Cam Rising, Brant Kuithe, and Utah Football THROTTLE Southern Utah!

cam rising and Brandt keithy silen their critics with a fantastic season debut both players had historic nights as the Utah youths started off their season with a victory defeating the southern Utah Thunderbirds what did we think of the offense the defense Isaac Wilson's debut we got a lot to discuss because Utah football is back baby all that and more coming up on lockon Utes you are locked on youut your daily podcast on the Utah youut part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day hello everyone and thank you for making locked on use your first listen every single day we are part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day if you are an everyday on this show thank you so much and if you want to become an everyday you can like And subscribe love interacting with all of you on YouTube in the comments as well as you can late rate and leave a review on Apple podcast and we are available wherever you get your podcast today's episode of Locked on news is brought to you by Five Hour Energy Five Hour Energy fixes tired fast with zero sugar and convenient portable size it's the perfect pickme up for getting stuff done you can go to 5our energy.com and use promo code locked on CFB all caps no bases to receive 20% off your order this offer is only valid until September 30th on one order and cannot be used with other promotions you can go to 5our energy.com today my name is JT WIIL former intern inside the University of Utah athletic department on today's show we got a Utah football game to talk about and man what a performance it was by the Utah youths coaches always preach like being perfect and I know Kyle Winningham in his press conference mentioned there was some sloppy things they want to clean up and sure Utah wasn't perfect but I mean 49 to nothing there's only so many things you can say and people could say well it was an FCS opponent yeah that's what you're supposed to do is you're supposed to shut them you're well not even supposed to shut them out I mean that's an unrealistic expectations in some way like when your backups aren't even giving up touchdowns that's where it's incredible and this Utah team was was just incredible tonight so we got to talk about the offense the defense Isaac Wilson's debut there is so much to discuss about Utah's first performance but there's only one place to start and that's the return of both cam rising and Brandt keithy two of the most decorated players in Utah's history when you look at what they've helped Utah accomplish from Pack 12 championships to some of the best seasons in Utah history have included Brant keithy look back to 2019 and 2021 got hurt of course in 22 cam risen got hurt in the Rose Bowl didn't get to see either of them in the 23 season and man did they remind us right away how much we missed having them inside rice eckle Stadium both of them were just spectacular I mean cam 10 for 15 five touchdowns a career high I remember looking that up in the offseason being like all right what is Cam's career high and touchdown passes it's for it's like okay I want to keep that in mind but you never know like when it's actually gonna end up coming up and cam was like no it's gonna come up right now because he had over 250 yards passing and once again just five incompletions he was he was incredible and uh one of his first incompletions kind of came it actually came on the the very first play where uh it was a pressure broke in from Spencer funo got beat inside on the spin and there was pressure in cam M and you're like okay still getting settled in you know learning to feel the pressure and everything and then even that same drive I remember he completed a pass to money Parks it was money Parks his only catch it was a four yards but money had to slow his momentum down and it was even even behind him you're like okay Cam's still getting settled in a little bit but man once he did and even like I said this settled in is him one of those was completions and the other was pressure broken on him and he was in a bad spot but cam was he was remarkable I mean the passes both times to dejon Stanley absolutely pinpoint and will say as well credit to Andy lwig for this offensive game plan it was incredibly impressive there were a lot of people who were doubting Andy lwig last season I understand why wasn't always pretty with this offense but I think so much of that was we know how we know who Kyle winning him is he wants to win and he wants to and he thinks the best way to win is to not take chances on offense in many ways he's right too but there have also been games where that strategy has has obviously bit Utah in the butt so either way last year Utah they had their hands tied behind their back offensively because they couldn't do certain things because they didn't want to turn the ball over but they trust cam so much that they open everything up so they let things rip and man did they work successfully whether it was bomb after bomb to brt gey or tojon Stanley also if you had Deon Stanley being the first player for this Utah football team to score a touchdown on the season I don't know if he would have been in my first 10 picks genuinely and that's no slight against dejon that's just when you mention all of the guys it takes a while till you get to the fourth string running back but when the fourth string running back has a number Ty of four fourstar speed that's where he can't be discounted because W both times he just dusted the southern Utah linebackers and those are great plays as well kind of like little rub routes I don't I would say more rub than a pick play personally but you have the