SALT LAKE CITY — If college football is played this fall in some conventional fashion, the Utah Utes will have their work cut out for them to come close to the high level of success they had in 2019.
After all, the Utes will have to replace quarterback Tyler Huntley, school career rushing leader Zack Moss and a whopping nine starters on defense, among others.
At least one outlet, however, is predicting Utah will still be a top-25 program, at least when the season starts.
“All eyes are on South Carolina transfer quarterback Jake Bentley this fall. The Utes need him to return to his freshman year form if they hope to remain atop the Pac-12 South.” — 247Sports’ Chris Hummer
On Tuesday, 247Sports published its preseason top 25 based on a panel of eight voters, and the Utes came in tied for 22nd with the Tennessee Volunteers.
Writer Chris Hummer noted Utah was a “controversial team” in terms of the wide range of where voters placed them (six people left the Utes off their ballot altogether, while two had them in their top 20), but he wrote “there’s plenty to like about this team.”
Hummer pointed to a schedule that should be favorable and praised head coach Kyle Whittingham’s consistency and ability to develop players as reasons the team has a chance to be good despite all of the parts that need to be replaced (according to a metric Hummer used from ESPN’s Bill Connelly, Utah is 130th in percentage of returning production from last season, very last among teams Connelly ranked).
“All eyes are on South Carolina transfer quarterback Jake Bentley this fall,” Hummer concluded. “The Utes need him to return to his freshman year form if they hope to remain atop the Pac-12 South.”
The Ohio State Buckeyes topped 247Sports’ list.