There’s a lot of pressure on Devon Dampier this season.
Along with his old offensive coordinator at New Mexico, Jason Beck, Dampier is the big hope for Utah after two seasons of middling-to-poor quarterback play.
Fair or not, the former Lobo signal-caller’s performance is going to be heavily scrutinized this season by a fanbase that’s hungry for offense. All offseason long, coaches have touted Dampier as the difference-maker that the Utes have been needing.
“If spring ball is any indication, you guys are in for a treat to watch him play this fall,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said about Dampier.
While there’s 11 players on offense, the hopes and dreams of a program desperate to bounce back after a losing season have been mostly placed on one player.
Do the expectations ever get to him?
“I try not to think about too much of the outside noise,” Dampier told the Deseret News. “I stay very to myself and the team, so I think we’re doing a great thing over here and I play with high expectations, so I expect the world out of this team.”
If he’s feeling any sense of pressure, he’s not showing it.
Utah’s new starting quarterback always has a smile on his face and has injected the program with a shot of positive energy when it needed it most after a trudge through a dismal 5-7 season where the Utes seemed to lose the same way for seven consecutive games.
From the moment he arrived in Salt Lake City, Dampier’s leadership was apparent.
It’s not always easy to take command of a locker room full of new faces, but it’s something that’s come naturally to him, dating all the way back to his time in youth football.
Dampier played up two age groups during his youth football days, but still found his voice, even with his teammates being two years older than him.
“When I was 8 I was playing 10U, so just to be around older guys being a quarterback, I had to be a leader already to older guys so it just kind of is something I grew up doing,” Dampier said.
His natural knack for leadership was further refined in high school.
Dampier transferred from Phoenix Pinnacle High to Saguaro High in Scottsdale, Arizona, ahead of his sophomore year, and had to sit out five games in the 2021 season due to transfer rules.
Positive vibes
“Right from day one, he just had so much positivity,” Frank Ruben, a longtime assistant coach at Saguaro, told the Deseret News. “Knowing that he came in as a transfer he knew he had to sit out five of the games, but he worked hard, competed well and was a total selfless team player, ran scout offense for us. He just did everything you asked of him.
“While he was biding his time, the positive energy he brought coming in from Pinnacle was an immediate impact to the program. I mean, kids were drawn to him. He was a natural leader, and when he finally had his chance to compete, he stepped up and did some great things, there’s no doubt.”
When Dampier became eligible, he and starting quarterback Ridge Docekal both played in most games, but when the playoffs rolled around, it was Dampier that was crowned the starter.
“I definitely thought he was going to get to the next level and contribute just as he did when he was at Saguaro. There was no doubt in my mind. He’s the kind of person that wherever you plug him in, it’s successful. He makes that team a better team.”
— Frank Ruben
Dampier led Saguaro through the open division playoffs — the toughest classification in Arizona — defeating Hamilton in the semifinals (Dampier ran for 204 yards and three touchdowns) to set up a championship matchup against Chandler.
In the Arizona open division state championship, Dampier guided Saguaro to a 20-15 win to claim the title, throwing for 172 yards and two touchdowns and adding 134 yards on the ground. It was the first time in five years that a team other than Chandler had won the open state championship.
“He made very good, sound decisions, didn’t try to do it all himself, so to speak. He ran when he needed to, but he was great at distributing the ball, making smart decisions passing and everything,” Ruben said. “Utilize the skill players that were around him, utilize the offensive line to run behind. Just had a perfect game plan built in his instincts.”
Dampier’s 45-yard touchdown pass to Jaedon Matthews with 4:25 left gave Saguaro the lead for good and as the celebration ensued when the clock expired Dampier took a beat to really soak in the moment after leading his team to the title.
“He maintained, he stayed steady, he stayed positive. Even when things didn’t look like it was going our way,” Ruben said. “He never let down. He just kept keeping the kids fired up. And again, like I said, when you have that kind of personality and those natural leadership skills, great things happen.”
During his senior year, Dampier once again shined, throwing for 2,400 yards and adding 1,300 on the ground. He led Saguaro back to the title game with a 43-42 semifinal win over Liberty that featured a 14-point comeback with eight minutes to play.
Dampier threw the touchdown to get Saguaro within one point, then threw the two-point conversion for the win.
“He put together a couple of drives that took us into the win column,” Ruben said.
“And that was kind of the nature of our team, was to never give up no matter what the situation is. And he was that kind of guy that just kept staying fired up and we just kept battling back and then gambled on a two-point conversion and took the lead.”
