As a whole, Utah’s quarterback room is in the best place it’s been in a long time.
Utah arguably has two Power Four starting-caliber quarterbacks on its roster, something that’s fairly rare for the program — especially in the transfer portal age.
Starter Devon Dampier has helped engineer a turnaround of Utah’s woeful offense of the last two years, which was led by backup quarterbacks.
Dampier has thrown for 1,668 yards and 17 touchdowns with just five interceptions on 65.3% accuracy, and has also been a force in the run game, totaling 543 yards and five touchdowns.
Utah ranks No. 6 in the nation in points scored (41.1 per game), No. 10 in the nation in total offense (477.8) and No. 2 in the nation in rushing yards (278.4 per game).
Meanwhile, Byrd Ficklin, the freshman backup, has shined when he’s been called upon. He’s totaled 442 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground and has completed 61.8% of his passes for 301 yards and three scores.
When Dampier couldn’t play against Colorado, Utah had full confidence in the freshman quarterback to make the start, and it paid off in the Utes’ 53-7 victory over the Buffaloes, wherein Ficklin threw for two touchdowns and ran for a score and 151 yards.
With Dampier, who wasn’t at 100%, struggling at times against Baylor, Utah turned to Ficklin for a spark. He responded with touchdown runs of 67 and 74 yards, the latter of which turned the tide for good in what was an eight-point game.
In the transfer portal and NIL era, it’s become rare for teams to have two starter-level quarterbacks. For good reason, quarterbacks are less willing than ever to wait behind an entrenched starter and often choose to go to a school where they can start right away and perhaps make more money.
For schools in need of a starting quarterback, it’s never been easier to lure players away from their current school.
The success of both Dampier and Ficklin begs the question: Is there a way for Utah to keep both players next year?
The first order of business will be finding the money to do so. Both players will command a decent chunk of Utah’s 2026 roster budget.
“We sure hope so and that remains to be seen and that will be addressed,” Whittingham said of keeping both quarterbacks on next year’s roster. “... But with what Byrd has done this year and what Devon’s done for that matter, we’re going to have to really step up to hang onto those guys. And that’s really an administrative thing. It’s not in my court. That’s what kind of resources we can come up with to keep the roster together.”
Both players will have to make a decision about if they want to stay at Utah or go to other teams — and Ficklin and Dampier will no doubt have interest from other schools this offseason.
Assuming Utah ups Ficklin’s pay this next year, how much does loyalty come into play? Utah was one of the only Power Four schools to take a chance and offer Ficklin a scholarship. There’s also the consideration, assuming Dampier stays at Utah as well, of Ficklin getting to keep playing with his “best friend” and someone that’s been a mentor to him.
On the other hand, Ficklin may be able to make more money at another school, along with a clearer path to a starting job.
If both Ficklin and Dampier stick around, is Dampier guaranteed the starting job, or will it be a quarterback competition during spring and fall camp?
It remains to seen if Whittingham will be the coach at Utah next season or if he retires, but the longtime Utah coach is no stranger to opening the quarterback job up, even with an entrenched starter. Sophomore Tyler Huntley beat out senior Troy Williams for the starting job in 2017. Could the same thing happen in 2026?
There will be plenty of aspects of the situation to sort out over the next couple of months, but it’s a good problem to have for Utah, which has two good quarterbacks with eligibility left.
With the elimination of the spring portal, decisions will have to be made fairly soon — the first, and only, transfer portal opens on Jan. 2 and concludes on Jan. 16. That’s a change from last season, when the portal opened on Dec. 9.
“Obviously they’ve tweaked the recruiting a little bit now and the dead periods where December is now completely a dead period and the portal does not open until January now,” Whittingham said. “And so you have a little more time after the regular season to sort those things out than before. Before, you’d have to start those conversations now with a lot of your players as far as what their plans are and that type of thing.”
