The Victors

on the question of Bryce’s performance year 1 and what to expect of him in year 2, i was curious how his numbers compared to other true frosh starters so aSked gemini (have not yet verified, lol) and it brought up the following: Chris Leak, Raiola (meh), Dante Moore, Henne (similar but he had way more TDs), and Barkley.

Chris Leak is interesting, similar uber elite recruit and his frosh year he had a very similar stat line as Bryce but without the running (~2400 yards, 60% completion, similar td/int ratio). Then, year two he jumped up to 3200 yards and a much improved td/int ratio. And, interestingly (according to unverified Gemini) he went through a change in coordinator after year 1, as Bryce will be doing.

Leak was probably a disappointment relative to expectations but he still made a nice leap, and did so without being much of a run threat.

Based on this single (as yet unverified) anecdote, i’m coming around to the idea of Bryce taking off next year.

Second thing that i’m interested in seeing this year is tempo on offense. Not a lot has been mentioned about Becks tempo but listening to one of his recent pressers he emphasized that, and my always trusty (!) AI research suggests that Utah went from 13th (2024) to 3rd (2025) in the big 12 in offensive pace/plays per game. I think our D will be decent but for the first time in a while it is pretty clear we have to be a better O than D so these two things (which must be true because AI said them) are giving me some comfort….