Despite their offensive explosion against UCLA this weekend, the Utes still have questions at receiver.
In Utah’s win against UCLA — one where the offense put up 486 total yards and six touchdowns — only two full-time wide receivers caught a pass. New Mexico transfer Ryan Davis finished with three receptions and 22 yards, while Cal transfer Tobias Merriweather had one catch for 36 yards.
Two-way cornerback and wide receiver Smith Snowden led all Utah pass catchers with six receptions and 51 receiving yards.
On Monday, Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said he’d like to get Merriweather more involved on offense this week.
“I think we need to get Tobias a little more involved,” Whittingham said. “He’s a weapon for us. And you saw him catch a deep ball and then draw a pass interference on another deep ball, and that’s really his thing, is he seems to have a good knack for getting free up the field. He’s also got a big catch radius. So we have to try to get him more involved on offense.”
In terms of the rest of Utah’s receiving corps — Davis, Larry Simmons, Daidren Zipperer and the others — Whittingham is still hoping to see someone else emerge, so quarterback Devon Dampier has more options to throw to.
“If you want more time and you want more production, play better in practice,” Whittingham said. “You have to play your way into that role. We’re not just going to try to feature somebody if they haven’t earned it. Not to say that they’re not doing some good things in practice.
“Moving forward, it would be nice to be able to have more production or emphasis placed on that. But again, it’s got to be merited. You can’t just hand out playing time and production.”