There’s irony in Kyle Whittingham’s approach to Utah’s football season, a season that commences on Saturday in the Rose Bowl against UCLA, and there’s also a straightforward, snug fit to the location of that commencement, the place that annually houses the game known as the Granddaddy of Them All.
The iron-fisted, graying Utah man, now 65 years old, is a granddaddy himself — at last count to 10 young souls. And while Whittingham has said he intends to devote a lot of time and attention to his kids’ kids, maybe more than he did to his own, it turns out Gramps is once again all stirred up and energized for football heading into his 21st run as the Utes’ head coach, and perhaps his last, for the most upside down of reasons.
No, it’s not that he’s eager to right the wrong of last season’s “debacle” (his word, not mine). That’s a factor, sure, but there’s more to the all-new bounce in his step.
It has to do with a single athlete that plays a position for which Whittingham is not recognized for being overly connected to, is not known to have much affinity for, is not known to have much patience with, is not known to provide an atmosphere of comfort in which a player of that position can thrive.
And yet, here we are, watching Whittingham gather himself for yet another campaign, answering questions on Monday at the first of his weekly news conferences with as much enthusiasm and acumen as ever before.
The wry-but-real reason? He’s got a quarterback pretty much unlike any quarterback he’s ever had, a quarterback who presents to opposing defenses the quandary that he, as a primarily defensive mind, loathes facing in the extreme, a QB who can move like the wind on the ground and throw through that wind when necessary. Devon Dampier can do both — use his legs and hips to deke and deceive to make defenders miss and use his arm to make them pay when they get all greedy and bunched up front.
That’s in theory at the P4 level, since Dampier’s resume includes mostly making opponents in the Mountain West look fooled and foolish from time to time. But there’s more to Dampier’s game than what’s already been described above, a quality of which Whittingham can’t get enough — charismatic leadership.
(Anna Fuder | Utah Athletics) Head coach Kyle Whittingham speaks to the team during Utah football practice in Salt Lake City, Wednesday, July 30, 2025.
The New Mexico transfer hasn’t been around the Utah program for long, but he, along with his Lobo offensive coordinator Jason Beck, has stoked the Utes since his arrival — via the manner in which he talks, exudes confidence, and by way of his performances in practice. The Utes love this dude, and Whittingham does, too, in a way that is most unusual for the coach.
Utah has had some nice quarterbacks through Whittingham’s tenure and some quarterbacks who weren’t so nice. It’s been something of a crapshoot. What Whittingham has craved both then and now is a leader on attack who 1) won’t turn the ball over too much, 2) won’t put his defense in positions of peril, 3) will allow, worse case, Utah’s punter — of which they’ve had some extraordinarily good ones — to flip the field without much harm done, 4) scores touchdowns in the red zone, and 5) can run when he has to and pass when he must.
Whittingham seems fairly certain that Dampier can accomplish most of those things at a high level. Whether he can march Utah down the field inside of a game’s last two minutes when it needs a touchdown to win is yet to be determined. But he will give the Utes a multifaceted athlete who can roll out in tight spaces on a short field and either get the job done with his quick feet or spin a ball where it needs to go for points.
That’s a major reason Whittingham answered questions on Monday without sounding tired or beat down or like a weary football sage who, his money and legacy already made, is looking forward to playing on the reg one of the courses at Kapalua as warm Pacific breezes blow through his hair or like a Grandpa who has his mind chiefly on other important family matters.
Instead, he made proclamations with exclamations and responded to questions about himself, his team, and UCLA.
“The season is here!” he started in with.
“Like any opener, there’s a lot of unknowns.”
He was asked what the identity of the ’25 Utes would be: “There’s a lot of new faces, I can tell you that. … We’re excited about the things we’re doing on offense, We have a new scheme and a new quarterback. Hopefully, there’s some good stuff there. The defense has been solid all through fall camp.”
He said the offense has had strong moments against that resistance, but “you never know what you’re going to get until you line up and play somebody else.”
He said, “We know who we want to be … but there will be an evolution.”
He said, “We felt like we did a good job with the portal this year,” adding that 50 percent of the Ute roster is new. Between keeping players and finding new ones, he called that process “a balancing act.”
(Anna Fuder | Utah Athletics) Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham coaches players during spring football practice in Salt Lake City on Thursday, March 20, 2025.
He said the advantage of playing a team like UCLA in the opener, as opposed to playing an FCS team is … “It gets your attention right away.” He said, if pressed, he might prefer playing a bit of a lesser opponent right from jump. He said he wouldn’t mind if colleges went to the NFL model of having preseason games.
He said UCLA has “big, strong, athletic guys, they always have,” and that his offensive line would be challenged by that. He said his O-line might be the best he’s ever had “on paper, but you’ve got to go out and prove it. … There’s no reason we shouldn’t be very solid up front.”
He said he felt “good” about his decision to return for another season. “If I didn’t enjoy it, I wouldn’t have come back.” He mentioned his unquenched passion and unrelenting energy for the game, “You better have that for this job,” stating further that those are requirements for it, for him. And he has “no second thoughts, whatsoever.”
He talked about former Tennessee and now Bruins quarterback Nico Iamaleava, calling him a “specimen” and a “playmaker,” emphasizing that he can run and throw the ball, “a lot like our guy. Devon is the same way,” just a bit more undersized.
He said the way college football is being done now “is not sustainable. Got to figure out a way to get some sanity to the whole thing.” He suggested a salary cap, not unlike the NFL. It needs “major changes.”
He mentioned how important it will be for Utah’s receivers to run steady routes and to be on point. With the way Dampier can run, he expects opponents to “load the box,” so balance will be necessary. “Balance is the key to all great offenses.”
He said his defense facing a dual-threat quarterback like Dampier through spring and fall practices has helped it prepare for a QB like Iamaleava.
He called Dampier “elusive.” And, on account of that, 50 percent of his quarterback’s runs will be planned and 50 percent will be Dampier doing his thing, using his vision and natural abilities to bust plays open.
He said the years at the head of Utah’s program have lessened his intensity a bit, have helped him become a better listener, have toned down his “knee-jerk reactions,” enabling him to “think things through” and be “more patient.”
One of the reasons it’s difficult for a guy like Whittingham to walk away from football is because, despite last year’s flop, he’s as good at his coaching craft as he’s ever been, delegating more, and deliberating more. And making a truckload of money. So, he’ll stick around, maybe for this season, maybe for this year and next.
Dampier, after all, is just a junior. If the quarterback does what Whittingham suspects he’s capable of doing, and he thrives in that way, it could be that the coach walks out the door at Utah with his new best bud, his new best friend, a quarterback of all things.
Irony, indeed.
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