When the Utes rolled out two-way players Smith Snowden, Lander Barton and Jackson Bennee at receiver in Utah’s first game of the season, it begged a question: Were the Utes playing Snowden and Co. because they were just too good not to be used on the offensive side of the ball or was it out of necessity?
The answer may be a little of both.
After every receiver of note from last year’s team (except Dadiren Zipperer, who will miss the entire 2025 season with an injury) either graduated or transferred, the position group was one of the biggest question marks on Utah’s team heading into the season.
Through four weeks, there are still not a lot of answers.
The only consistent player in Utah’s receiver room has been New Mexico transfer Ryan Davis, who came to Salt Lake City with quarterback Devon Dampier. The chemistry between the two players, and their comfort with the offense, has been apparent.
Davis leads Utah’s wide receiver room with 241 yards and a touchdown on 29 catches.
“Super consistent, super dependable and not just in the pass game but in the perimeter blocking game, run game as well,” receivers coach Micah Simon said. “So he’s doing a lot of good things right now.”
While Davis has been a bright spot in Utah’s offense, there’s a pretty big dropoff after him.
Snowden plays as a receiver on offense and has contributed 57 yards on 13 catches, but had just three catches for 5 yards against Texas Tech. The next “true” wide receiver, Tobias Merriweather, has five catches for 88 yards this year.
Transfer players projected to play a key part in the Utes’ offense, like Larry Simmons and Creed Whittemore, have been mostly missing in action.
Simmons has just one catch for 8 yards this season, but it was a memorable one. The Southern Miss transfer was on the receiving end of Dampier’s wild play against Wyoming wherein the Ute quarterback fumbled the ball, picked it up and fired a dart to Simmons in the end zone for the receiver’s first touchdown as a Ute.
Whittemore, meanwhile, came to Utah from Mississippi State, but hasn’t been able to see the field much this season, playing seven snaps against UCLA and none since.
“Had a little ball security issue early in the season and through fall camp, he’s since corrected that,” Whittingham said. “... In this program, you don’t play on Saturday unless you get it done in practice. And right now he has not played at the level he needs to in practice or I should say he hasn’t played better than the guys that are playing ahead of him.
“And so as long as he keeps working hard and continues to improve, then he’ll most likely get a shot somewhere down the line. But nothing is given to you in this program. You got to earn every bit of it.”
Through the first three games of the season, against weaker competition, Utah didn’t need too much production from its wide receivers — the running backs, tight ends and Dampier himself carried the offensive load.
Offensive coordinator Jason Beck played to what Utah’s strengths were — a good offensive line and a solid one-two punch at running back, combined with a dual-threat quarterback and good tight ends in Dallen Bentley and Hunter Andrews.
But as Utah entered Big 12 play this past weekend, the lack of a deep or intermediate passing game and explosive plays through the air bit them when Texas Tech shut down the Utes’ rushing attack.
Utah had just one pass of 15 or more yards the entire game, though there were a couple opportunities for more.
Dampier connected on a deep shot for a 69-yard touchdown to Bennee. It was a perfect play call, a well-placed ball and a great route by the two-way player, but it was called back due to an ineligible lineman downfield.
Another play Utah wished it had back came in the third quarter with the Utes down seven. The Red Raiders lost Merriweather in coverage, but as he was running his route, he bumped into Davis. Perhaps that affected the timing from Dampier, but in any event, Dampier couldn’t connect with the wide-open Merriweather, who could have gone for six.
“I mean it’s just something that happens occasionally. You’re open and you get missed,” Merriweather said. “It’s just football sometimes. You’re not perfect. No one’s perfect. I don’t expect Devon to be perfect. He can’t expect me to be perfect all the time.”
Throughout the rest of the contest, Utah never really threatened in the passing game, aside from a 44-yard pass to Bentley that led to the Utes’ only touchdown of the day.
Davis had 10 catches for 69 yards on 12 targets, but just two other “true” wide receivers were targeted against Texas Tech — Merriweather had four targets for zero receptions and Larry Simmons was targeted once with no catches.
Just 13 of Dampier’s 38 attempted passes were intermediate or deep, with the majority being short or behind the line of scrimmage.
“I’ve said it before, we’ve got to be able to do a better job of pushing the ball down the field and we had some things dialed up, but between the penalty and overthrow and just not connecting on a couple — we also got a PI in our favor on one of the deep shots,” Whittingham said. “But we got to do better at that. That’s one of, if you were to say what is lacking in the offense right now, that’s probably at the top of the list.”
The long and short of it is that only one “true” receiver — Davis — has been involved consistently in the Utes’ offense. He has the lion’s share of the targets with 36 (29 receptions for 241 yards and a score). The next “true” receiver is Merriweather with 14 targets (five receptions for 88 yards), then Larry Simmons with four targets (1 reception for 8 yards and a score).
“I think a lot of room for improvement for us as a group,” Simon said. “Some bright spots from a couple guys, but you need more out of the group, just kind of point blank period. I just need more out of the group to add to this offense and we’re working for that every single day.”
It’s a two-pronged issue: Dampier is, at times, not either seeing open receivers and not placing the ball on target when they are open. In other instances, the receivers are having a tough time getting separation.
“We got to find a way to get a threat at that position. And you’re right, we didn’t get much involvement with the wideouts today, but you got to get open,” Whittingham said. “You got to get open to get the ball and so we got to do a better job of coaching to help them to get open.”
The urgency to find another breakout pass-catcher has grown this week, as Whittingham announced that do-it-all tight end Hunter Andrews (10 receptions for 65 yards; 13 carries for 113 yards and a touchdown) is out for the season. Freshman JJ Buchanan (six catches for 46 yards and a touchdown) should slide in as Utah’s new TE2.
As Utah tries to get back into the Big 12 win column Saturday at West Virginia, more production in the passing game will be necessary, whether that comes from tight ends, wide receivers or two-way players.
“Guys are going to earn their plays in practice and earn their time on the field on Saturdays and then we just keep trying to find ways to move the ball and give this team a chance to win,” Simon said.
