Phil Steele’s annual college football preview is out, which means we are that much closer to the season beginning.
In a little over three weeks, Big 12 media days will be held at The Star — the Dallas Cowboys’ practice facility — in Frisco, Texas, on July 8 and 9. About three weeks after that, Utah will begin fall camp and preparations for its season opener against UCLA at the Rose Bowl on Aug. 30.
With the summertime lull in college athletics comes previews and projections, and Phil Steele’s annual publication has become a staple in the college football world since its first edition was published in 1995.
What does Steele project for the Utes in 2025?
He has the Utes ranked No. 18 nationally in his preseason Top 25 — that’s the second-highest in the conference, behind No. 13 Baylor.
While Utah likely won’t appear in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 poll, Steele has high hopes for a turnaround from a Ute squad that went 5-7 and floundered offensively after injuries to multiple key players, including quarterback Cam Rising.
“If Utah had a shred of offense last year after Rising went down, they could have won 10 games. They have a much improved offense, my #7 Oline and their usual rugged D,” Steele wrote.
Even with the nation’s No. 102 scoring offense (the Utes scored just 23.6 points per game) last year, Utah was rarely blown out, losing by more than one score just two times in its seven defeats — a 23-10 loss to Arizona and a 49-24 loss to Colorado.
This year, there’s more variables than usual on the defensive line, where Utah is replacing defensive tackles Junior Tafuna and Keanu Tanuvasa and defensive ends Van Fillinger and Connor O’Toole.
At defensive tackle, senior Aliki Vimahi and sophomore Dallas Vakalahi, both of whom have starting experience at Utah, could be solid up front, but the Utes are counting on big improvement from redshirt sophomore Jonah Lea’ea and a cast of freshmen to back them up.
Redshirt junior Logan Fano returns at one defensive end spot, but another is up for grabs, with Lance Holtzclaw, John Henry Daley and Paul Fitzgerald the main contenders.
Beyond that, though, the Utes return Lander Barton, Johnathan Hall and Levani Damuni at linebacker, Smith Snowden and Elijah Davis at cornerback (Utah only has to replace one starter at the position), and Tao Johnson and Rabbit Evans at safety.
Steele ranked every defensive unit for Utah No. 31 or higher nationally.
If Utah’s defense is as solid as it has usually been under Morgan Scalley, that leaves the offense as the main factor of whether the Utes live up to Steele’s preseason billing.
New OC Jason Beck, who engineered the nation’s fourth-most-productive offense (484.2 points per game) and No. 24 scoring offense (33.5 points per game) at New Mexico, will have Lobo transfer quarterback Devon Dampier (3,934 total yards last year through the air and on the ground), a veteran offensive line that returns all five starters, including projected first round pick Spencer Fano, and an all-new running back group that features Washington State transfer Wayshawn Parker (735 yards and four scores on 137 carries) to work with this season.
It’s safe to say that Utah’s offense should be improved — it would be hard not to make an improvement over 2024 — but the question is just improved it will be.
Steele ranks Utah’s quarterback situation as No. 23 in the nation, its offensive line as No. 7 in the nation, and its running back room as No. 57 in the nation. Steele ranked Utah’s receiving unit No. 75 in the country.
One of the big question marks will be at the receiver position, where only one player with over 100 yards — Daidren Zipperer (8 catches for 122 yards) — is returning. Like with the running back room, the Utes will rely heavily on transfers, including Cal’s Tobias Merriweather (11 receptions for 125 yards and a score), New Mexico’s Ryan Davis (54 receptions for 747 yards and three touchdowns), Southern Miss’s Larry Simmons (27 receptions for 421 yards and a score).
Even with the concerns about the wide receivers and a fairly difficult schedule, Steele is putting the Utes as one of the favorites to win the Big 12, tied for No. 1 in the conference alongside Baylor and Iowa State. Steele also has the Utes as the country’s No. 2 “most improved” team.
“This year they are my No. 2 most improved team and last year they were favorites to win the Big 12 and this year with a much improved offense could live up to those expectations and are a legitimate Big 12 title contender,” Steele wrote.
As for the rest of Steele’s Big 12 rankings, Arizona State — last year’s champion — checks in at No. 4, tied with Kansas State and Texas Tech. TCU and BYU are tied for No. 7, while Cincinnati and Kansas are tied for No. 9.
Houston (11), UCF (12), Colorado (12), Oklahoma State (14), Arizona (15) and West Virginia (16) round out the bottom of the Big 12.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
