What positions does Utah need to address in spring transfer portal?

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham during Utah Utes spring football practice at Spence and Cleone Eccles Football Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, March 20, 2025. | Anna Fuder As Utah wraps up spring football this week — the Utes still have two more practices and the “22 Forever” spring game left — coaches’ attention will be on more than just developing their current roster.The spring NCAA transfer portal opens on Wednesday, providing players the opportunity to find a new school and programs the final opportunity to add to their roster before the 2025 season begins this fall.

Earlier this month, Utah had two defensive players announce their intention to enter the portal on Wednesday — sophomore cornerback Quimari Shemwell and redshirt freshman Sammie Hunter. Shemwell played in all 12 games last season, mostly on special teams (he played 37 snaps on defense) and Hunter did not play last year.With Smith Snowden, Scooby Davis, Blake Cotton, Don Saunders and LaTristan Thompson in the room, there’s only so many reps to go around, and Shemwell and Hunter left to try and get opportunities elsewhere.



Utah coach Kyle Whittingham says that, in terms of losing players, indications are that the spring transfer portal “shouldn’t be too crazy,” but that “time will tell.”“Typically if a guy’s going to go to the portal, they are not going to go through the entire spring ball. Typically, they usually opt out prior to.

That doesn’t mean that it’s not going to happen, but that’s usually the indicator when they say, ‘Hey, I’m not going to practice anymore,’” Whittingham said.Historically, few top-level players have been available in the spring portal. Due to the truncated time frame until fall camp starts, it’s tough to transfer into a new program after spring camp, get up to speed and win a starting job ahead of the season beginning.

Aside from a few big names — Tennessee starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava entered the transfer portal after reportedly sitting out of spring practice in hopes of a better NIL deal and Cal star running back Jaydn Ott transferred to Oklahoma — the spring portal mostly is for filling out the depth of the roster.Some more Utes could enter the transfer portal on Wednesday, but the main contenders for playing time in 2025 should be staying put.“Everyone right now is out here working hard and I haven’t had anybody opt out for the portal,” Whittingham said.

While Utah hopes that its spring losses are minimal, is there an opportunity for them to add to their roster? Again, few game-changing players are expected to be available in the spring, and the bidding wars for those players are expected to be fierce.There’s always surprises in every transfer cycle, but for the most part, Utah will target depth pieces and hope that a few players that it picks up can crack the rotation.What are the Utes’ biggest needs as spring comes to an end?Whittingham said the Utes probably need another receiver, another running back, defensive tackles and cornerbacks.

While the receivers — the biggest question mark on the offense ahead of spring ball — have made strides in practice, it doesn’t hurt to try and bring in another option ahead of the season.“The wide receivers are starting to take big steps as we’ve talked about — Zach Williams in particular,” Whittingham said.At running back, Utah has Wayshawn Parker penciled in as RB1, along with New Mexico senior NaQuari Rogers and freshman Daniel Bray as other options, but should be looking for a bigger back to add to the room.

Defensive tackle is a big need. Aliki Vimahi and Dallas Vakalahi are primed to step into starting roles, and redshirt sophomore Jonah Lea’ea, freshman Sione Motuapuaka and freshman Karson Kaufusi have all had good spring showings, but Utah will want to add at least one more veteran player to the group if possible.Due to the departures of Shemwell and Hunter, the Utes will want to bulk up their depth behind the main rotational cornerbacks by adding a few players post-spring.

What about a quarterback to back up Dampier?“QB, unless we have movement (players leaving), we should be okay. We’ll take a look at QBs. You always do in the portal every time it opens,” Whittingham said.

As previously reported by KSL.com’s Josh Furlong, Utah will be losing one of its 2025 quarterbacks — Wyatt Becker — but have two options behind Dampier in Isaac Wilson and Byrd Flicklin.All three quarterbacks have shown progress throughout Utah’s practices the last few weeks.

“Three guys are getting all the reps — Devon, Isaac, and Byrd — and we’ve seen progress out of all three of them and that needs to happen. We would expect with all the reps we’re getting, we would expect some improvement to take place in guys,” Whittingham said.As Whittingham said, the Utes will take a look in the transfer portal, but the number of quarterbacks that enter the transfer portal, have the talent to be at least the No.

2 quarterback in a Power Four league, and are willing to transfer to Salt Lake City to sit behind Dampier are few and far between.The spring transfer portal opens on Wednesday and runs through Friday, April 25, 2025. It will be the final transfer window for players until after the 2025 regular season.

.