Utah quarterback Devon Dampier, dealing with an injury, did not practice on Tuesday or Wednesday last week, Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said Monday.
Dampier suffered an ankle injury in the Utes’ win over Wyoming in Laramie, Fox analyst Joel Klatt said on Saturday’s broadcast.
Mondays are a walkthrough day at Utah with padded practices happening Tuesday-Thursday. After Dampier missed Tuesday and Wednesday practices last week, Whittingham said he participated “a little bit” on Thursday.
“I’m going to tell you that it definitely impacted Devon, but if you’re out there, you got to get it done. And so we never use that as an excuse,” Whittingham said.
Dampier struggled in the 34-10 loss to Texas Tech in Utah’s Big 12 opener, throwing for 162 yards and two interceptions on 66% completion. The dual-threat quarterback had his lowest rushing output of the season, rushing for 27 yards on 11 attempts.
Is there any concern that Dampier’s injury is long-term?
“We hope not. But again, we never discuss injuries here other than the injury report, so we will just have to see how it goes,” Whittingham said. “I think he’s in a better place. Well, I know he’s in a better place right now on Monday than he was last Monday, so that bodes well.”
Dampier was not listed on Utah’s availability report at any point last week.
Utah struggled in all facets on offense Saturday, but notable was the Utes’ inability to get much going in the passing game, aside from a 44-yard pass from Dampier to Dallen Bentley that led to the Utes’ only touchdown of the day. Aside from that, the Utes didn’t have a completed pass of 15 yards or more all game (Texas Tech had seven).
The Utes had a 69-yard touchdown pass to Jackson Bennee, but it was wiped away due to an ineligible lineman downfield.
“I’m going to tell you that it definitely impacted Devon, but if you’re out there, you got to get it done. And so we never use that as an excuse.”
— Utah coach Kyle Whittingham
Saturday’s loss puts the Utes behind the eight-ball in Big 12 play, but Utah still has eight games ahead and Whittingham emphasized that he believes in Dampier to turn it around, starting with this week’s game at West Virginia.
Dampier’s health will be key for the Utes going forward.
“Believe in him completely and he’s without doubt our quarterback and can’t panic off one game that was not up to par. And again, we already talked about another reason why that may have been,” Whittingham said. “... I don’t think one subpar game is fair to judge him off that. The first three games he was pretty darn good.”
