On Wednesday, Kyle Whittingham was asked at his National Signing Day press conference if there were any position changes coming with guys already in the program.
Utah’s football coach noted Jason Shelley moved from quarterback to safety at the end of last season and that he would stay there for 2020.
On Friday, the redshirt sophomore announced he was putting his name into the NCAA transfer portal. If Shelley wants to be a college quarterback, it wasn’t going to happen with the Utes. To that end, Shelley opting to transfer should not come as a big surprise.
Shelley started the final five games of the 2018 season after Tyler Huntley was lost to a broken collarbone. He went 3-2 in those five games, steering the Utes to their first Pac-12 South title and the Pac-12 championship game. Those three wins included Oregon and Colorado to wrap up the Pac-12 South. In the regular-season finale against BYU, Shelley’s 33-yard touchdown run with 1:43 left capped a 21-point fourth quarter for a 35-27 win over archrival BYU at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
He played in 10 games last season at quarterback, but during bowl prep, was moved to safety. He had one tackle in the Alamo Bowl against Texas.
“I went from trying to score touchdowns to trying to prevent touchdowns, that’s the biggest thing for me,” Shelley said in December, offering no indication at the time that he wanted to transfer. “Coming from offense, I think I have an advantage on knowing what offenses try to do, so that kind of helped me ease into the defensive side.”
At one time, the options to replace Huntley next season were boiled down to Shelley and redshirt sophomore Cameron Rising, with Drew Lisk also a potential factor. That changed drastically when Whittingham scored a commitment from South Carolina graduate transfer Jake Bentley on Dec. 9.
With or without Shelley on the roster, Bentley and Rising are now the two main options at quarterback.
Shelley has already taken a redshirt and has two years of eligibility remaining. If the Frisco, Texas native drops down to the FCS level, he would be eligible immediately. If he opts for an FBS school, he would need to sit out a year, although he could petition the NCAA for immediate eligibility.
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