Morgan Scalley has had an interesting vantage point of Nate Johnson’s freshman season at the University of Utah.
Scalley is the Utes’ defensive coordinator and his group goes up against the scout team offense each week. The job of the scout team is to try to replicate what that week’s opponent is going to run. Until he was promoted to third-string quarterback ahead of the Arizona State game on Sept. 24, Johnson was running the scout team offense.
Scalley and his defense had to deal with Johnson, who had to replicate University of Florida dual-threat Anthony Richardson for the season opener.
“No. 1, he has a high football IQ, you have to have that at the quarterback position,” Scalley said earlier this week. “Then, he’s athletic; I don’t know that there’s been a time where we’ve seen as many dual-threat quarterbacks as we have in the Pac-12. He did an unbelievable job getting us ready for some of that stuff, so as much as we would like to keep him over there giving us good looks, it’s great to see him out there doing what he’s doing for the offense.”
Scalley’s assertion that there haven’t been this many dual-threat quarterbacks in the Pac-12 before is correct, but in fairness, Johnson was already on the travel roster by the time Utah had to prepare for UCLA’s Dorian Thompson-Robinson, USC’s Caleb Williams, and Washington State’s Cam Ward.
Still, those September days of preparing for Richardson, preparing for Southern Utah, and preparing for San Diego State at least offered a glimpse into what Johnson can do. Scalley and his defense found out, then Arizona found out last weekend as Johnson scored his first two collegiate touchdowns against the Wildcats.
And of course, when previous QB3 Ja’Quinden Jackson shifted to running back and a new QB3 needed to be identified, Scalley was in on that decision since he’d observed Johnson running the scout team for more than a month, right?
“That’s above my pay grade. I just shut up, focus on our issues,” Scalley said jokingly. “Again, we’re happy for the kid because he works his tail off. When you’re over with us working as a scout team member, sometimes you go through the motions, but he gave it everything he had.”
Other things on my mind
• I got a lot of pushback a week ago when I said Utah’s only road to the New Year’s Six is the Rose Bowl. It’s not even a debate. If the Utes win out, including the Pac-12 championship game on Dec. 2, they go back to Pasadena. Another loss, whether it be Nov. 19 at Oregon or at the Pac-12 championship game, means we’re all making plans for the Alamo, Vegas, or Holiday Bowl. A three-loss Pac-12 team will not be getting an NY6 at-large berth to the Cotton Bowl. What?
• BYU transfer Hunter Erickson committed to Craig Smith and Utah in September, with the Utes announcing his signing on Wednesday, the first day of the early signing period. Erickson is spending this season at JUCO power Salt Lake Community College, which presents an interesting situation. Erickson was originally a high-scoring class of 2018 guard out of Timpview High School. He committed to then-BYU head coach Dave Rose, left on his two-year LDS mission, and never found his footing in two seasons under new head Mark Pope.
Erickson is not your average sophomore (eligibility-wise). He is going to do a ton of damage at SLCC this winter, then come to Smith next fall with two years to play in the Pac-12.
• Which non-seniors will take part in Utah Senior Night festivities on Saturday is currently a bit of a mystery. The expectation is that there will be a list made public Saturday in the hours before kickoff, so here’s my question. Does Clark Phillips III participate? A third-year sophomore, Phillips has an NFL draft decision coming. Kyle Whittingham’s thing with non-seniors has been, even if you’re just thinking about it, take part in Senior Night. Allow yourself to be honored just in case you don’t come back. Phillips deftly dodged this question when he met the media on Tuesday.
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