Walden Question 5
Reporters discusses Utah's best players
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SportsTranscript
00:00 Give me maybe just two guys on offense and defense that are the real key guys and why
00:08 so.
00:10 So let's start with defense just because that has been the strength of the team.
00:14 I brought up Jonah Ellis a few times.
00:16 You know, he's a kid who really is kind of overplayed expectations.
00:21 You know, I mean, he's played five games and he has seven and a half sacks, right?
00:25 Like second in the entire FBS.
00:28 He's a kid who's put on 20, 25 pounds of good weight as the coaches like to call it, you
00:33 know, gotten a lot stronger hit the weight room.
00:36 I was talking to him just the other day about what's kind of been your success this year.
00:42 And as much as people talk about, you know, those efforts in the weight room and his speed,
00:46 he really has just gotten a ton better in terms of his technique.
00:49 You know, obviously having a dad who was a 10 year star defensive lineman in the NFL,
00:56 you know, made two Pro Bowls.
00:59 It's not a bad thing to have, you know, in your back pocket, not only at practices, but
01:05 also in your spare time.
01:06 And so his technique has really just grown by leaps and bounds.
01:10 He's got this great inside spin move that really has been successful for him this season.
01:15 So he's one of them.
01:17 Another defensive guy who I can mention, Cole Bishop, one of their safeties, just, you know,
01:23 all conference kid, a little bit of do everything.
01:26 He's got the experience.
01:28 He's got the instincts.
01:31 You know, he's picked off one or two of their passes.
01:34 One of the six interceptions they've got this season.
01:38 He's great against the run, just kind of a do it all dumper from a safety position.
01:45 Offensively, might be tough to come up with two as much as the Utes have struggled on
01:50 that side of the ball.
01:52 Offensively, well, you know, if Cam Rising is playing, that changes everything, right?
01:58 Like, you know, he's a kid who has a little bit of it all in terms of what you want from
02:05 a quarterback.
02:06 Obviously, he's their best passer by far their best downfield passer.
02:11 He's a multi year starter.
02:13 He's got once he's healthy, you know, he's got some wheels, he can run the ball a little
02:17 bit.
02:18 So he is a true dual threat if he's healthy.
02:22 If not, you know, you're looking at Nate Jackson as or Nate Johnson rather as the fill in.
02:29 Redshirt freshman, former high school track star.
02:34 And that's the that's the thing, right?
02:36 He's electric running the ball.
02:38 He still is learning the nuances of the game in terms of the throw game, right?
02:42 So you'll see him make a lot of kind of reprogrammed reads, you'll see him kind of struggle with
02:50 decision making in terms of when to keep it versus when to throw it on those read options.
02:57 He is improving a little bit as a passer, but he just doesn't have as much of the playbook
03:02 in his pocket quite yet.
03:03 You know, obviously, having only started a handful of games.
03:09 That being said, they will depend heavily on Jaquind and Jackson, their running back.
03:14 He sat out the last game.
03:16 He's been kind of banged up all season long, hasn't looked totally healthy yet.
03:23 He's a former quarterback who's who's become a running back.
03:27 So he again is still kind of learning a lot of the nuances of the position, but incredibly
03:32 physically skilled took over as the team's bell cow at the end of last season just because
03:37 of injuries to other guys.
03:39 If they can get him going, he's a real threat just because he's got speed and power.
03:45 But yeah, you know, like we mentioned, like running the ball has been a defining characteristic
03:52 of this Utah team, and they just haven't been incredibly successful at it this year.
03:59 One or two games where they've been around 200 rushing yards, but a lot of other games
04:03 where they're sub 100.
04:06 Honestly, they'd like to get up to five yards per carry.
04:09 They're not anywhere near that right now.
04:11 If they can get a healthy Jaquinden Jackson going, I expect you'll see them much improved
04:16 in that area.