As Utah offensive line coach Jim Harding builds his O-line going into the 2021 season, he is grateful for the role that the Utes’ defensive line plays in developing his players.
“The biggest thing that’s shown through spring ball is competition. We’re going against an extremely good defensive line. That’s always going to make us have to perform each and every day,” Harding said. “Because we have so many guys coming back, there’s never been an opportunity this spring for a kid to take a practice off mentally or physically. That development is speeding up because each and every day, these kids know they’re playing against a really good defensive line. But there are guys good enough in this room to push for starting spots.”
Utah’s offensive line depth can be seen in the depth chart that was released going into spring ball at left tackle (freshman Jaren Kump, backed up by freshman Luke Felix-Fualalo); left guard (sophomore Braeden Daniels, backed up by freshman Keaton Bills); center (junior Nick Ford, backed up by senior Orlando Umana); right guard (freshman Sataoa Laumea, backed up by sophomore Johnny Maea) and right tackle (sophomore Simi Moala, backed up by senior Bamidele Olaseni).
Quarterback Charlie Brewer praised the O-line’s performance during spring ball.
“It’s a great group. Those guys are playing really well,” he said. “They’ve gotten better each practice. Led by Nick, those guys play really hard. It’s a great unit.”
Harding likes the blend of veterans and younger players he worked with this spring.
“Because of how young we are, with the COVID year, Orlando and Bam are our only seniors and Nick Ford is our only junior. Everybody else is a sophomore and below. There’s a lot of depth and a lot of young depth,” Harding said. “If I were to say right now, we have eight or nine guys on the offensive line that can help us win, which is a good problem to have. That competition is going to continue all the way through fall camp and the first week of the season.”
Harding said the five games that were played last season, albeit under unusual circumstances, helped his group in terms of getting valuable experience, particularly Kump, who started all five games last season at right tackle. It was Kump’s first college football season after returning home from a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Brazil.
Kump continued his progression during spring practices.
“He’s doing really well. Certainly, just like all of our guys, we have things we’ve got to improve upon. But he is making a lot of progress and he’s more comfortable being more assertive in terms of making his calls,” Harding said. “There are a lot of things that he saw in a game that we’re seeing from our defense and his reactions are much quicker. We feel he’s going to be a high-level player in this conference.”
““It’s a great group. Those guys are playing really well. They’ve gotten better each practice. Led by Nick (Ford), those guys play really hard. It’s a great unit.” — Utah quarterback Charlie Brewer
Olaseni was one of those linemen that improved during the spring, Harding said.
“The biggest thing for him is now that he is in his third year in the system, his mental errors have decreased quite a bit. His body weight is under control. He’s done a much better job of doing what it takes off the field. He’s around 330 now. When he first got here, that was an issue for him. He’s competing against a really good defensive line every single day. The two biggest things are his comfort level in our system and his approach when he’s doing away from our facility when it relates to his body weight is a huge difference in how he’s performing right now.”
Because of the depth Utah enjoys, Harding admitted some players could explore other options with the transfer portal during the spring and summer.
“To be honest, that is something that does concern me with the youth in our room and the amount of good players we have. What I’ve tried to do this spring is, it’s going to take 10 or 12 guys to get done what we want to this season,” Harding said. “That might because of injuries or continued competition throughout the season. We talk about everybody owning your role. Everybody has an important role to play. Some of the guys may not necessarily like their role as it sits right now. But the great thing is, and I think the players believe this, the players control who’s playing. Coach (Kyle) Whittingham and the rest of the staff aren’t interested in who’s playing. Our job is to play the best players. … There’s a camaraderie that’s built in the offensive line room. My hope is that I’ve done a good enough job of doing that, that we can keep our linemen here. I think every one of them plays in important role, not only this season, but the future of the program.”
Whittingham said he saw some chemistry built among the offensive line during the spring, but he added that chemistry wasn’t the main priority.
“The point of emphasis with the offensive line and every other position has been for every player to get better fundamentally and technique-wise. We’ve definitely seen that,” Whittingham said. “We’ve done a lot of cross-training with the O-line this spring with guys playing different spots so they can play multiple spots if we get into an injury situation in the fall and they’re pressed into that. Now’s the time to do that kind of stuff.”
The process of solidifying the starting group, and helping them find chemistry together, will take place in August.
“Starting Day 1 of fall camp, that’s the time, as quickly as you can, to identify who those five starters are going to be and allow them to play together the vast majority of those first 25 practices. We feel that is an adequate amount of time to have that unit jell. Same thing with the secondary,” Whittingham said. “The two units that really need to play together and start to think as one is the front on offense and the secondary on defense. Those are the two units that need to get used to playing with each other, next to each other. We feel like we’ve got plenty of time to do that in the fall. We have seen a little bit of that start this spring but, again, that was not the emphasis. It’s not a schematic deal in the spring for us. We’re not trying to out-scheme each other offensively and defensively. We’re trying to make each individual player better. If we can do that, then we’ve got a more solid foundation and a better base to build upon come fall camp.”