Utah Unveils Dates for Spring Football Practices and '22 Forever' Game
After months of waiting, Utah Football is soon to be back. The Utes begin spring camp on Tuesday, March 12th, with the team’s annual '22 Forever' Spring Game taking place on Saturday, April 13th.
The spring game, which will kick off at 11 a.m. MT in Rice-Eccles Stadium, will see all proceeds go towards the 22 Forever Memorial Scholarship, which honors the legacy of Ty Jordan and Aaron Lowe.
This season's spring game will be an exciting one, as the Utes have a wide range of familiar stars and new playmakers expected to play.
Utah will return a whopping 18 of their starters from 2023. Notably, almost the entirety of the team’s starting offensive line, besides Sataoa Laumea and Keaton Bills, who both elected to attend the 2024 NFL Draft.
The Utes front seven also retained a majority of its star power. With the exception of Jonah Elliss declaring for the NFL Draft, the Utes return defensive line contributors like Van Fillinger, Logan Fano, and Junior Tafuna, while also bringing back a majority of its linebacking core in Lander Barton, Karene Reid, and Levani Damuni.
In addition to the significant amount of returning playmakers, Utah also made a splash in the transfer portal, adding heavily to positions of need.
On the offensive side, the Utes added to almost every skill position, getting Taeshaun Lyons and Dorian Singer to bolster the team’s wide receiver group, adding Anthony Woods from Idaho as an additional running back option, and snagging Carsen Ryan from UCLA to line up at tight end alongside Brant Kuithe and Landen King.
Regarding defense, Utah’s secondary was closely addressed by way of the portal. The Utes supplemented existing depth by snatching star safety Alaka'i Gilman from Stanford. The team also added Michigan’s Cameron Calhoun and Georgia Tech’s Kenan Johnson to fill holes left by the departure of 2023 starting corners, Miles Battle and JaTravis Broughton.
It remains to be seen which of these athletes will play in Utah’s spring exhibition. Head coach Kyle Whittingham has already come out and noted that the Utes' signal caller, Cam Rising, will not participate in spring activities, with the exception of being on the team’s spring leadership council.
Regardless, both spring practices and the 22 Forever spring game will give fans their first opportunity to see the Utes 2024 squad in action. While practices are closed to the public, a constant flow of updates will pour out, as KSL Sports reported:
“Media will have a 20-minute viewing period at the end of practices on Tuesday availabilities. Tuesday availabilities will also feature Kyle Whittingham and offensive players. Thursday availabilities will feature defensive players"
"Assistant coaches will have two availabilities to media during the first week of practices and last week of practices.”
