SALT LAKE CITY — Utah is in the running for somebody who might do a lot of running for Utah.
Running back Ricky Parks, a three-star athlete from Florida who narrowed his potential college football teams to Utah, Iowa, Florida State, Pitt and West Virginia in March, recently tweeted that he’ll announce his decision Sunday.
The Utes and Hawkeyes are the finalists for the 20th-ranked running back in the 2021 class, according to 247Sports.
“Running back coach (Kiel McDonald) just checks in with me everyday and sees how I’m doing,” Parks told 247sports.com. “He just says how much they want me and shows a lot of love.”
Parks will play his senior season at Gaither High in Tampa, Florida, after rushing for 1,251 yards and 14 touchdowns his junior season at Jesuit High. The 5-foot-10, 192-pounder will reportedly graduate early and enroll in college in January.
“If fans want a running back who looks like former stars Zack Moss, Joe Williams and Devontae Booker, they won’t have to look much further than Parks,” a Sports Illustrated article claimed. “This guy is an absolute tank of a running back who is going to lower his shoulder and deliver the boom. He needs to work on his hands out of the backfield and his pass-protection skills, but he has the physical traits to be successful.”
With the departure of Moss, the program’s all-time leading rusher, and BYU transfer Devonta’e Henry-Cole, the Utes will lean on likely starter Devin Brumfield, a junior, and Jordan Wilmore, a sophomore, to handle the bulk of the rushing duties. Utah only signed one running back to its 2020 class — Ty Jordan.