Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said during his weekly news conference Monday that hard-hitting starting safety Marquise Blair suffered a season-ending lower leg injury in Friday’s win over UCLA at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
A 6-foot-2, 190-pound junior, Blair had started six games and played in all nine for the Utes this season. He ranks third on the team with 48 tackles, and he returned a fumble for a touchdown against USC.
“Done for the year,” Whittingham said. “That’s a season-ending injury which is — I feel horrible for Marquise. He was really coming along and had obviously become a starter for us and contributor on special teams. It’s season-ending and he’ll probably miss spring as well. It’s that severe. It’s not ideal, but he’ll rebound. He’s a tough kid. He’ll get back on track.”
Blair, a junior college transfer who joined the program this summer, went down without being hit while coming up on a throwback pass to UCLA quarterback Devon Modster with 14:48 remaining in the second quarter Friday night. Blair’s knee appeared to buckle underneath him at the 20-yard line.
He needed assistance to walk off the field and wasn’t able to put much weight on his left leg. Blair was on the sidelines later in the game with his leg in a brace and walking with the assistance of crutches.
Utah defensive back Marquise Blair recovers a fumble for a touchdown during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Southern California in Los Angeles, Saturday, Oct. 14, 2017. (AP Photo/Kelvin Kuo)
A native of Wooster, Ohio, Blair came to the Utes after two seasons at Dodge City Community College in Kansas. He’d originally committed to play at Syracuse coming out of high school, but went to junior college when the NCAA did not accept one of his high school classes. Blair earned junior college All-America honors as a linebacker and converted to safety this preseason with the Utes.
Blair’s versatility couple with that of returning starting safety Chase Hansen allowed the Utes to move both players to different positions. Blair started at free safety (three games), strong safety (two games) and outside linebacker (one game) this season. He led the team in solo tackles with 35 going into the UCLA game.
“Corrion Ballard steps in and is the starting free safety now,” Whittingham said. “Chase will remain at strong. They’re still fairly interchangeable. There’s still a lot of flexibility with those two guys at the safety spots, and Phil Afia will backup both.”
Potential milestone
Washington State quarterback and Logan native Luke Falk heads into this weekend needing two touchdown passes to break the Pac-12 Conference all-time record of 116 set by USC’s Matt Barkley. Falk could break the mark in his home state of Utah.
“I don’t pay attention to that, me personally,” Utes nickel back Boobie Hobbs said. “This is my first time hearing it, from you. We don’t look at things like that because if you do then we might as well consider ourselves fans. We leave that to the fans. You guys look at the statistics, and you guys put such and such numbers together. As far as him breaking this record or do whatever he do, we go out there and prepare the same way.”
Gay grabs another weekly honor
Kicker Matt Gay earned Lou Groza Award Star of the Week honors on Monday. Gay made field goals from 25 and 50 yards on Friday night. He leads the FBS in field goals made having gone 21 of 24. He has also made 4-for-5 from 50 yard or more. He now sits just two fields goals shy of tying the school record of 23 field goals in a season, held by Andy Phillips.
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