receiver coming inside to where it creates that Collision so that he's able to go free and you're just not gonna be able to run with him when there's that Split Second of contact that defensive backs and receivers going to collide into each other so love to seeing dejon Stanley get loose back to cam Rising he was just so dialed in did a great job figuring out okay where can I go with the ball and you know what else you got to say about C Rising you can take cam rising or I'm trying to figure how I want to wear this we heard a lot right cam Rising is gonna not run as much he's gonna play it safer he's gonna not take as many risks you can all say that and that all sounds good but at the end of the day when the ball is snapped cam Rising is going to be cam Rising we saw that tonight his first he had a first scramble on the first drive where they left him open and he rolled out to the left and you can tell he's a little slower I think than he used to be but uh such a smart Runner still wish he would slide I don't know what the reasoning behind that is um he just kind of awkwardly Falls sometimes or just like throws himself into guys so he can easily go down but Cam's a football player he loves the contact he loves all of it and it was funny the moment where uh they called the timeout after he scrambled one time and you can see KY Whittingham was walking on the ESPN plus broadcast he was like looking for Cam and he found him and it looked like he was mad at him and then he was also laughing because I think there's part of him that tot I mean he totally understands why cam does it right that's the best play it's available like hey no one's open I'm gonna run and get four yards but Kyle Whittingham is looking at it like who cares about the individual Battle of this play the season is a marathon and Utah is obviously prioritizing the marathon over in individual play so was really impressed with Cam overall got Dorian singer involved of course and brand keithy was remarkable I mean brand is so good I mean are you kidding me three of his four catches went for touchdowns this he's a monster his La that touchdown where the four guys all collided with him I mean it's just best tight end of the nation stuff I don't even know what else to say I can't believe he somehow stayed up off that too he's such a great route Runner changes Direction so well fantastic hands he's a veteran been doing this since 2019 at a high level and he ain't G to slow down at all this season so Cam and Brandt were absolutely remarkable Porter Larson put it out there that uh cam Rising moved into fourth all time in Utah passing touchdowns leaders he crossed over 50 tonight so he's at 51 he is three behind Travis Wilson he Brian Johnson's ahead of him at 57 Scott Mitchell's still up there at 69 cam will become the all-time leading passing touchdowns guy and brand will become the career touchdowns receptions leader he's got 19 right now just needs to get to 25 to get to where Brian relly is so loved what I saw of this Utah offense tonight I mean just great play calling cam Rising was firing on all cylinders found what took what the defense give him found guys he he didn't look like him and brand showed no signs of rust for neither one of them I've said this before on the show but Tom Brady had played football more recently than both of those guys so for them to look that good I know it's an FCS opponent but that's what you're supposed to do against an FCS opponent so love seeing them go to work dejon Stanley being involved Dorian singer making his uh First grab were some surprises on offense though and uh there wasn't one area that I find slightly concerning those of you who listen to the show won't be surprised by this frequently and also want to talk about the Utah defense because that was not concerning but uh ALS the injuries obviously concerning that the Utah defense did did deal with so still a lot to dive into on today's lockdown news as we continue to break down a spectacular season opening performance from Utah we're going to continue to do that but first want to talk with you all about our great friends at factor F up with Factor no prep No Mess meals you can meet your Wellness goals thanks to the menu of chef-crafted meals with options like calorie smart Protein Plus and keto Factor fresh 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keep your ride or die alive at ebaymotors.com eligible items only exclusions apply eBay guaranteed fit is only available to us customers all righty keeping it rolling we're going to talk about the defense in one second I covered what the offense was was able to do and they were pretty overall they were very good uh good to see a couple of different guys in running back right deson Stanley has to play KY Whittingham said that his press conference his speed's just too much I know he wasn't included in those top four guys originally but he's goingon to be on that field a lot um maai Bernard looked pretty good Mike Mitchell getting his first touchdown got a key fourth down uh yeah fourth down conversion for Utah then the very next run had like a nine yard run and like totally fumbled the ball you can tell it was his first Carry and then it bounced back up to him thankfully but uh you know how big Utah is on not letting that happen so I'll have to do a better job taking care of that I also thought Jaylen Glover looked really good tonight uh this yeah the all the Utah backs looked really good but there's one offensive position we haven't talked about I guess really quickly on receivers I thought the receivers looked good I I think they did their job d uh Daren zipper we we can talk about Isaac Wilson in a little bit but