Dampier and Saguaro couldn’t pull off back-to-back titles, losing to Basha High by seven in the championship game, but it was a highly successful individual season for Dampier, who was named Arizona’s high school football player of the year.
“He was just a better version. A bigger, better version of himself, a little more mature, led the team,” Ruben said.
Getting his start at New Mexico
After a stellar high school career, Dampier moved one state east, starting his collegiate career at New Mexico.
Dampier played in nine contests, starting one game, and threw for 525 yards, six touchdowns and no interceptions, adding 328 yards and four scores on the ground.
That freshman season where he got to learn behind starter Dylan Hopkins proved to be essential in acclimating Dampier to the college game.
“Just coming in as a freshman, I got to learn behind Dylan Hopkins when I first got there,” Dampier said. “So just being able to learn and sit on that sideline, I actually was able to get in a couple times as well.
“So it’s the experience to get to learn. I didn’t come into college as a starter. I came in as someone who had to sit behind. So just to get that full experience through college, it’s great.”
With Hopkins graduated, and with former BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall taking over in Albuquerque the following season, it was clear who the starting quarterback should be.
With Dampier under center full time and Mendenhall assistant Jason Beck in charge of the offense, New Mexico enjoyed its greatest offensive season in school history, generating 484.2 yards per game (No. 4 in the nation).
Dampier was a huge reason why, contributing 3,934 yards and 31 touchdowns himself through the air and on the ground.
“I definitely thought he was going to get to the next level and contribute just as he did when he was at Saguaro,” Ruben, his high school assistant coach, said. “There was no doubt in my mind. He’s the kind of person that wherever you plug him in, it’s successful. He makes that team a better team.”
Dual-threat skillset
Beck has always liked to have a dual-threat quarterback, and Dampier fit the bill perfectly.
Beck’s RPO-heavy offense placed a lot of trust in Dampier to make the right read, and the majority of the time he did.
“My favorite part personally is just the trust level. He gives me every play out there,” Dampier said of Beck’s offense. “There’s multiple options of what I can do with the ball and he makes the plays where I get to make that best decision every play. And I think having that freedom, I’m always in control of our destiny and I feel like I make the best decisions on the field.
“I think that’s what separates me as a quarterback ... just to be able to lead my team in that way is all I can ask for.”
The shortcomings of Dampier’s game last season were rooted in turning the ball over (12 interceptions) too much and not being accurate enough (58% completion percentage).
Despite those issues, New Mexico’s offense nearly singlehandedly dragged the team to a 5-7 record — their best showing since 2016 — despite the Lobos having one of the worst defenses in the country.
“Not to be disparaging, but he was pretty much a one-man show and did most of it on his own,” Whittingham said. “And so I’m sure he’s excited to be able to operate behind our offensive line.”
It wasn’t just against Mountain West competition, either — against Power Four (and a former Power Five school) last season, Dampier threw for a combined 725 yards with five touchdowns and four interceptions and added 354 yards and five touchdowns on the ground.
In a 61-39 loss to Arizona, Dampier threw for 260 yards and three touchdowns, with two interceptions, on 57% passing, and rushed for 130 yards and two scores.
In a 38-35 win over No. 19 Washington State, the Lobo quarterback threw for 174 yards and a score on 44% accuracy, but won the game on the ground, rushing for 193 yards and three touchdowns on 28 carries — including the game-winning touchdown run.
His time in Albuquerque was Dampier’s first experience with the college game, and it helped mold and develop him as a quarterback even further. Playing under Mendenhall, now the head coach at Utah State, was a formative experience for the quarterback.
“It’s hard ... Everything he does, he makes you earn it, and I think that’s a great mindset to have and I wish him the best of luck at Utah State,” Dampier said.
After the 2024 season, Mendenhall left for Logan to become the head coach there, while Utah, needing a new full-time offensive coordinator after the midseason resignation of Andy Ludwig, hired Beck.
“Everything he does, he makes you earn it, and I think that’s a great mindset to have and I wish him the best of luck at Utah State.”
— Utah QB Devon Dampier on playing for Bronco Mendenhall at New Mexico
Shortly after, Dampier announced he was following Beck to Salt Lake City, giving Utah its new starting quarterback.
The familiarity with Beck’s scheme — and not having to learn an offense for the first time — has made his transition to Salt Lake City as seamless as it could possibly be.
