Not everyone is meant to make a difference. But for me, the choice to lead an ordinary life is no longer an option.
- Peter Parker, Spiderman (2002)
Once upon a time this Utah program was a CFF stud factory at the RB position. Kyle Whittingham and his Utes had a particularly productive run from 2013-2019, where this pig farm saw a 1000-yard rusher every. single. season.
The list of OCs serving under Coach Whitt during this time included the likes of Aaron Roderick (current BYU OC), Andy Ludwig, Troy Taylor (current Stanford head coach) and others.
2020 was off to a good start before an unfortunate end to Ty Jordan’s life stopped his career short. 2021 was an up and down year that eventually saw the Utes settling on Tavion Thomas, who plied his trade more as a TD maker than a down-by-down yard accumulator. 2022 was a disaster—ditto for 2023. Micah Bernard salvaged 2024, and actually became the Utes’ first 1000-yard runner since 2019. That’s a depressing stat.
Looking to 2025, to say this backfield has undergone a facelift is an understatement. Here are the list of departures this offseason:
Micah Bernard | 2019 | ⭐⭐⭐ | CA
Mike Mitchell | 2023 | ⭐⭐⭐ | FL
Jaylon Glover | 2022 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | FL
Anthony Woods | 2022 | CA
Dijon Stanley | 2023 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | CA
John Randle | 2023 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | KS
Which, by the way, this list of names is copied from my RB depth chart tracker which you can find here:
That is basically the entire RB room leaving the program either to the NFL, expired eligibility, or transferring elsewhere.
So, who is playing RB for the Utes in 2025? Well, they brought in several transfers of their own. The most notable being Wayshawn ‘Peter’ Parker from Washington State.
Parker, a true freshman in 2024, had a solid campaign. He broke out early in the year and then went quiet for virtually the rest of the season, but evidently there were enough notable moments to catch Coach Whitt’s eye.
Parker leaving WSU was undoubtedly a massive blow to Jake Dickert and his staff at the time. Of course, Dickert himself eventually left for Wake Forest. However, my sources were able to track down some of the text messages exchanged between Parker and his former coach at the time, which are presented below:
Not only did the Utah backfield clear out, but the administration also made a change at offensive coordinator. Jason Beck made his way over along with his QB from New Mexico, Devon Dampier.
The potential combo of a Dampier-Parker duo is an exciting one to ponder, especially given—despite the run of lean years recently—the historic pedigree of the system under Coach Whittingham.
Coaching & System
RB1 PPG AVERAGE — HC: 15.7 — OC: 15.41 (half ppr)
Coach Whittingham’s PPG average is still holding on from a previous era of his coaching tenure. As touched on briefly in the intro, the last few seasons have not gone well at RB for the Utes. Tavion Thomas’ TD total provided a strong PPG average in 2021, but it’s been pretty pedestrian since then, despite Bernard’s best efforts in 2024.
Jason Beck on the other hand, has been pretty consistent over the last two seasons. He had Le’Quint Allen at Syracuse, and he fed Allen a steady diet of touches on a per game basis (around 22 opportunities a game). That’s exactly what you look for in the CFF world.
The following season was not nearly as voluminous for the RB1. Eli Sanders averaged around 12 carries and two targets per game, which is a steep drop off from Allen. Though remarkably, Sanders’ production was able to keep a steady pace with his predecessor’s at around 15 PPG in half ppr formats.
Tendencies. Unsurprisingly, Whittingham’s five year average is a 59/41 split in favour of the run game. His new OC is almost exactly the same, with an average over his last two seasons at around 58/42 split. However, Beck’s average is misleading. His New Mexico squad was much closer to a 50/50 balance with a 54/46 split to the run. His Syracuse team averaging a 63/37 run split skews his average.
Pacing. Whittingham’s Utes typically move at a slower pace on the FBS spectrum. Since 2018, Utah’s average is 27.66 seconds per play. Beck’s a disciple of Robert Anae, so naturally his offence moves a bit faster. His Syracuse team averaged 25 seconds per play, and 65 plays per game in 2023. His New Mexico team averaged 24.2 seconds per play, and 70 plays per game.
Scheme. Utah is a ‘Gap’ run scheme, and the most common plays run in 2024 were duo, outside zone, trap, and counter. As these things typically go, the new OC comes from a Gap run scheme team in 2024, so it’s safe to say the system won’t be changing drastically. New Mexico’s most frequent run plays in 2024 were: lead, counter, jet sweep, and QB design run. The design runs make sense given that Beck had Devon Dampier as his QB. I’d imagine there’ll be a steady diet of QB run plays with Utah in 2025 as well.
Wayshawn Parker (6’0, 200)
2024 RUSHING STATS: 137 - 735 - 4 (10.5 PPG)2
Parker was originally a three star prospect coming out of Sacramento, California. He was rated as the 110th ATH by 247 Sports’ internal ranking, and most of his offers comprised of G5 schools such as SJSU, UNLV and (now) Sacramento State, though he did hold an offer from UW.
None of this really matters anymore, however, as Parker outperformed his HS rating in his first year, and accrued offers from the likes of Tennessee, Ole Miss, and USC in the transfer portal. Evidently, Utah ultimately won his services and I’d go as far as to say this was one of the biggest recruiting wins of the December cycle.
Utah is not a program that routinely wins recruitments of high four and five stars out of high school. They also are not historically active in the portal, so them getting this kid is a big deal.
Parker won PAC-12 (2) Freshman of the Year this past season, with his most notable performances coming against Portland State (FCS), Texas Tech and Utah State. My memory seems to be betraying me as I recalled him playing more of a role in the receiving game than he actually did. This was probably influenced by my first impression of him being that Portland State game where he caught a pass for 52 yards and a score.
His receiving work over the course of the season actually wasn’t that out of the ordinary. He caught 11 passes for 108 yards in 12 games; surprising given that WSU was passing the ball at an extremely high rate via the arm of John Mateer.
This is important because when you look at Beck’s best RB1 season—2023 Syracuse with Le’Quint Allen—a big piece of that was the receiving work. Eli Sanders at New Mexico didn’t see the same sort of target volume and I wonder whether Parker will be used more like the latter rather than the former at Utah.
The good news is that basically every target Parker saw he caught (11 catches on 14 targets). He’s also bigger than I’d imagined him to be, standing at 6-feet tall and just around 200 pounds. So while my optimism re: his passing usage has waned a bit, I find myself with a renewed conviction that Parker will be able to handle a heavy workload on the ground if need be.
Closing
I know for a fact that Whittingham’s absence from my year-end stuffed pigs delivery list five years in a row now haunts him every night, and has done for quite some time.
I had a brief and intimate phone call with the Utah stalwart himself a few weeks ago and on that call I told him that there’s no easy way out of this hole—there’s only one solution to solve this problem. He knows it. I know it. Wayshawn knows it. We all know it. Will Utah do it in 2025?
As always, it remains to be seen. But this writer will be watching the quotes from spring camp diligently, and of course, keeping the good readers of this newsletter informed as information is discovered. ◾
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Sample from 2018-2024 excluding 2020.
Full ppr.