like zipper flashed genuinely I thought he had some really nice moments you're telling me the future of this Utah receiver room if it was Daran Zippen Daran zipper taan Lions Jerome miles maybe even I would be uh very very excited about that but one last position on the offense we and I think it goes back to something we actually talked about with uh this cam rising and Brant keithy I think we all thought it would be like good to have this Southern Utah game even the Baylor game at home and then the Utah State game because it's before the Oklahoma State game right because it's kind of like you're ramping up getting better until you have a big test we thought that'd be good for Cam and Brandt to just re acclimate themselves to playing I don't think any of us accepted Cam and Brandt play poorly tonight but I don't think anyone expected Cam and Brandt to do have record-breaking performances like they did did tonight I never yeah I mean cam had a career-high in touchdown passes in his first game we haven't seen him in years so I don't think that I I feel confident saying no one exactly thought that was going to happen right so we knew they'd be good we didn't know they'd be this good and we thought it'd be nice for them to have those ramp up games to get ready for the big test that's going to be at Oklahoma State in Stillwater but there's another position group that this ramp up is even more important to and that is absolutely the offensive line they had some really strong moments tonight overall I think they do they did play well they are clearly so growing and acclimating their new positions Caleb lomu is still settling and I thought Caleb lomu was pretty was pretty good overall I did not notice jiren come tonight I I'd spoken in the past last year about how I thought at times he had his struggles I thought he was pretty good Michael mocafi and I need to go back and watch the film I just talk about this after the game uh need to go back and watch him as well but I did notice multiple times where Spencer funel got beat and they did talk about on the broadcast tonight too his first game of the season he's still getting settled in I think he's going to have a really good year for this Utah Squad but there were some things that popped up again that reminded me of some of his issues he had at left tackle uh last year where you know overc committing leaning a little too far forward and to know a tongai had that as well and he's still getting acclimated to his guard spot there was one time there was a Twist and he stayed with the defensive tackle way too long so then you see that other guy come across and and he's not able to regain his balance and get over so I thought fono and tongai once again the offensive line was pretty good overall but against better competition like next week against Baylor I I'm very curious to see how this Utah offensive line does I do think that cam will probably get sacked at least once if not twice next week because you see these I mentioned the very first play of the game Spencer funo gave up a pressure so there are still things that need to be figured out along the offensive line but they had a good game overall those are minor things and excited to see how they do against Baylor coming up so the offense was was amazing how was the defense I mean they were probably even better right let's look at some uh halftime stats for when it was a 35 to nothing Utah versus a southern Utah lead Utah had 339 yards of total offense that's pretty good but how about the fact that southern Utah only had 85 they had 49 yards in penalties eight penalties at halftime they had 30 passing yards they only had six more rushing yards than they had penalty yards in the first half offensive line where were false starting that is the rice eckle Stadium effect we've seen that time and time again where teams come into the stadium and they're just uh they're simply just not ready for the uh for the noise and uh and volume overall right too so uh also the penalties ended up being 13 penalties against Southern Utah for 78 yards and six for Utah uh against for 55 so this Utah defense was electric when you're looking at who were the best players on this Utah defense tonight I thought the defensive line was spectacular kananavasa in particular the broadcast could not stop talking about him because of how good he was he is so explosive on the interior he can eat up double teams and shed them quickly but he's also a prominent pass rusher too because he can win one-on-one as an explosive three technique and Junior tuna may not be he's more of your nose tackle like plug things up and but he does play off the one off the nose uh position often too as well but um he's another guy he's just spectacular I mean there were multiple times where he drove offensive linemen into the center into the quarterback's lap and another guy who just just gobbles up double teams Conor OU looked really good Logan Fondo looked really good van villinger had two sacks I think he only had three last year if I remember the stats correctly and he talked about he battled injuries and didn't feel like himself and uh that is 1,00% what we got to see was he looked like himself played like himself so special day by this Utah defensive line Southern Utah just did not have time to be able to drop back and do anything that they wanted to do and that's why you saw Barry 6 for 11 bar was 1 for seven no matter who was that quarterback no one had the necessary time right no one on Southern Utah had over 50 yards as in the only Barry had 50 yards passing 54 yards uh Lamson 66 yards Rush 44 yards rushing Bales Jr 42 yards receiving I mean there was nothing to be had tonight