Utah left West Virginia with a lot of bumps and bruises.
But, according to head coach Kyle Whittingham, the Utes avoided more season-ending injuries.
That is good news for the program, as it prepares for ranked matchups against No. 21 Arizona State and No. 18 BYU the next two weeks.
“None of those injuries were season-ending,” Whittingham said on Monday. “But we’ll see who we have available this week and who we don’t.”
Junior safety Nate Ritchie went down with a lower-leg injury in the Utes’ win over the Mountaineers. He left the game in a leg cast and crutches, but the Utes don’t expect to lose him for the rest of the 2025 season.
Two-way playmaker Jackson Bennee also left the game with what appeared to be a lower-leg injury but remained suited up in pads on the sideline. Dallas Vakalahi, one of the Utes’ starting defensive tackles, also left midway through the game. He has already missed two games this season.
Sophomore running back Wayshawn Parker briefly exited the contest, but he later returned to finish the game with 66 rushing yards and one touchdown reception.
If Ritchie misses some time, Whittingham said the Utes will look at several different options in the secondary to replace his production.
“We have Nate Tilmon, who came in ... and played well in his snaps. [He] did make a few errors on Saturday, but he did some good things. Jackson Bennee also has experience at safety,“ Whittingham said. ”In fact, that’s where he spent most of his time up until this year, when we moved to nickel. And so we have some options there.
“We also have some corners that are a good size, and we may look at moving one of those guys inside and seeing how [they do]. It’ll probably be the Rock Caldwell kid if we go that direction.”