SALT LAKE CITY — Kyle Whittingham’s “next man up” mantra will be in effect during the Alamo Bowl against Texas on New Year’s Eve.
Utah’s secondary is depleted going into its final game of the year. Star cornerback Jaylon Johnson is sitting out the contest to prepare for the NFL combine and safeties Julian Blackmon and R.J. Hubert are both out.
Johnson has been masterful for Utah this year as a lockdown corner with two interceptions and 36 tackles and was named an All-American. Blackmon was another Ute All-American with four interceptions and 60 tackles. Hubert, Blackmon’s backup at free safety, played in the Pac-12 Championship Game, but is out with an injury.
Don’t expect Whittingham to sit and wallow about the secondary injury issues, though.
“Next man up. You know what they say about problems — 80% of the people don’t care and 20% are glad you’ve got them. Nobody cares about it, so the next guy has got to step up, be competitive and get it done for us,” Whittingham said.
With three players in the secondary out this week, the Utes truly will need some great performances from the next men up.
Senior Josh Nurse, senior Tareke Lewis and freshman JaTravis Broughton will be Utah’s cornerbacks for the week. Nurse has played in all 13 games for the Utes with 23 tackles and a forced fumble. Lewis has appeared in all 13 games with 11 tackles and an interception and Broughton has made four appearances on defense with seven tackles and an interception.
Nephi Sewell, Terrell Burgess and Vonte Davis will play safety. Burgess has 75 tackles and an interception while starting all 13 games this season, while Sewell has played in two games this season — Colorado and Oregon — with eight tackles. Burgess should be the strong safety and Sewell will be the free safety when Utah’s defense takes the field in San Antonio. Javelin Guidry will be the nickel back.
On the other side will be Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger and a cast of receivers led by one of the nation’s best — Devin Duvernay. The 5-foot-11, 210-pound senior wide receiver could be a tough one to slow down for the Utes. Duvernay enters Tuesday’s game with 103 receptions, 1,294 yards and eight touchdowns this year. Duvernay has a good quarterback to deliver the ball to him in Ehlinger, who has thrown for 29 touchdowns and 3,462 yards this season.
How will the Utes slow down or stop one of the best receives in all of college football? By sticking to defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley’s game plan.
“He’s obviously a good receiver. I believe that coach Scalley has a great game plan for us. We’re still looking at some stuff, but when it comes to game time with our game plan, we’ll execute it, make sure no big plays happen,” Sewell said.
“Plan is the same every week. We read our keys, play assignment-sound football, play with great technique and just hope it goes our way,” Burgess added.
It helps that the Utes have had a lot of time to implement a game plan since they found out they would be playing Texas on Dec. 8.
“It definitely helps a lot. It’s better than just having one week to prepare. Texas is a good team and they’re in this bowl game for a reason. Having this much time to prepare, to figure out what tendencies and formations, definitely helps a lot,” Sewell said. “It should be a good game on both ends, but I feel like both teams should be prepared for each other.”
The Utes have been practicing Texas’ plays in preparation for the game.
“Watching film on these guys and practicing their plays, what we could potentially see against these guys definitely does help a lot. Having a lot of time to prepare for these guys does help us out a good bit,” Nurse said.
Besides Duvernay, the Longhorns’ other receivers present a challenge. Brennan Eagles, Collin Johnson, Jake Smith, Malcolm Epps and Keaontay Ingram are all key parts of Texas’ passing attack.
“They’re fast, they’re big, they can catch the ball well. We just have to do what we’ve been doing all year with the guys that we’ve got playing and just go out and play to the best of our abilities,” Burgess said.
The Longhorns are good at winning jump balls, much like USC.
“You can basically throw it up in the air and they’ll be able to catch it. They’re definitely a deep threat. They’re dangerous,” Sewell said.
Simply put, Texas’ receivers make plays.
“They’re not flashy, they don’t showboat or anything. They just go out there and they just play ball and they just make plays,” Nurse said.
Coming off of a Pac-12 championship loss, Utah’s secondary knows it has things to improve on.
“I think we just need to improve on sticking with our coverage,” Sewell said. “We just need to play until the end of the whistle.”
“I think we just have to improve on the mental aspect of the game, how we approach the game,” Nurse said. “I think we need to focus on getting back to who we were most of the regular season and I feel like that will be a great benefit to our advantage.”