Going into No. 24 Utah’s season-opening 40-17 win over Weber State Thursday night at Rice-Eccles Stadium, coach Kyle Whittingham said all four running backs would get carries to show what they can do.
Among other things, the game served as an audition for the Utes running backs entering next week’s game at BYU.
In the end, Tavion Thomas, a transfer from Cincinnati and Independence Community College, outperformed the rest by rushing 12 times for 107 yards and two touchdowns. He averaged 8.9 yards per carry.
However, he also lost a fumble that was recovered by the Wildcats on the second play from scrimmage in the second half. Weber State capitalized on the miscue by scoring a field goal.
“Dalton Kincaid is, I think, the best-kept secret in the Pac-12. I’ve been saying that in camp and in several interviews. You saw what he can do.” — Kyle Whittingham
Still, after coughing up the ball, Thomas didn’t let it affect his confidence. He scored on a 14-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, propelling the Utes to a 33-10 advantage.
In fact, on that three-play scoring drive, Thomas rushed three times for 42 yards, including the TD run.
“I just had to forget about the last play (the fumble),” Thomas said.
Did Thomas establish himself as the front-runner on the depth chart?
“We’ll see. He put the ball on the ground. We can’t put the ball on the ground,” Whittingham said. “That was the big downside of it. But he did show a glimpse of what he’s capable of and what he’s all about. We’ll look at the film and grade it hard and come up with a pecking order.”
Whittingham said this week’s depth chart will have a clear 1-2-3-4 at the running back position, unlike last week, when there was an “or” next to all the running backs’ names.
“We’ll see what the film says,” Whittingham said.
As for the rest of the backs, Micah Bernard had six carries for 35 yards and caught three passes for 41 yards.
Oklahoma transfer T.J. Pledger ran twice for 10 yards — and dropped what looked like a sure TD pass in the end zone on the Utes’ opening drive — while LSU transfer Chris Curry ended up with three carries for eight yards.
Asked if he feels like he has a leg up on the other running backs based on Thursday’s performance, Thomas said, “I just want to take it day by day. We have good running backs. Any of us can come in and do our job.”
The passing game looked good overall, despite several dropped passes thrown by quarterback Charlie Brewer, who completed 19 of 27 passes for 233 yards and two touchdowns, one to Dalton Kincaid and one to Solomon Enis.
Backup Cam Rising entered the game in the fourth quarter and completed both passes he attempted for 29 yards and a touchdown to Kincaid.
Kincaid finished with four catches for 75 yards, with a 17-yard touchdown and an 11-yard TD.
“Dalton Kincaid is, I think, the best-kept secret in the Pac-12. I’ve been saying that in camp and in several interviews. You saw what he can do,” Whittingham said. “He’s a tremendous athlete. Great size, speed for a tight end. He’s the whole package. He’s a weapon for us. If he continues to play like he did tonight, he’ll get more touches and more reps.”
Early in the fourth quarter, the Utes drove to the Weber State 1-yard line, but on fourth-and-1, Curry was unable to punch it into the end zone, which was a disappointing development for Utah.
“It’s something we’ve got to keep working on. It’s not for a lack of working on it, I can tell you that,” Whittingham said. “We pay a lot of attention to it in practice. We just need to execute better.”
“We need to improve on finishing drives,” Brewer said. “We probably left at least 14 points out there that we could have had. We need to watch the film and dive into what exactly we need to fix. I know we will.”
Whittingham wants to see continued improvement when it comes to the passing game.
“We know we need to throw the ball better. We need to throw it more productively, more efficiently,” he said. “It’s hard to put together a 10- or 12-play drive five or six yards at a time. You’re going to screw up somewhere along the way. You’ve got to get those big chunk plays, which usually occurs when you’re throwing the ball.”
Overall, Brewer is excited about the potential of the offense heading into the rest of the season.
“I feel like we can be really good in the running game as well as the passing game,” he said. “We definitely can be an explosive offense, one of the top offenses in the Pac-12 and in the country. We’ve got to keep improving to do that.”
Thomas, like his teammates, was thrilled to be back playing football.
“We did good as a team. I was just happy to be out there with my guys,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do and I’m looking forward to it.”