SALT LAKE CITY — Utah football had one pitch to wide receiver Tobias Merriweather: “Come make a difference.”
The veteran receiver who had stops at Notre Dame and California before eventually landing at Utah during the spring transfer portal window is hoping to live up to that request as he works into the team’s receiver rotation in just a short time.
At 6-foot-5 and 195 pounds, there’s reasons to be optimistic about his potential on the field — even as an option to be Utah’s top receiver. Merriweather looks the part and holds all the intangibles many want in a WR1, but for him it’s about consistency and going about his business the right way.
“Really, in the front of my brain is not really becoming No. 1, No. 2 or No. 3,” Merriweather said. “It’s just coming out, being consistent every day and worry about the result.”
So far, the results have been positive for Merriweather and several other newcomers, according to head coach Kyle Whittingham.
For a position group who was expected to be the biggest question coming into fall camp, Whittingham said the group has “made big strides” in just a week of official practices. Of course, the offseason workouts and training sessions factored into the receivers — and the offense as a whole — coming out strong to start camp.
But the work is far from done, Whittingham said.
There’s no “real, true pecking order,” he cautioned. But the questions surrounding the group have been lessened by what they’ve been able to show on the practice field so far.
“We’re starting to get some semblance of it and some idea, but we need to really see some extensive live work on Saturday to make a decision,” Whittingham added, speaking to the team’s first full scrimmage of fall — an important day for the team where the coaching staff hopes to have a better understanding of who their starters and backups will be for the rest of camp.
For now, some of the standouts of camp have been Merriweather, fellow spring transfer receiver Larry Simmons, returner Daidren Zipperer and true freshman tight end JJ Buchanan, who joined the team in the summer.
“He’s not really a wide receiver, he’s playing a lot of flex tight end, and is really showing up, making his presence known,” Whittingham said of Buchanan. “So that’s been a big plus for us to have him step forward.”
Then there’s New Mexico transfer Ryan Davis, who has the offensive familiarity due to following offensive coordinator Jason Beck to Utah, as well as Mississippi State transfer Creed Whittemore.
There’s also the “utility guys,” Whittingham said, who will “kind of be able to do several things” — including Nate Johnson and tight end Hunter Andrews, as well as some defensive two-way players.
“Smith Snowden is looking good on offense,” Whittingham said. “That’s been a good addition for us. And Lander Barton’s doing some good things on offense, so we’ve got a lot of options right now.”
Many others will factor into that conversation in the coming days as the unit looks to become a viable asset to starting quarterback Devon Dampier, who has already demanded a lot of his receivers through the offseason workouts he organized to get in sync with his pass catchers.
“I think top down, we have like every type of receiver,” Merriweather said. “We have older guys who are just like third down whatever, consistent guys down low. We have guys who take it deep. You have guys who can do everything. We have younger guys, older guys. Everyone’s getting the mix. So I think it’s a good mix of guys. And we all come to work every day.”
And it’s a group that says they’re not worried about a pecking order so long as they continue to build each other up in an effort to get better on the field.
“Out here in fall camp, you’re thinking about just making the play that comes to you,” Whittemore said. “You know, don’t think about your role, specifically, just when the ball comes make the play, whether that’s 10 times, two times, 20 times — make the play. So that’s what’s on my mind. And I’m not necessarily thinking about how many targets, just making the play when I when I do get the chance.”
“Everybody builds each other up,” Simmons said. “It’s not just one receiver, it’s like everybody as a whole; we all work together. So I feel like everybody is there together, and everybody builds each other up.”
Tougher decisions and conversations will be made in the coming days, but with a few weeks to go before Utah travels to Pasadena, California, to take on UCLA, a perceived weakness is starting to develop into an offensive strength.
And it’s all about making a difference for a team in pursuit of a potent offense.
“Just the ability to make a difference, that’s really what I’m looking for,” Merriweather said. “Just to be in an offense that wants me to be here and wants me to be featured.”
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
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