Comments about ‘Brad Rock: Jon Hays should get keys for game against BYU’

Hays is certainly the safe choice for this week, but I might openly wonder if this isn't a "the future is now" moment. Wilson gives the Utes far more flexibility in what they can do and I would think for the good of the program they might want to see what the kid has as a full-time QB against BYU instead of pressing him into service against ASU, USC, Washington, etc.

Utah would have been served well if Hays got all the fall reps. I respect Wynn and rooted for him, but his arm hasn't been right for 3 years. Coach Whitt invested his team's talent elsewhere for the last couple of seasons and they have paid the price. this years defense is again stellar, and they have RBs, playmakers at WR, and even some TEs. But without a Offensive line to protect a shaky QB, it's as if the whole offense was held hostage.

Last year John White IV ran behind Cullen and Bergstrom, and he and Hays saved the season. This year White is banged up from 316 carries last year, and the holes aren't there anymore. The line can't protect Hays, but at least Hays will stand in and take hits. He is a gamer, but it won't be enough this time around. Utah goes 6-6.

I think they have to go with Hays just because of his experience. But I hope and expect to see them work Wilson more and more into the offense as the season progresses because next year it's Wilson's team.

We have some very good weapons on offense but I think the Utes need to be patient with pushing too much on Wilson too soon. I know it has been done before - Matt Barkley started as a freshman, but even he struggled with a great O-line. The Utes need a lot of improvement on their line before they can risk starting a freshman.

They can make it work with the two of them for now.

Go Utes!

Whit and Johnson will go with the safe choice Hays which I have mixed feelings about based on Hays inconsistent performance on Friday. One one hand 12 for 26 is a dreadful 46%. On the other hand, he did move the ball much better than Wynn and even threw what appeared to be the game tying touchdown in overtime. If Hays isn't moving the offense by halftime, you have to go with Wilson because the season is still salvageable.

Regarding the Murphy PI... listening to Gunther today explain that it is legal for the receiver to push off within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage. The line of scrimmage was the 6 and Murphy pushed off at the 3 making it a legal play. Does anyone know if Gunther's interpretation of the rule correct?

Hays will start but after the USU game I have no confidence he's any better than last year. This week is a must win, but if White is out and doesn't return then this could be a lost season. A loss means we need to start thinking about playing Wilson to rebuild for next season.

Wow we have played 2 games and one of them was against a pretty good team on their home field. Let me ask you Ute fans who would you rather have at QB Jon Hays or Rieley Nelson. Hays was eventually going to be our QB, don't give these y trolls the satisfaction of you being worried about the season. Don't you all think that they have a plan (Wilson), I sure do he just isn't ready yet #9 will run the team just fine and Wilson will keep growing maybe just a little bit quicker than frst expected.

MLH,

I like your optimism and hope I'm wrong, but what makes you think Whit will do the right thing at the QB position that he has butchered since 2009 by either (1) moving guys to the defensive side of the ball or (2) recruiting guys who just weren't good enough to play the position. The guys Whit's had in there since 09 have not been strong D1 QB material... at least not as strong as Johnson, Ratliff and Smith.

Don't get me wrong I like Whit, but think there is a gap when it come to evaluating QB talent. Johnson and Ratliff were Meyer recruits while Smith was a McBride recruit. Whit has not brought in one QB who has the skills and body type to compete in the PAC12 (maybe Wilson will be the guy one day).

I'm just curious why Utah didn't address their QB situation during the off-season and recruit a JC QB? There is no way they could have thought that Wynn would make it through the season, did they? And you have Hayes who is maybe a capable backup, maybe, and then the true freshman. Why didn't they address this during the off season?

U90, I am pretty sure that the rule is the receivers can bump and push the coverage a little in the first 5 yards. It looked like their legs may have been caught up too. Also, I think a little pushing is acceptable, but he was pushed hard and fell down and I think the rule is up to the refs to interpret. I think it was a bad call, but lets get over it. The Aggies deserved to win that game.

As far as the QB situation. You have to go with Hays right now. Wilson has the tools, but still can't handle the speed of the game and can't read a defense. Get him more snaps in every game so the game slows down for him, and ease him into the position. I say, give 75% of the snaps to Hays during the BYU game, and 25% to Wilson. If Wilson plays well, slowly increase his percentage.

Yeah, I saw how well Hays ran the team last year, losses to Colorado, Washington, ASU, good luck.

I like Hays at the QB position more than I ever liked Wynn. Hays' problem last year was that he didn't know the offense as well as he should have, but it's obvious he's improved. Plus, Hays isn't afraid to run the ball, and can take a hit with less risk of an injury than Wynn ever could. I'm fine keeping Wilson in the rotation to get him experienced, but he'll have to do more than hand off the ball because USU sniffed those plays out pretty quickly.

USU, as good of a team as they are, didn't beat us with their talent, they simply outplayed us. I think we're going to see a very different Utes team this week than we did last week. UNC was clearly too weak of a team to expose our areas of weakness (which are many) but mainly what I see is a lot of fine-tuning that needs to happen. We've got the talent, but our execution needs to be streamlined, and knowing Coach Whit - it will be.

GO UTES!

With Hays, you know what you got - a mediocre QB with adequate mobility. Right now, especially this weekend, he's our best option to win. However, I also agree with the notion that if the Utes lose this weekend, it's time to insert Wilson as a starter to get him some game-time reps.

If our right tackle (#69???) continues to play like he did against USU, it won't matter who's at QB. He got "owned" repeatedly last week.