Youth served: Freshman making early impact for 1-2 Utes

There's a youth movement up on the hill.

Eight true freshmen have already seen action for Utah this season. All of them made contributions in last week's 44-6 thrashing of UCLA at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

"The freshmen helped us out in a huge way," senior linebacker Joe Jiannoni said. "They'll probably be playing from here on out. So they're going to help us with all of our wins."

Collectively, the newcomers, along with four redshirt freshmen on the depth chart, scored a touchdown, hauled in an interception and teamed for 11 tackles against the Bruins.

"The crew of freshmen that are having an impact for us are doing a nice job," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said, while noting that contributions from eight true freshmen may be the most he's seen in his 13 seasons with the Utes.

"We knew when we signed this class that we had some guys who were very athletic and may very well help us this year," he explained. "And that's proven to be the fact.

They're doing a nice job for us."

The true freshmen in the mix include quarterback Corbin Louks and tight end Dallin Rogers. They connected on a 12-yard scoring strike on Saturday.

Wide receiver Jereme Brooks, defensive end Nai Fotu, linebacker Jamel King, defensive lineman Lei Talamaivao, linebacker Justin Taplin-Ross and running back Eddie Wide are the other Utes who played in high school games last season.

They're playing college ball this fall, Whittingham noted, for a very specific reason.

"We want the best players out there — both offensively and defensively, as well as special teams," he said. "So if we've got a guy that's going to make our special teams better, we're not going to redshirt him. We are going to go ahead and play him."

It's Utah's "rule of thumb," Whittingham said before pointing out that the risks involved with redshirting someone for non-medical reasons can prove costly if an injury arises down the line.

"There's pros and cons to redshirting athletes. I think the thing is if a guy is not ready to play, not ready to contribute and help the team out, that's when you look at redshirting," Whittingham said.

"If a guy's ready to help out and makes you better, I think it's a mistake to sit him — just for the sake of sitting him and letting him have that fifth year."