A confident leader, Devaughn Vele expects Utah's deep wide receiver group to step up in 2022
Question: How's the offense looking this season?
Devaughn Vele: "We're looking smooth. One thing that's different about this season you know, we already have the pieces that we had in the offense from last season so it's just building on a little things that we've seen from last season and just building upon that. We understand the playbook, we've got the same offensive coordinators, quarterback, you know, everything's the same. So now we're just fine tuning the little things and making sure we're building on what we accomplished."
Question: Anything specific you can mention there? Obviously, you guys were pretty good last year.
Devaughn Vele: "I think the biggest thing right now is understanding leadership. We have a lot of younger guys now, a lot of freshmen and it's helping them understand that we have a culture here and getting them in quick to understand that because we're getting new guys stepping in. It can't just be always be us running it every time. If somebody goes down or somebody's shoelace breaks, we have somebody who can step in. It's definitely helping with the younger guys to be better equipped with the culture that we have here and that's what fall camp is for. Helping them get used to everything and see the older guys and help with the work because, we have a lot of veterans in this group and a lot of guys who can move on to the next level. We don't want to leave it to where like, we just had that offense that was good just one time and then it drops off. We wanted to keep continuing so now we're no longer just the defensive school, we're an offensive school as well."
Question: Your role is probably gonna change a little bit in the future and maybe even be a number one go to kind of guy. Do you like that?
Devaughn Vele: "Yeah, definitely. I try not to let that get to my head too much though. You know, everything always comes to the team first. As much as the label wide receiver one is definitely helpful for me, I'm still the same guy and I still want to make sure I'm working on my craft. Make sure I'm being a lot more vocal in the wide receiver room, not to the point where, because I'm wide receiver one now we're going to talk more, it's more so as trying to help the younger guys learn the things that I wish I knew when I first got there. Helping them pick up on little things so they have a smooth transition to when they become veterans because time flies. I felt like I was a freshman not too long ago freshman walk-on and now they have me as wide receiver one and I have freshmen coming in. So it's helping them understand and get used to the culture again, you know, just making the whole group become a fine tuned group."
Question: How is stepping into a leadership role helping you develop as a player?
Devaughn Vele: It's a better understanding of the game. You have to be able to explain it to the younger guys because this is an offense that's very much like the NFL. How we run our offense, there's a lot of checks and a lot of things that we do, we read coverages. Now, I never knew how to read coverages when I was high school, you just run one release and I'll beat the other person because you're a better athlete. And that was one of those things, everybody's an athlete athlete on the field and we have to help the younger guys understand that. So trying to be a lot more vocal has been hard for me at first because I when I came in as a walk on, I was always in the back and never said anything. I just did my own thing and made sure it worked. Now it's one of those things guys look to me. And it's hard for me at first to try to understand that situation and understand that. They look to me as that role model but it's helped me a lot because now I have to make sure I'm coming everyday because people are watching, me I'm no longer and behind the scenes.
Question: A lot of guys have talked about how Money Parks is somebody to watch this year. What are you seeing from him? And what makes it possible that he could be a guy to watch?
Devaughn Vele: "Oh, man, I'm so proud of that guy. Like, if you guys would have seen the development he's made it's amazing. When he first got here, you could definitely see he was like that freshman. He didn't really understand the plays. He was just using his athleticism to get him out of a lot of situations. But now, this is the first time in fall camp. I even told him himself, It's like we're watching him grow up in front of our eyes right now. I remember when he first got here and now the plays that he's making now, It's like stuff is just like, that's how you understand respecting the process that we always talk about. When you respect the process, the game is going to take care of you and it's definitely doing that for Money Parks right now."
Question: What are you seeing from Tao Johnson and Sidney Mbanasor?
Devaughn Vele: "A lot of growth. They're very mature for freshmen. I'm not gonna lie. They're gonna have a big role this year. It's one of those things where you can't be complacent with being that freshman. Like, oh, I'm a freshman. It's okay. There's a lot of older guys in front of me like, I have my time and a couple of years. It's like no, this is a year you need to step in. We have so much depth this year that we can play a lot of guys. And so it's trying to help them understand the offense. That's the biggest thing. That athleticism, I have no worry about them. Tao is fast and Sidney could just jump out of the gym. I mean, he's super tall. He makes me look short. I felt like Britain Covey standing next to him. But it's just helping those guys understand the playbook. Sometimes they'll get into their heads a little bit too much because they think, it can be can be daunting because there's so much like, little technicalities that the offense has. But it's helping them stay positive and understand that there's a lot more here to put into than you had in high school. I feel like that maturity level is definitely high in them and they're making that stride a lot more smoothly."
Question: How confident do you feel in your position groups ability to help spread the field?
Devaughn Vele: "I believe we definitely can accomplish it. We had a little sneak peek of it in the spring ball. You know, we were challenged in the spring, we always bring it up. How the receiving room was really challenged. I felt like we stepped up a lot and we proved a lot of value. But we still have a lot more to do because it's one thing to do in the spring and one thing to do in the fall. So I definitely have a lot of confidence in this group that we are going to be that spread team. That now we can run the ball and pass, it's not one of those things where we can only do RPO's, or do passes to the tight ends, or just run the ball. Now we're part of the group that can make a difference in the game. I felt like last year we had a great season but as a receiver group, I felt like we won despite us a few times. I felt like we could have been a lot more of contributors to the season last year. So, I felt like that's been my fuel for me this season and I feel like its the same for the rest of the group in the wide receiver room. So we have a lot of expectations on us and we have a lot of things to build, but I'm confident we can do it."
Question: For the group needing to be better, how much of it last year was needing to grow up or having two very good pass-catching tight ends? Or was it both?
Devaughn Vele: "I feel like it was both. Brant and Dalton are NFL caliber tight ends. We have to feed them the ball. But one thing I feel like is we were too complacent with that statement like, 'Oh, it's okay because we have tight ends that are good.' No, we want to get the ball just as much as them because we're just as good as they are. Have that mentality that receivers are playmakers. We're supposed to be playmakers on the field, we're supposed to make those catches that nobody else can because if everybody could catch the ball, they'd all play receiver. But it's a lot different when you have somebody in your face and you gotta meet that challenge and catch. We've got got big shoes to fill, especially with Covey leaving, but I'm not really worried too much. We have a lot of depth this year and it's one of those few times I feel like it's the most depth we've had at receiver in a very long time at Utah."
Question: Did you see you guys are ranked No. 8 in the USA Today Preseason Poll?
Devaughn Vele: "I try not to dwell too much on it. I'm not big on trying to get too big-headed. I feel like I speak for the rest of the guys as well because if you seen it and start thinking like, 'Oh, we're number eight now, we're a top 10 team,' it gets to our heads and then we start getting complacent. Then we start jogging at practice. We don't go full speed because we're like, 'Oh, we're those guys.' Once you show up on game day, we should still have that chip on our shoulder. One thing that coach Whitt has brought up and I actually really like is just being that team that's feared rather than respected. I mentioned earlier in another interview that, a lot of teams respect us now. You get on a national stage, you win a Pac-12 Championship, went nose-to-nose with Ohio State. Everybody respects us. They see us now like, that's a really good football team now, but we want it to be a fearful team. Like when people see Alabama on their schedule they're like, Oh, my goodness it's Alabama, it's the Crimson Tide. We want that same thing for Utah now. That's the next step you gotta go to because now that we respected, now we need people to fear us. I feel like thats the drive that is helping everybody on the team right now to make those strides, to make the changes that we need to be that team that is feared, not respected."
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