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As Gionni Paul said himself, "One soldier goes down, the next one comes up."
Luckily for the Utes, they have a pretty decent linebacker coming in as reinforcement.
Paul, a junior transfer from Miami, is in his second week of practice with the Utah defense, taking over as starting MAC linebacker. Healthy for the first time since April, the 5-foot-10, 227-pound bruiser has been generating positive reviews from coaches.
Just in time, too: The Utes will be playing without junior Jason Whittingham, an all-Pac-12 honorable mention last year, who is considered one of the team's leaders. Although Paul hasn't played in a live game since 2012 when he left the Hurricanes, coach Kyle Whittingham is expecting big things from the one-time scout team standout.
"There will be a little bit of rust, but he's looking pretty good right now," Whittingham said. "He's instinctive. That's one thing you can't coach."
Paul was a two-time ACC linebacker of the week as a sophomore, finishing 2012 with 61 tackles and 3.5 tackles for a loss. He quickly assumed respect among the team for his tough play during his redshirt season and was elected captain for the spring.
His Utah debut was delayed when he fractured his foot, but Paul said he diligently worked on rehab and understanding Utah's defense during the summer. He kept a picture of San Francisco 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis on his wall for inspiration.
"I stayed in my playbook and stuff during the offseason, and just rehabbed 24/7," he said. "I just wake up and thank God every day I came back so fast."
Unplugging the run
For a supposed "down year" in Ann Arbor, it's been awfully hard to run on the Wolverines.
Michigan's run defense is ranked No. 10 in the country, allowing a paltry 80 yards per game. Miami of Ohio had virtually no luck last weekend, and even Notre Dame, in a 31-0 blowout, averaged only 1.7 yards per carry against the Maize and Blue defense.
Utes lineman Jeremiah Poutasi points to the Michigan defensive tackles as the key, and the Wolverines have been comfortable with a rotation that starts with Ryan Glasgow and Willie Henry, but also includes Salt Lake native Bryan Mone. Poutasi also knows he'll probably be facing off with all-Big Ten defensive end Frank Clark on a handful of snaps.
Balance has been a tenet of Utah's offense early in the season. Between Devontae Booker, Bubba Poole and a pair of dual-threat quarterbacks, Utah is 24th nationally in rush yards per game and is averaging nearly five yards per carry. The Utes will shoot roughly for those numbers Saturday, although Poutasi acknowledged it will be the offense's toughest challenge to date.
"We're going to try to put up 200 yards on them — well, at least over 100 yards," he said. "We want to give Bubba and Booker a great game. If they have a great game, we have a great game.
Unlikely walkthrough
The Utes will go through a somewhat unusual ritual on Friday: a walkthrough of an opposing stadium.
While coach Kyle Whittingham doesn't typically go through walkthroughs the day before a game, he wants to give the Utes a sense for a foreign atmosphere before they run in with "Hail to the Victors" at full blast and 109,000 fans screaming. Utah also did a walkthrough when it played Notre Dame in 2010, he said.
That doesn't mean Whittingham wants his team to be in awe of Michigan on Saturday.
"Tradition is great, we're taking nothing away from Michigan's tradition," he said. "But we're not playing Michigan's tradition and the stripes on their helmets. We're playing 11 guys, and the focus is on those 11 guys."
2015 schedule revealed • Utah doesn't yet know what time it will play UCLA in two-and-a-half weeks, but the football team's dates for the 2015 season are now set.
The Utes have a home-friendly but still challenging schedule that opens with a pair of nonconference home games against Michigan and Utah State before traveling to Fresno State. Rice-Eccles Stadium will host Pac-12 games against Cal, Arizona State, Oregon State, UCLA and Colorado, and Utah will travel to Oregon, USC, Washington and Arizona.
The Utes avoid conference powerhouse Stanford in 2015, as well as Washington State.
Twitter: @kylegoon —
Utah at Michigan
O Saturday, 1:30 p.m.
TV • Channel 4