Utah Utes football: Jordan Wynn is using experience as a freshman as a springboard

SALT LAKE CITY — Jordan Wynn just couldn't resist.

It didn't matter that it was Utah's spring game. The quarterback's competitive nature kicked in. Instinct took over. As soon as Wynn saw a fumbled football on the turf at Rice-Eccles Stadium, he pounced on it.

Then came the pain. Wynn landed a bit awkwardly on his left (non-throwing) shoulder and was done for the day.

"It was a fluke. The quarterbacks weren't live in the game," said Utah coach Kyle Whittingham. "We didn't anticipate anything like that happening, obviously."

The Red-White Game was just two plays old and the Utes' starting quarterback was sidelined. X-rays, however, alleviated any concern about a serious injury. For precautionary reasons, Wynn later had arthroscopic surgery to clean things out.

"I damaged my shoulder a little bit. It's fine now. I'm back to 100 percent," Wynn said. "It probably wasn't very smart of me to dive for it. That's what I told all the coaches."

The sophomore-to-be chalked it up to his "competitive instinct."

It's how he rolls.

"As soon as I see it, I'm going to dive for it," Wynn said before acknowledging there's a time and place for such an approach. "But I regret it now. If I could take it back, I would. I definitely learned from it. In practice, I'm not going to dive for another fumble.

"I'm all good now and just getting ready for the year," he added.

Chalk it up as a close call.

"Everything was good," Wynn continued. "I went and got a little minor scope. But other than that, it was just fine."

Whittingham was never mad about it. In fact, he was kind of impressed that Wynn dove for the ball.

"I played with a guy named Jim McMahon, and he would have done the same thing," Whittingham said. "Without a doubt, he wouldn't hesitate. So you'd rather see that than have a guy shy away from it."

Even so, there's little chance of a repeat outside of game action.

"We've had a conversation," Whittingham said. "If we get in that situation again in practice, just let the ball lie. So he understands. He's a great kid."