Jason BatacaoDevon Dampier will smile when he’s asked about the upcoming season.
He’ll tell you he’s ready to improve as a passer and he loves playing under new head coach Morgan Scalley.
But the one thing he won’t stop saying? He’s happy to finally be healthy.
“Now that I’m healthy, now that I have a head coach that I love, I’ve got an OC [Kevin McGiven] that looks after me as well. I see it,” Dampier said at Big 12 Media Days. “I’m just blessed to be in a situation. I’m happy to have an opportunity to showcase it every Saturday.”
Utah’s quarterback spent most of the 2025 season dealing with a double sports hernia — he injured one side against Wyoming and the other against Arizona State — and a high ankle sprain.
“I’ve never had an injury like that,” Dampier said. “So that was the first time where I felt like I was going into games in my head, so I couldn’t play how I normally played.”
The injuries impacted his throwing mechanics and mobility, and he couldn’t run without pain in his right ankle.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Utes quarterback Devon Dampier (4) wears additional wraps on his right ankle during the game between the BYU Cougars and the Utah Utes in Provo on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025.
Even a hobbled version of Dampier managed to finish the season with 2,490 passing yards, 24 touchdowns and five interceptions. His quarterback rating (84.4) was seventh in the nation by season’s end.
Now Scalley says the Utah quarterback is fully healthy heading into the season.
“Devon played a lot of last year not 100% — sports hernia — but that just goes to show how competitive he is and how tough he is,” Scalley said. “I’m excited to see him play at full strength again.”
So is Dampier.
After a season of simply getting through Saturdays, he is focused on what he — and the team — can accomplish when he isn’t limited by multiple injuries.
He has dreams of winning a Big 12 championship and leading the Utes to their first-ever appearance in the College Football Playoff. Individually, he wants to reach the NFL.
And he’s using the pain-filled year he had in 2025 as fuel to accomplish each of those goals.
“Last year was definitely like a humbling experience in a way,” Dampier said. “We still played pretty, pretty well for what we did, but for me, personally, it was a very humbling experience.”
