the ball you see him looking at Dorian singer first so I do feel like that singer is a guy who's going going to continue to produce for this team but the wide receivers and the other tight ends outside of brand didn't pop as much as maybe we we thought they would well but that's just also part of the anomaly of what deson Stanley was able to do right like we're not going to see these massive wheel routes go for these huge gamechanging touchdowns again I feel very confident that when I say dejon Stanley had a career had a season high in receiving yards that I don't expect him to do that again is he maybe Break Free for one of those in a game sure but teams are going to be very aware of him now so it'll be hard to do that but Kyle Whittingham talked about look there's going to be some weeks the wide receivers eat there's going to be some weeks the tight the tight ends go off and this year talk team just has so many different packages I remember watching the game live I was like why aren't we seeing Landon King earlier there was a key third down where Landon King got it got in the game early he just didn't get the ball I think same thing with Damen Alford I do believe I I saw him we're going to see once the uh the Utah athletic staff they do track the prun uh who participates in these games so we're going to get to see that eventually but I'm pretty sure he was out there too we saw Cale loner we saw D Bentley as well m nearly brought in a couple of big passes in this one cam just over missed him to so I still feel good about this weapons that room that Utah has because Utah didn't struggle to move the ball in this game that's the thing everyone was like some people are like I want to see this guy get the ball and that guy move the ball but at the end of the day Utah moved the ball so yes I want to see these other pieces involved too but I think they're going to be at different points in the season there just goingon to be a lot of weeks where yes Brant keithy Dorian singer they will be the constants there's going to be a lot of weeks where one guy's going to go off and then the next guy's going to go off because it's a deep room I think Utah has to figure out it is I'm it's a deep room on both the wide receiver and the tight end room so I think Utah's goingon to have to figure out that balance of maybe you know sharing the ball Distributing the ball to the different positions obviously Whittingham said it's going to be a week by- we thing depending on schemes and opponents on who will probably see the ball a little bit more between the receivers and the tight ends but I think I think if Utah can really nail down that balance I think they'll I the passing game is going to be fine I also do think that because Brant keithy got so many chunk plays because dejon sanley obviously had the two big chunk plays and because the the first team offense really didn't play the entire first half anyway it's a little hard to kind of gauge yeah where that passing game is per se when you look at a guy like singer like Alfred who necessarily weren't involved in the game and I think it just comes down to to getting those big chunk plays and pulling your first team by the half no obviously this week against Baylor it's going to be a different story um just like Whittingham said but um yeah I'm not concerned about the production just quite yet yeah I'm not concerned either I'm excited to see the difference in the Baylor game uh Utah us a big favor over Baylor right now so that's something that we are going to be talking about here is this Baylor team hey how different are they than the team that we saw Utah beat last year where it was Mikey Matthews and Nate Johnson and P just piecing together what Utah could offensively and you know getting G the Utah bayor actually ran on Utah okay in the first half and then Utah completely shut down their rushing attack in the second so what kind of a game is it shaping up to be in Salt Lake City this week that's what we got to discuss in one moment but first we got to talk with you all about one of the sponsors of today's episode of lock on nutes our friend at 5H Hour Energy I don't know about you guys but after lunch I get tired and I'm sure you guys those of you who had big Labor Day plans I'm sure you had this point too where it was like you're having a blast the family but some point you get tired and especially when you're back from this long three-day weekend you're going to get tired tomorrow and that's where 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promo code locked on CFB to receive 20% off your order this offer is only valid until September 30th on the order and cannot be used with other promotions the code is not good on subscription orders you can go to 5our energy.com today to get an energy boost back Alex napis closing it out with me here and as we get gear up for Utah to take on Baylor the final thing I two final things I want want to say on uh real quick number one congrats to Chris Curry being on this Utah staff love seeing a former player who never really was able to get his opportunity because of all the injuries he encountered love to see him as a staff and a coach on this team and then also just about cam rising and Kyle Winningham was asked about like hey you weren't happy with how much he ran a lot and he said you know what cam did a pretty good job taking care of himself I obviously got nervous as well when cam took off a few times I just want cam to slide more I want him to go down before he gets hit more but I also understand he's just a competitive guy he's fighting for every yard when he's out there it's a lot easy for us to sit back not in the thick of danger not fighting for what's best for our team doing everything we can to win because we've done everything to try and get back on that field which is what cam Rising has it's a lot easier for us to sit back and say like don't take the