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More often than not, you can count on Utah having a good-to-great defense with defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley at the helm.
Last year’s defense didn’t reach the elite levels of years past — too many missed tackles and not enough takeaways — but was still good enough to keep the Utes in most games.
Utah suffered several key losses, whether to graduation or the transfer portal, including defensive linemen Junior Tafuna and Keanu Tanuvasa, linebacker Karene Reid and cornerbacks Cameron Calhoun and Zemaiah Vaughn. But the Utes do bring back some key pieces, like cornerback Smith Snowden, defensive end Logan Fano, linebackers Lander Barton and Levani Damuni and safety Tao Johnson.
As an anonymous Big 12 coach put it in Athlon’s college football preview: “Defensively, they’re replacing a ton, but that’s not as concerning. The staff is great, they’re consistent and good evaluators and developers of talent. They’ve got some good dudes in that secondary.”
Just how much production are the Utes replacing on defense, though?
Bill Connelly of ESPN, who authors the site’s SP+ metrics, recently ran the calculations for the Utes and every other college football team.
“The production of incoming transfers is mashed into both the numerator and denominator of the returning production formula — so if you lose your starting quarterback but bring in someone else’s from the portal, your returning yardage is probably somewhere around 50%. The production of transfers from schools below the FBS level get half-credit,” Connelly writes.
How do the Utes stack up nationally and among the Big 12?
Per SP+, just 56% of Utah’s returning production from last year comes back, putting the Utes tied for No. 58 in the country.
Among the Big 12, Arizona State leads the way with 79% returning production on defense (second nationally). Texas Tech is second in the conference (76%), Cincinnati is third (68%), Kansas State checks in at No. 4 (63%) and Baylor at No. 5 (63%).
TCU and Arizona are tied for the sixth-most defensive returning production in the Big 12 (62%), while Houston is at No. 8 (61%) and Iowa State at No. 9 (57%)
Utah and West Virginia are tied for the 10th-most returning defensive production (56%), while Colorado and Oklahoma State are just behind at 55%, tied for No. 12 in the conference.
Rounding out the least amount of defensive returning production in the Big 12 is BYU at No. 14 (52%), Kansas at No. 15 (49%) and UCF at No. 16 (48%).
Below is a position-by-position look at what production returns for Utah on defense, both from last year’s team and through the transfer portal, and which production from last year is leaving.
Defensive line
Production returning in 2025
- Logan Fano, DE, redshirt junior. 2024 stats: 35 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, one pass deflection, one forced fumble
- Aliki Vimahi, DT, senior. 2024 stats: Seven tackles, two tackles for loss, two pass deflections
- Jonah Lea’ea, DT, redshirt sophomore. 2024 stats: Two tackles
- Dallas Vakalahi, DT, sophomore. 2024 stats: 16 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, two sacks
- Paul Fitzgerald, DE, redshirt junior. 2024 stats: Four tackles
- John Henry Daley, DE, redshirt sophomore. 2024 stats: Four tackles, one sack
New additions with past production
- Lance Holtzclaw, Washington, DE, redshirt junior. 2024 stats: Eight tackles, one sack
Production leaving
- Keanu Tanuvasa, DT, sophomore. 2024 stats: 17 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, one sack, four pass breakups, two QB hurries
- Simote Pepa, DT, junior. 2024 stats: 10 tackles, two tackles for loss
- David Fotu, DT, senior. 2024 stats: Six tackles
- Connor O’Toole, DE, senior: 2024 stats: 22 tackles, 2.5 sacks, five tackles for loss, forced fumble
- Junior Tafuna, DT, senior. 2024 stats: 31 tackles, three tackles for loss, one pass breakup
Linebackers
Production returning in 2025
- Lander Barton, senior. 2024 stats: 72 tackles, two sacks, five tackles for loss, two interceptions, four pass breakups, forced fumble
- Johnathan Hall, junior. 2024 stats: 38 tackles, nine tackles for loss, one sack, one interception, three pass breakups
Production leaving
- Karene Reid, senior. 2024 stats: 54 tackles, six tackles for loss, three sacks, one pass breakup, one interception
- Sione Fotu, sophomore. 2024 stats: 19 tackles, two pass breakups
- Kenan Johnson, senior. 2024 stats: Three tackles
- Josh Calvert, senior. 2024 stats: Two tackles
Cornerbacks
Production returning in 2025
- Elijah Davis, redshirt junior. 2024 stats: 29 tackles, one tackle for loss, two interceptions
- Smith Snowden, junior. 2024 stats: 48 tackles, four tackles for loss, two interceptions, eight pass breakups, one forced fumble
New additions with past production
- JC Hart, Auburn, sophomore. 2024 stats: 5 tackles
- Jaylen Moson, Furman, sophomore. 2024 stats: 20 tackles, one interception, one pass breakups
- Donovan Saunders, Texas A&M, redshirt junior. 2024 stats: One tackle.
- Blake Cotton, UC Davis, junior. 2024 stats: 24 tackles and two pass deflections
- Jeremiah Caldwell, CB, Garden City (junior college), sophomore. 2024 stats: 32 tackles, a sack and six interceptions, including a pick-six
Production leaving
- Cameron Calhoun, freshman. 2024 stats: 21 tackles, one interception, nine pass breakups
- Zemaiah Vaughn, senior. 2024 stats: 40 tackles, five tackles for loss, two sacks, one interception, five pass breakups
Safeties
Production returning in 2025
- Rabbit Evans, senior. 2024 stats: 34 tackles, two tackles for loss, one pass breakup
- Tao Johnson, junior. 2024 stats: 70 tackles, two tackles for loss, one interception, four pass breakups, one forced fumble
- Nate Ritchie, junior. 2024 stats: 19 tackles, two tackles for loss
Production leaving
- Alaka’i Gilman, senior. 2024 stats: 41 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, 0.5 sacks, one interception, one pass breakup
In case you missed it
The Runnin’ Utes finalized their 2025-26 roster — the first of the Alex Jensen era — with the signing of German shooting guard Jacob Patrick, who has professional experience