and that's just because how good the pass rush was the defense in general right when Lander Barton and K Reed are flying around and uh how about both those guys being named two of the best five to 10 linebackers in the nation if I remember the correct stat there so loved what I saw out of them also real quick aside Jonathan Hall made like one or two tackles in this game I I I just think he's going to be an awesome linebacker for this Utah team next year this only game one we got a long time to go till we get to next season but I'm incredibly fired up about Jonathan Hall's future I think he is just a a physical presence of safety that this Utah team is lucky to have or linebacker excuse me that this Utah team is uh is lucky to have there too so uh Lander looked good secondary pretty much no separation only once or twice did Utah defensive back really get beat in this game so Smith snowden's name was barely called Zaya vaugh was outstanding in coverage Tao Johnson alakai Gilman this Utah Mor SC the game plan this Utah defense stepped up they were the more talented unit on the field and they more than delivered their end of the bargain unfortunately one obviously crushing note for Utah is the terrible injuries that we saw Kenan Johnson as and as well as um Alik makahi both those guys suffer and Coach Winningham said that you know they're not sure on the severity but neither one's looking great right now both those would be absolute losses for Utah Johnson was a huge get for this team in the transfer Portal Georgia Tech transfer who's played a lot of college football and was playing well tonight until he was forced to exit the game uh viahi looked explosive did some really nice things and was clearly the third best defensive tackle on this team right now I don't know if it's because of injuries but we did not see samoot Peppa or David fotu instead for Utah we end ended up seeing it was John Leah lyanna and uh Dallas bakai I apologize if I butchered both of those names um those of you who tuned into the ESPN plus broadcast tonight are we probably used to hearing Utah players uh names butchered several times and it's very hard to do what those guys have to do like flying getting familiar with these teams learning all these names learning all these rosters it's not easy I'm just saying but there were a few times I was like oh that's that's not quite right um anyways so crushing injuries there how does Utah replace Place those guys I think a d tackle once fotu and pppa are back I think those will be the main guys and then mention the two backup defensive tackles that got a lot of run tonight for Utah as for uh Kenan Johnson coach wh already mentioned you could see Tao Johnson go back to corner and then put Nate Richie at safety because they just feel better about the depth with with him there but Cameron coun did get in and did did some really nice things a former fourstar from Michigan who just transferred into the team so no matter who's out there for Utah I feel I feel really good about this I mean the Utah we're because we'll talk about Wilson and loner in a moment but like the starting group for Utah they looked fantastic tonight they're stacked and they're not going to do this to Baylor next week right like it's gonna be a better game against Baylor but I don't know how you can leave this game not feeling incredibly Fired Up by Utah not just doing what you're supposed to do but just absolutely dominating in every phase pretty much so I incredibly Fired Up by how this Utah defense looked and the Utah offense as well great effort by them and it's because both those units played so well in the first half they didn't really have to give it too much of a go in the second half that we got to see Isaac Wilson his long awaited Utah football deut finally arrived had some good moments had some bad let's talk about what it all means for his future as the backup quarterback for this team we'll be diving into that in one moment but first we got to talk about our friends at 5our energy you can grab a 5H Hour Energy Shot that gives you the feeling of alertness and energy you need to get in the zone whether you're like me and trying to do a podcast at night after a after a game or just trying to get through the work day Five Hour Energy is here for you they have zero sugars and convenient portable sizes it's the perfect pickme up for getting stuff done the 5our Energy website has flavored Galore like watermelon tropical burst grape Berry and more there's a flavor for everyone and you can try that all on the site you even have the option to build your own 12pack or 24 pack you can choose the flavors and it's delivered right to your front door if you go to 5our energy.com that's the number five and then hour energy.com and get some 5our Energy Products today you can use my promo code locked on cfp CFB excuse me Utah will be in the cfp but this code is locked on CFB to receive $20 off your order this offer is only valid until September 30th on 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 your energy boost alrighty closing this one out let's talk Isaac Wilson we thought we'd see Isaac Wilson this game uh and we ended up we also even kind of predicted on the show we only see cam in the first half that ended up being the case cam came out in uh had already taken his p off that's got to be a great feeling just like going to a football game balling out so well in the first half that you already undress like just or get to dress out take your take your pads off that's a that's a fantastic feeling I'm sure so cam got to do that we didn't see bran again too so it's time for the backups to come in and that of course includes Isaac Wilson and