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The Utah Utes are coming off a memorable season that saw them earn a spot in the Rose Bowl after winning the Pac-12 title. They stumbled early in 2021 with two losses in their first three games, but got it together, especially down the stretch when they also defeated the Oregon Ducks late in the regular season — and in the Pac-12 championship game. Expectations are high in 2022 for the Utes, and with that said, here are three predictions in the upcoming campaign for Utah football.
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Utah football 2022 predictions
2. Cameron Rising tops 2021 performance
Cameron Rising is easily the most important player for Utes football in the 2022 college football season. With Rising returning to Utah, the program is assured of a genuinely good leader under center who has the experience and the numbers to command attention. In 2021, Rising,s sophomore year, he passed for 2,493 yards and 20 touchdowns with only five interceptions under his name.
He completed 63.8 percent of his pass attempts and was the main engine of Utah football's offense that generated the 13th-best offense in the nation, one that averaged 35.8 points per game. In addition to that, the Utes also put up 429.8 total yards per game, which was top 40 nationally. With the performance he put up in 2021, it's only right that Cameron Rising is getting plenty of attention ahead of his junior year in college. Utah football head coach Kyle Whittingham recognizes the clear importance of Rising to the Utes, especially after the quarterback's breakout season in 2021 (which followed a lost 2020 campaign due to injury).
Via Cole Bagley of Sports Illustrated:
“It's huge for us. He was First-Team All-Pac-12 last year. He is the leader of our team, the leader of leaders, the alpha dog, and to know that he is your guy, it permeates throughout the program.”
What makes the 2022 season even more encouraging for Cameron Rising is the fact that many of the key contributors on offense, particularly downfield, in 2021 have returned to give it another go with the Utes. At his disposal this year is a group of five Utah passing attack weapons that all cracked the top five in 2021 in terms of receiving yards. Among them is tight end Brant Kuithe, who concluded the 2021 campaign with 611 receiving yards and six touchdowns. Another tight end in Dalton Kincaid is also going to be there catching passes from Rising in the form of Dalton Kincaid, who led the Utes last season with eight touchdowns to go along with a total of 510 receiving yards on 36 receptions.
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1. Someone will be an 8+ sack guy
While Utah's offense returns a number of key pieces from 2021, the team's stop unit takes quite a hit, especially with the departure of the pair of linebackers Mike Tafua and Devin Lloyd. Both are in the NFL now, and what they left in Utah is a gaping hole, particularly in the team's pass rush department. These are two guys who were not just the top-two sack masters in Utah; they were the top two sack producers in the entire Pac-12 conference a year ago.
Tafua led the league with 9.5 sacks, while Lloyd was right behind him with 8.0 sacks. That's nearly half of the Utes' 41 sacks output in 2021. At least one member of the Utes' defense has to step up, and there are a number of candidates for the Utes to put their trust in. Take for example Junior Tafuna, a 297-pound sophomore defensive tackle who produced 4.5 sacks of his own in 2021. Van Fillinger is also still with the Utes. Among all Utah football returnees, he had the most sacks in 2021 with 5.5. It would be fair to bet on either of Tafuna and Fillinger to get to at least 8.0 sacks this coming college football campaign. In any case, Fillinger, at least, is very much aware of how important he will be for the Utes in 2022.
Via Bagley:
“I'm really just trying to get better. I got a job on this team and I understand what I need to do every play in order to do my part. If I can do my job at the highest level and push myself to get to the highest level, then I think the plays will come to me. I don't really have goals in terms of sacks or in terms of tackles. It's really just in terms of doing my job, I want to be able to do my job at the highest level and the plays will come to me. So I don't want to set any goals and jinx myself or get emotional about anything. I want to just come to practice with an open mind and just get better.”
