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For years under longtime offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig, Utah didn’t have a dedicated quarterbacks coach, as Ludwig took on the dual roles himself during much of his second stint at Utah.
That changed with Jason Beck, who brought Koy Detmer Jr. with him from New Mexico in an analyst role that also had him spend time coaching the quarterbacks.
When Kevin McGiven took over as Utah’s offensive coordinator this winter, it didn’t take long for him to hire a quarterbacks coach, adding Ryan Gunderson to his staff about five days after he was hired to run Utah’s offense. Though McGiven has coached quarterbacks at various stops in his career, including at Oregon State and Utah State, and will certainly give his expertise to Devon Dampier and Byrd Ficklin, he also brought in Gunderson to be a dedicated quarterbacks coach.
“He’s a good one, man. I’ve gone against him. So we were in the Rose Bowl playing UCLA and DTR was up and down the field on us and Ryan was a big part of that. So (he) brings a ton of experience, but he’s also a pretty good calming influence for those guys when stuff’s hitting the fan. He’s a very good teacher and you can ask those quarterbacks.”
— Utah head coach Morgan Scalley on Utah QBs coach Ryan Gunderson
A career backup quarterback at Oregon State, Gunderson broke into the coaching world under Mike Riley as a graduate assistant and eventually shifted into a director of player personnel role and followed Riley to Nebraska.
From there, he moved into on-field coaching as San Jose State’s quarterback coach in 2017 and linked up with McGiven, who became the Spartans’ offensive coordinator in 2018. The two formed a successful partnership, with Gunderson named a nominee for the 2019 Broyles Award after the Spartans threw for 338 yards per game, fourth nationally.
He also brings two years of offensive coordinator experience, though Oregon State’s offense during his stint there during the 2024 and 2025 seasons never rose above 95th in the nation in points per game.
Gunderson also had a stop from 2021-2023 as the quarterbacks coach at UCLA, helping develop Dorian Thompson-Robinson. Gunderson’s work in Westwood caught Morgan Scalley’s eye, especially in a 42-32 loss in which Thompson-Robinson passed for 299 yards and four touchdowns.
“He’s a good one, man. I’ve gone against him. So we were in the Rose Bowl playing UCLA and DTR was up and down the field on us and Ryan was a big part of that. So (he) brings a ton of experience, but he’s also a pretty good calming influence for those guys when stuff’s hitting the fan. He’s a very good teacher and you can ask those quarterbacks,” Scalley said.
One point of emphasis from McGiven and Gunderson this spring was improving each quarterback’s pre-snap reads and post-snap progressions in order to be more efficient and make better decisions.
“There’s certain guys that are going to count to four or five and they’re going to go boom, boom, they’re going to scan the whole field. We want to give them tools to where they don’t have to count that high every time. They can simplify or cut down the progression,” Gunderson said.
One of the key points that Gunderson has instilled into his quarterbacks is “play slow pre-snap, you can play fast post-snap.”
“Giving them tools to cancel things out pre-snap is what we’ve focused on a lot,” Gunderson said. “We’ve asked them at times to read the full field, but there’s different types of progressions. So it’s not always as simple as just saying, ‘No, no, no, yes.’ Getting them used to what those different progressions are, when to use them, when not to use them.”
While Gunderson and the rest of Utah’s offensive staff are trying to develop Dampier and Ficklin into more complete quarterbacks, they also are acutely aware of what makes each of them great, and a big part of that is their running and playmaking ability.
“I understand that there’s a playmaking ability to both of them. The sequence for me is you need to make the play. So if we call a play and it’s the coverage that we wanted, I need you to hit that throw,” Gunderson said. “Then after you make the play, you make a play. There’s going to be opportunities that come about where I need you to go make a play. Then when the defense makes a good call or gets us in a situation we don’t want to be in, don’t make a bad play worse.”
This spring, there was a focus on Dampier and Ficklin playing within the confines of the offense — which is tailored to their strengths — with the expectation that things will be different in game situations.
“I think we all understand that when the games come around, there’s a different element to them. You want the wild mustang to be a wild mustang, but we also want to kind of keep them on that path,” Gunderson said. “So don’t take the playmaker out of the playmaker, and that’s kind of my goal. You got to let them play a little bit too.”
The reviews from Dampier and Ficklin on what Gunderson has meant to their development have been positive.
“Huge development, honestly. Every day I feel like I’m actually learning something every single day. He’s very hard on me,” Dampier said. “He wants me to be great. He asks me all the time, ‘Do you want to be in the NFL?’ And I answer yes. So he tells me I got to get better. I got to fix these corrections. He’s been a huge help. I feel like I took a lot of strides this spring and looking forward to the fall.”
Ficklin has also seen improvement as he moves into his sophomore season after a freshman campaign that saw him contribute a lot for the Utes.
“Coach Gundy has been a really big part, whether that be full-field progressions to get the ball out of my hand quick to just knowing coverages,” Ficklin said. “He’s been teaching me a lot and that’s a big thing I really like about coach Gundy. He’s a really, really smart football player. He might’ve been a pocket passer back in his day, but that’s also really helping me to be a better quarterback as well.”
As Utah heads toward the 2026 season, it will need its quarterbacks to keep making strides, and Gunderson will be a big part of facilitating that.
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