hit do this do that then then it is for cam so I agree with Coach W I want him to be a little Smarter on some of those but running is just who he is and you can't take that part out of Cam rising's game because it's just who he is it's his competitive nature that's uh that's what winning said and he's he's not going to be afraid I thought it was going to be important for him to kind of go out and and maybe take those hits and maybe run a little bit to shake off those nerves but honestly JT he didn't look nervous at all I thought his mentality came in uh coming into that game against SCU it seemed like cam Rising was just cam Rising the same cam Rising that we saw back in 2022 is the same one we're going to see this season and I'd love to see that and speaking of things returning this Baylor team has a lot back they have some new pieces dcoin Finn we talked about he's a guy who did a lot of things MC Player of the Year and in the game against tlon he looked pretty good overall right 14 for 22 192 yards two touchdowns but also two interceptions and especially the first one was was was not pretty so this is still a Baylor team they don't have a back either they have a lot of solid players but the offensive line is still a work in progress receivers good players guys who can make a big play and turn the tail of a game but I don't think anyone who's on Dorian singers level even front seven doesn't generate much of a pass rush and this secondary got gashed a lot last year I I don't have a lot of confidence in this Baylor team coming in and knocking off Utah I know you were at the game last year and you saw a lot of this Baylor team shortcomings in person what are your expectations when this Baylor team makes their first trip out to Salt Lake City yeah first of all mlan stadium was absolutely phenomenal um I thought it's one of my favorite visit stadiums that I have visited uh big shout out to Baylor for for that environment it was it was a fun environment out there uh as far as the B actual Baylor team goes last year I think they maybe gave Utah a little bit of a scare I think that game was probably a lot closer than it should have been now with Baylor coming to rcle Stadium I think we're getting a different story um I think you know being in that environment at mlan yeah it was great but it doesn't compare to the environment that you get at Rice huckle stadium and I think Utah is just going to ride that that home crowd and kind maybe I I think they they're gonna out physical Baylor Baylor is not a team that stands out to me very to be very physical this year and so I think Utah is just going to be Utah they're gonna out physical that front line and and they're gonna they're gonna do what Utah does and they're they're they're gonna be just kind of punch bayor in the mouth and now physical Bor here at home yep I feel like that's what Utah is going to be able to do as well I apologize if there's any Florida State fans for some reason in listening to this and you're hearing about phys ality because you've now watched your team get bullied two weeks in a row by lower tier ACC teams but that'll be what uh what Utah is looking to uh to avoid this weekend I'm sorry for St f i I'm sure there's none of you even listening at this point but I just I I still can't believe what's going on with the seminal and I talked about a few weeks back last week actually after their game that this is why games aren't played on paper we rely so much on oh they filled all these needs in the transfer portal so much different watching them come together we felt good about this Utah team because the continuity the players they had back that have been successful with this Utah program that's what it feels like it's going to be another chance to do it and your first statement game if you're Utah against a big 12 opponent I know it's not it's a non-conference game but still the first chance to make a statement and Alex for you this week are you look what do you think it score is going to be you think Utah is making that statement I do I do believe Utah comes out and makes that statement again I like Utah at home um I favor this UT's team uh at R cycle Stadium as far as score predictions line was 14 last I saw or maybe it was 15 it was at 17 then moved to 15 earlier I'm going to go I'm going to go 31 to 17 Utah how about that 31 to 31 to 17 I like 17 I would love to see it I think Utah's got a chance to really give it to Baylor too I'll be giving my score prediction later in the week but Alex for people want to check out more of your work including some exciting things you're doing on Fridays and Saturdays where should they head over to yeah absolutely to head over um my ant is just right there right under the name as always uh go follow at Anapolis Alex on Twitter or X whatever you want to call it there you all the news going on with KSL Sports um covering all the local teams your favorites the Jazz the UTS um the the soccers uh the soccer teams and so everything that you got everything that you got going on we got at KSL Sports so make sure to go follow um and yeah appreciate you stopping by Alex thanks again absolutely man thanks for having me on as always always always a great time that's going to do it for today's edition of lock on use we got a preview Baylor on tomorrow's show I'll be diving into the tape what I see about this Baylor's team some of the Tarlton stuff as well as some of the things we heard about them coming into the season because when you play an FCS opponent there's only so many things you can take same thing that we've talked about for this Utah team with what they have shown so we'll be breaking down that and so much more as Utah gears up for a big test against a big 12 opponent that's going to do it for today's edition of lockon you if you're in the market for that second listen lockon college football has your back and we will be back with you tomorrow