He's hard-working. He's blue collar. He goes about his business. I don't think he enjoys the fanfare. He would just as soon just be able to do his thing without any attention being drawn to him. – Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah running back Devontae Booker is all business. The senior doesn’t care much for the spotlight. He just wants to play football.
After rushing for a season-high 222 yards and two touchdowns in Saturday’s 30-24 win over California, Booker acknowledged he didn’t care much for the hype surrounding the game. He said the same thing after the season-opening victory over Michigan.
“I just want to play,” Booker explained as the fourth-ranked Utes prepare for Saturday’s home game against Arizona State. “I could really care less about all the hype on any game.”
The Heisman Trophy candidate then shifted his remarks to the team and noted the importance of taking things one game at a time in order to continue climbing up the ladder.
“He’s a humble kid. He’s all about just playing football and not worrying about the outside stuff that’s going on,” said Utah coach Kyle Whittingham. “He’s one of our team leaders and does a great job of setting the pace for us.”
Booker, by his own admission, leads by example. Although he’s getting used to being more vocal as a team captain, the leadership role is something he enjoys. It’s not really anything new for him, especially the leading-by-example aspect.
“He’s hard-working. He’s blue collar. He goes about his business,” Whittingham said. “I don’t think he enjoys the fanfare. He would just as soon just be able to do his thing without any attention being drawn to him.”
Booker’s numbers, though, speak otherwise. He just became the 13th player in Utah history to eclipse 2,000 yards in career rushing and is on pace to break John White’s single-season school record of 1,519 yards — a mark Booker fell seven yards short of equaling in 2014.
Through five games this year, Booker has 665 yards on 140 carries with six touchdowns.
“He’s a back that you love as an offensive lineman. He can do it all and he doesn’t shy away from contact — or is not scared when he gets hit big because the dude was probably feeling it when he hit him, you know,” said starting right tackle J.J. Dielman. “All you can do is make holes for him and help him back up after he dashes them for 20. So he’s a boss, man, and we’re lucky to have him. We really are.”
Dielman added that Booker is a guy that you can continually feed the ball to and is going to produce. He’s averaging 4.8 yards per carry on the season and 6.5 against Cal.
“He’s a huge weapon and he’s definitely a great, huge impact player on our team,” said quarterback Travis Wilson. “I think that game was just the start of what’s to come. I think he’s just getting started with his good games. I see games like those coming a lot more in the future.”
Whittingham has similar thoughts about it being a bit of a breakout game for Booker.
“It sure was — not that he hasn’t been effective prior to this because he has,” Whittingham said. “Every week he’s made a huge impact, but this week is really the game that put him at that next level.”
Booker doesn’t have much to say about that, though. Not much at all.
“I don’t really care if it was a breakout game for me. I was just doing my job to help my team win,” he said. “But I think of every game that I do play as just a breakout game for me, period. I just go out there and do what I’ve got to do and that’s about it.”
As for individual accomplishments — like eclipsing 2,000 career yards and closing in on school records — Booker flat out says he doesn’t harp on such things.
“I’ve just got to go out there and continue to do what I do and run hard and make plays when I’ve got the ball in my hand,” he noted. “The milestones and everything are good, but I can really care less about it.”
Booker emphasized that he just wants to get out on the field and do what needs to be done to help the Utes win.
Same goes for the Heisman Trophy hype. Booker is currently second in the Pac-12 and ninth in the nation in rushing with 133 yards per game.
“It’s all good and everything when I hear it,” he said. “But I’m just going to continue to stay humble about the whole process and go out there and do what I need to do for that to even come true.”
Besides, Booker’s primary motivation for returning to Utah instead of heading to the NFL after earning first-team All-Pac-12 honors last season wasn’t about football.
“I really came back to get my degree,” said Booker, who is scheduled to graduate in sociology this semester.
Whittingham is appreciative of Booker’s focus on school.
“That is refreshing to see,” he said. “That speaks volumes about who he is as a person.”
Booker has no regrets about his decision to come back, He insists that it doesn’t matter that Utah is nationally ranked and the only undefeated team in the Pac-12, thus far.
That said, however, Booker admits that such success is extremely enjoyable.
“We’re doing some great things so far. We just can’t get big-headed and everything,” he said. “We’ve just got to continue to go out and play hard every week and execute out there on the field.”
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