Utah spring practice: Latest depth chart released

Not much to report from spring practice this weekend unfortunately. Outside of a few comments about a shorthanded defensive line and a positive comment about Dominique Hatfield standing out at wide receiver, there wasn't much said of worth.

Kyle Whittingham offered this insightful remark.

"Our guys competed well. We had some guys make some plays"

Next practice is later today, so for now let's take a look at the biggest piece of news, the release of the new Utah depth chart! Take a look at it below.

Utah released their latest spring depth chart: QB race has Travis Wilson 1 & Adam Schulz 2 pic.twitter.com/YucZ4tlB5r

— Jeremy Mauss (@JeremyMauss) March 31, 2014

At quarterback, Travis Wilson remains entrenched as the starter, with Adam Schulz at the number two spot. However, all reports indicate that Connor Manning will make a strong bid for that second spot.


Bubba Poole remains the starting running back, but Devontae Booker is coming on strong and is currently tied with Troy McCormick for that second spot. We’ve talked about Booker before, and it seems he’s ready to crack that rotation this season.

Dennis Erickson talked a little bit about how deep the Utah running back rotation is.

Six practices into spring, there are six running backs splitting reps. More are on their way this fall. Erickson needs to pare down the field, but they’re making it tough because, darn it, they’re all playing pretty well.

As of Monday, your way-too-early depth chart seems to be: 1, junior Bubba Poole; 2, (tie) junior Devontae Booker and redshirt freshman Troy McCormick; 4, sophomore Marcus Sanders-Williams; 5, redshirt freshman Dre’Vian Young; and 6, junior Jarrell Oliver.

"We have a lot of them," Erickson said. "It’s a good group. The thing that I like about it is they’re all a little different."

You’ll notice several battles that seem to be emerging at multiple positions. One of them is at running back as already mentioned. The blind side seems to be a battle between Andrew Albers and J.J. Dielman. There’s also a battle at defensive tackle between Daniel Nelson and Alani Havili-Katoa for backing up Filipo Mokofisi.

The biggest change is obviously the loss of Jacoby Hale to injuries. Uaea Masina seems to have stepped into the Stud linebacker position and retains his backup spot as the Rover behind Jared Norris. Brian Blechen is the backup to Masina at the position as the two must now make do without Hale there.

Hatfield has worked his way up the depth chart as a primary backup receiver, and Mokofisi has moved to a starting spot after injuries sidelined Viliseni Fauonuku. Geoffrey Norwood is listed as both a kick returner and a punt returner after only being placed on the punt return team on the initial depth chart.

What are your thoughts on the new depth chart changes?