he get a little bit of run right before the half it did not go well got pressured pretty quickly uh made a poor throw SC actually pressured then ran out of bounds then had the interception was his first of two interceptions this is a great learning game for Isaac Wilson I think well I'm going to stick with what I said before I think Utah can win with Isaac Wilson if it needs to if if if Cam were to get hurt and Isaac started every game this season Utah is obviously not winning the Big 12 they're probably gonna have a hard time going into the Big 12 championship game because you just see the difference between a veteran college quarterback and someone like Isaac Wilson who is just learning the ropes right the second interception in particular he should he was trying to force it to kalar In The End Zone when he had loner wide open in the flat it's got to go there there his pocket awareness is nowhere near what cam risings is so the pressure is even magnified when Wilson's in versus cam because when Cam's in this was something I remember we saw with Bryson Barts do cam is some fantastic pocket awareness just the way he Manu Maneuvers scrambles knows when to take off manipulates it he he's a master at it and Isaac will hopefully get there but not in his very first ever College snap and I thought that was that was pretty evident too so yes had some Miss throws had some uh some rough spots but I also thought it some really nice no moments I mean the touchdown pass to Caleb loner that's exact late in the game after his second interception that's exactly where that ball needs to go on his outside shoulder so that the defensive back can't get it that was thrown perfectly and it was great to see Cale ler get a catch get into the end zone he dropped that fade after he ended up pushing off a little bit that you know it's kind of a a ball don't lie I feel like in terms of like hey he totally pushed off to get open but uh love to see how much Caleb loner was involved too and very excited to see what his uh future holds with this Utah offense I he looked pretty good out there when they needed him so I'll be interested to see how much we see him when the game is in the balance even even more so obviously we'll see a lot of Brant keithy D Bentley Landon King and Carson Ryan in certain packages but um serious about loner now because he did get a good amount of run so curious with that but once again with Wilson he had some nice scrambling moments he hooked up with zipper a few times his very first completion was to taan Lions that's something he got to love with Lions high ceiling in potential too and but of the receivers outside of of course Dorian singer and how good he looked zipper really popped to me once again I think he's gonna be really good for this Utah Squad and love that he's already getting reps an opportunity but overall I thought this was a great learning game for Isaac Wilson if you had to say did he play good or he had to play bad if we're in an absolute world he he didn't play very well but he had some really good moments throughout the game that lead me to believe he's going to be a good backup for this team when they need him to come in in certain spots and we've seen this a lot of times too where quarterbacks throw interceptions early you have to make those M there are some mistakes you just have to make in the game in In the Heat of it the thick of things to learn and grow from and I think that was what this was for Isaac Wilson in a lot of ways so uh overall just excited that he made his debut a lot to learn and grow from for Isaac but I think his his ceiling is incredibly High I think if he played this exact game tomorrow and he had the same chance to come in at half I think we'd already see or I should say next week because he needs to watch the film first and go through all of that but then I I think we'll see a massive Improvement the next time we see him and who knows when the next time we see him maybe it'll be Utah State who maybe it'll be Baylor next week right so that's what'll be fascinating to uh watch how it all plays out so great to see youah get a win how fantastic was it to be back inside rice eckle Stadium cheering on cam rising at Brant keithy truly must have been a pinch pinch myself moment for all of you who were able to go there because that is kind of like whoa like it's 2024 and I get to watch this Utah Squad absolutely shine and that is what they did on this Thursday night August 29th to open the college football season Utah football is back it was great to seeing the young guys get experience watching the veterans ball a dominating performance and now the focus shifts to Baylor well mostly the focus we'll do a break film breakdown the next time I uh come on to this show but uh on Monday and we'll talk about the game more in depth and look ahead to what Baylor did as well too so there's still a lot to discuss as Utah they're just getting going so I can't wait for this season to continue to play out we got a taste of Utah football and I'm already hungry for more and I know that you guys are as well so thank you again for listening to the show make sure you like And subscribe drop your comments and just thoughts on the game in general below would love to see what you guys thought of it what you thought of being there how was the stadium Wi-Fi I know that was the big thing that got added this week so uh once again thank you all for tuning in to today's edition of locked on use Utah takes care of business against Southern Utah that's going to do it for game week number one our Focus shifts to game week number two we'll see you on Monday Utah is a winner and I hope you all have a fantastic weekend