In addition to the chance to be coached by Beck again, Dampier cited Utah’s offensive line — which returns all five starters, including NFL draft prospects Spencer Fano and Caleb Lomu — as a big reason why he chose to play in Salt Lake City.
“You want to have people on your team that can protect you and just getting closer with those boys, it just made my decision more clear to me that I made the right choice,” Dampier said.
Taking charge at Utah
If you talk to anyone associated with Utah about the Utes’ new quarterback, the first thing they bring up is Dampier’s leadership. Just a few months after joining the program, Dampier was named to the spring leadership council, and while he wasn’t selected as one of Utah’s four captains this fall, he was voted to the 12-person fall leadership council.
“I’ve said it many times, two weeks into the semester we have a leadership council vote. He was a landslide member by the votes he accumulated from the rest of the team after only two weeks being around him,” Whittingham said. “He is a guy that has that magnetism of leadership of, follow me, I’ll show you the way and here we go.”
It started with getting to know all of his teammates on both offense and defense. He took his teammates out to dinner, played video games with them and started to build those relationships.
“Me personally, I don’t find a relationship and a guy like Spencer (Fano) just to block for me because it’s football and that’s what he does. I want it to be a real brother thing, where I know my brother’s protecting me,” Dampier said.
Dampier also took charge of player-led practices over the summer, teaching players (especially post-spring transfers) Beck’s offense.
Utah’s quarterback can bond with his teammates off the field, but during practice, his goal is to improve, and he expects the same out of each of his teammates.
“Just continuing to lead, first by example, through his play being that real consistent playmaker, doing the right things,” Beck said. “Then being a good teammate, which means if you see something, you’re not their friend, you’re their teammate. Whether that’s positively reinforcing what they’re doing or whether that’s asking them to live up to a different standard.”
Leading by example is something Dampier feels strongly about.
“My leadership style, it’s big on, let me demonstrate it first. I hate to be the guy to come in and just start talking and telling people what to do. That’s not me. I love to earn the respect of my teammates first,” Dampier said. “And then you go on from there and my leader style is uplifting, and getting on people.
“Critiquing people, that’s big, obviously you want problems to be solved, but don’t ever just skip past when your teammates are doing great things. Allow them to know that they’re doing great things and they’re going to keep taking strides.”
The ability for Dampier to coach the players during that period — Whittingham called him “a coach on the field” — proved to be extremely valuable, giving the offense a springboard into fall camp.
Whittingham noted that the offense arrived on day one of fall camp ready to go, with few mistakes or penalties, and attributed it mostly to those summer practices led by Dampier.
“Just that connection to be able to come the first two practices instead of those being days where we’re learning each other, we already learned each other going into those practices. So just getting ahead of things,” Dampier said.
While leadership is an important trait, if you don’t have the talent to match, it’s hard to find success at the collegiate level — especially at the Power Four level.
“He is a guy that has that magnetism of leadership of, follow me, I’ll show you the way and here we go.”
— Utah coach Kyle Whittingham on Devon Dampier
In Dampier, Utah’s coaches feel like they have both a great leader and a quarterback that can make a difference and end the offensive doldrums the team has endured over the past two years.
While Cam Rising and Tyler Huntley could both run the ball, it’s been quite a while since the Utes had a true dual-threat quarterback.
Defenses have to respect Dampier’s rushing ability, which can pay dividends through the air. Whittingham estimated that it’ll be about a 50/50 split of designed runs vs. Dampier tucking it and running himself.
Maybe the most impressive Dampier stat last season was that he was sacked just four times, which is a testament to his elusiveness and ability to scramble.
“Well, it is very important in the way that Devon runs the football with the quarterback run game. We think that’s going to force teams to really load the box in order to be able to combat that, which in turn opens up the throw game and so they work off of each other,” Whittingham said.
Dampier’s athleticism, familiarity with Beck’s offense and success both running and passing have Utah’s coaches excited for what he can do in this offense, with upgrades at the offensive line and at the receiver position from his time at New Mexico.
Beck says that Dampier has made progress improving on his two weaknesses from last season — the turnovers and the completion percentage.
If Dampier can remedy those issues and produce similar numbers to last season, it would be the antidote to two years of middling offensive football at the University of Utah.
He’s excited to prove it on the field, starting on Saturday at the Rose Bowl against UCLA.
“Utah can score the ball. I mean, that’s my only thing going into this game is Utah obviously always had the defense, but this is another year, where Utah is going to be able to score the ball as well,” Dampier said.
