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He's played with Nate Orchard, Star Lotulelei, Tenny Palepoi and Trevor Reilly.
All of which is to say Hunter Dimick has shared the defensive line with impressive company. But the senior from Syracuse, Utah, doesn't come second to any of them in sacks.
In fact, when it comes to sacks, Snacks is No. 1.
Utah's captain and star defensive end rewrote much of Utah's record book with five sacks (single-game record), 37 sack yards lost (single-game record), and 6.5 tackles for a loss (single-game record) in http://bit.ly/2g2f7tm";>Thursday night's 49-26 win over Arizona State. But none can be more hallowed than the record he tied: 27 career sacks, a record he currently shares with John Frank.
"It's been a lot of hard work, man," Dimick said. "Being hurt for most of last year, kind of losing a little bit of faith in all the hard work you put in to get to where you were. It's just a relief, I'm very grateful."
Dimick is enjoying a career year with 12 sacks, which led the nation after Thursday night. He has 24 unassisted sacks in his career, and opponents have lost 141 yards against him when he wraps up quarterbacks (5th in program history).
Dimick played in only seven games last year with a shoulder injury and http://bit.ly/25YESfy";>was extremely limited even when he did play. But this year (without an expected bookend in Kylie Fitts), Snacks has found a way to thrive and make fans remember the player he was considered when he had 10 sacks in 2014 opposite of Nate Orchard.
In addition to being the team's sack leader, Dimick's 17.5 tackles for a loss makes him the only Ute in double digits in that statistic this year. His 47 tackles are tied for second on the team with Sunia Tauteoli.
For a kid who always wanted to play for Utah, Dimick said it's almost hard to believe how far he's come.
"I'm a small town guy: To tell you the truth, my junior year my high school coach came up and told me, 'You're getting recruited by Pac-10 teams,' and I didn't know what that was," he said. "I always wanted to play at Utah. I guess you could say I had some blinders on for it. Just being able to play here is a blessing.
Singleton plays through pain • With less than 24 hours to go before the biggest night of his career, Raelon Singleton's status was in doubt.
The sophomore receiver dislocated a finger in walkthroughs before the game,http://bit.ly/2eLsclF";> one in which he was expected to play a big role against one of the worst secondaries in the nation.
Sit out? No way. Tape that thing up, the Utes decided.
"We had to tape it to the other finger, but you never would have known due to how he played," Whittingham said. "He did a great job."
The 6-foot-3, 215-pound receiver looked every bit his size going against a smaller set of ASU cornerbacks. On both his contested touchdowns, he physically dominated the coverage to position his body to box out defenders.
Then there was the second touchdown catch, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI3MkrylS_Y";>in which he had nearly an acre of free space.
"Troy looked off the safety, the corner crashed and I was wide open," Singleton said. "I looked at it was like, wow."
With 116 yards on four catches, Singleton eclipsed the century mark for the first time in his career. He now has 423 yards for the season, second to only Tim Patrick, and has emerged as a legitimate threat on the opposite side with multiple catches in six games this year.
No update yet on how that finger is — but it didn't look like a problem on Thursday night.
Tackling problems • Among many plays that broke down and went bad for Utah's defense, this one will be especially painful:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObbGa_yj1Ts";> N'Keal Harry's 31-yard rush for a score on a failed receiver pass that made the Utes look like they were on skates.
Harry dodged at least two tackles on the zig-zagging run, bringing into focus an issuehttp://bit.ly/2dTB1Nb";> that has dogged Utah's defense for weeks: shoddy tackling. While 22 tackles for a loss reflects how dominant the defense was at times, but against Harry, Kalen Ballage and Manny Wilkins, there were times when Utah found itself struggling with scramblers.
"We're not coming in balanced," Whittingham said. "We're not breaking down, we're just launching at guys."
Whittingham said the problem is in part procedural: The Utes teach a "Close, Creep and Strike" method of tackling. The middle part is often missing, with "Creep" referring to setting one's feet and regaining balance before making the hit.
Later in the game, Utah seemed to get a little more fundamentally sound, though they looked somewhat tentative trying to bring down Wilkins, who was evasive throughout the evening and helped keep plays alive by scrambling.
"Having a quarterback that can move like he did definitely makes you timid and more cautious. We missed him as much as we got him tonight. He was a freak athlete, but we were fortunately able to stop him toward the end."
Texas twins decommit • A recruiting update that makes Utah's already small recruiting class a little thinner: It's double the decommitments for the Utes.
https://twitter.com/tristinmccol21";>Tristin McCollum andhttps://twitter.com/zyon_mccollum?lang=en";> Zyon McCollum, twin defensive backs from Galveston, Texas, announced they were moving on from Utah http://bit.ly/1XYN4us";>in much the same way they initially committed in June: via Twitter. Both sent notes out on Thursday afternoon acknowledging they had decided to look elsewhere.
That leaves Utah's recruiting class with five incoming players next year, the smallest class so far in the Pac-12 (Arizona State has the next-fewest with eight). While Utah will count a few push-forward scholarships in next year's class, such as running back Armand Shyne, it's starting to look a little light for the Utes three months away from Signing Day.
The current class includes WR Jaylen Dixon, WR Tyquez Hampton, DB Jaylon Johnson, DT John Penisini and QB Jason Shelley.
kgoon@sltrib.com
Twitter: @kylegoon