Utes receiving corps must step up even more with Darren Carrington II hurt

Plain and simple, wide receiver Darren Carrington II adds an explosive and dangerous element to the Utes offense. That’s no secret, particularly after he racked up 409 yards receiving and four touchdowns in the first three games.

Now with Carrington hampered by ailments and defenses devoting extra attention to him, Utah’s depth at the wide receiving position will get tested. Carrington made two catches for 9 yards against USC. In the Utes’ two losses, Carrington has 108 yards receiving with one touchdown, and 92 of those yards and the touchdown came in the fourth quarter against Stanford.

Utes coach Kyle Whittingham said following the Stanford game that the offense needed to make defenses pay for rolling coverage to Carrington. Whittingham pointed to improvement along those lines against USC.

“I thought we did better,” Whittingham said. “You saw some really nice plays made by Raelon Singleton, Demari Simpkins, Bryan Thompson, guys picked up the slack. Darren was hurting this week. He has some ailments going on and he wasn’t himself, but he was tough enough to be out there and contribute to the extent that he could. As I said last week, the other guys have to step up. We have five or six guys at wide receiver that can make plays.”

Siaosi Wilson, tight end Siale Fakailoatonga, Singleton, Simpkins and Thompson each had a reception of 29 yards or more. Singleton had the longest offensive play of the day when he went 50 yards on a screen pass.

“I personally feel like we have the best receiving corps in the [Pac-12], if not the Pac then the nation, really,” Simpkins said. “As games go by, we’re getting more and more confident as a group. We’re picking each other up, and it’s showing on the field.”

Simpkins said the way the defense bracketed Carrington at USC opened opportunities for everybody else. Simpkins took advantage and beat man-to-man coverage to haul in a 33-yard over-the shoulder touchdown catch in the second quarter.

However, the challenge will be sustaining that production. Neither Thompson nor Fakailoatonga had a single catch this season before Saturday night. The offense stagnated in the second half against USC. Seventy-eight of the Utes’ 128 yards passing in the second half came on the final drive, a clear indication that the passing game struggled mightily through the third and fourth quarters.

Carrington had more receiving yards than the team’s second-, third- and fourth-leading receivers combined. On top of that, Singleton left last weekend’s game at USC in the first half with an apparent shoulder injury.

Wilson and Simpkins both said they felt the Utes’ receivers have taken advantage of opportunities when they’ve come, but Wilson added that “more can be done.”

“It’s just using [matchups] more to our advantage, seeing it early,” Wilson said. “You know, going to the sideline and communicating with the coaches, using what we’ve got to our advantage. I feel like the past few games we’ve started to do that more. With DC getting so much more attention, now is the time to exploit those matchups and really go at them.”

Wilson enters this week with 12 receptions for 216 yards. His 18-yards-per-catch average ranks first on the team among players with more than one catch.

If Singleton, the leading returning receiver from last year, does miss time, then Wilson believes the rest of the receiving group will look at his absence as a chance to make more plays.

“It’s just an opportunity for everybody to step up, show what they can do,” Wilson said. “We’re all obviously out here for a reason. We can all obviously play. Now with Raelon going down with an injury, it’s just time for somebody to step up, show what they can do and put their skills in the spotlight.”