Southern Utah football’s 2023 starts with two tough road games — and a ‘half-a-million-dollar payday’

Southern Utah University football’s first two games couldn’t be more daunting.

Both are on the road — one against an upstart Arizona State team with something to prove in the Pac-12, the other against a hungry BYU team in its first year in the Big 12.

The Thunderbirds were not expected to win either of those games. Even Thunderbirds coach DeLane Fitzgerald understands the reality of the situation.

“They’re half-a-million-dollar paydays,” Fitzgerald said. “We’re gonna go in and do the best we can and then collect a big fat check at the end of it and come on home.”

SUU will receive a combined $950,000 to play the Sun Devils and Cougars, per game contracts obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune via public records request.

While the first two games on the schedule will be daunting, the Thunderbirds have plenty to look forward to for the remainder of the season. They’re starting the 2023 season in a semi-new, rebranded United Athletic Conference that includes teams from the Western Athletic and Atlantic Sun conferences.

That means new opponents, different challenges and untapped potential for Southern Utah, which finished just 5-6 overall and 2-3 in the WAC last year. Fitzgerald likes the makeup of the 10-team league.

“The balance from top to bottom is really good,” Fitzgerald said. “The worst team in the conference can beat the best team any given week. I think that makes it really, really exciting.”

The Thunderbirds return senior quarterback Justin Miller, who played his junior college ball at Snow College and prepped at Summit Academy. He threw for a career-high 2,824 yards and 20 touchdowns in 2022.

SUU’s top running back is redshirt sophomore Braedon Wissler, who transferred from the University of Utah. The second in command at that position is junior Targhee Lambson, who played at Timpview High School.

Fitzgerald said wide receivers Ethan Bolingbroke, Isaiah Wooden and Tim Patrick all had a good fall camp.

The pieces of the puzzle that still need to get figured out, Fitzgerald said, are the defensive backs and defensive ends. There’s still a lot of competition at cornerback, but his four main players at safety are junior George Ramirez, redshirt sophomore Trevon Gola-Callard, redshirt freshman Brendan Hale and redshirt sophomore Hanslee Peay.

“Our defensive backs have to improve,” Fitzgerald said. “Our defensive ends have to decide who they want to be. ... They have to decide if they’re going to be good or not.”

On offense, Fitzgerald said the offensive line has to be more physical, and as a whole it has to find a way to “keep people off the quarterback.”

For SUU, the hope is getting into a position at the end of the season where it can compete for a playoff spot. Fitzgerald said if the Thunderbirds can find a way to get two or three wins by the end of September, that could propel them to winning five or six more by the end of November.

“Top three in the conference and a postseason bid — it’d be like winning the Super Bowl here,” Fitzgerald said. “I firmly believe we can do that.”