Utes Bulletin: Things Happening In Utah Athletics (Week Of 4/3/23)

SALT LAKE CITY – Spring football is in full-swing while several of the smaller sports are also in progress and having success, making a one-stop-shop for little tidbits of Utah Athletics information necessary with the Utes Bulletin.

If you missed any of the highlights from the previous week, you can review that here.

Without further ado, here is this week’s Utes Bulletin that includes ranking updates, upcoming events for the week, and important dates to keep track of among other items of interest concerning Utah Athletics for the week of 4/3/23.

𝗨𝘁𝗮𝗵 𝗔𝘁𝗵𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸

⚾️ @utahbaseball
🥎 @Utah_Softball
🏃‍♀️ @Utah_trackfield
🏐 @UtahBeachVB
🎾 @UteWomensTennis
🥍 @UtahLacrosse

🎟️ https://t.co/pL7bwJAt8N#GoUtes pic.twitter.com/ExlKqgRaVC

— Utah Athletics (@utahathletics) April 3, 2023

Utah Gymnastics

The Red Rocks had themselves a weekend posting three perfect 10s, a 198.125 in round of the L.A. Regional, a 198.050 in the regional final, and beating rival UCLA for a third time this season on their way to their 47th straight Nationals appearance. 

Utah will be joined in Dallas on April 13 by Oklahoma, Florida, Kentucky, UCLA, Cal, LSU, and Denver. The Utes will be paired against Oklahoma, Kentucky, and UCLA in their semifinal meet while Florida, Cal, LSU, and Denver will compete in the other. The top two from each semifinal will advance to the Final Four on April 15.

Utah’s regional title is its 34th in program history & third straight. The Red Rocks remain the 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽.https://t.co/I4TcdFFFt0@UtahGymnastics | #trUSt pic.twitter.com/LaReoQXy3x

— Utah Athletics (@utahathletics) April 3, 2023

Utah Football

The Utes will be entering their third week of spring ball this week. The media will have a 20-minute viewing period on Tuesday as well as an opportunity to check out Saturday’s scrimmage. It appears things are continuing to move in a positive direction for the Utes with head coach Kyle Whittingham giving a full breakdown of what the staff has been seeing from the team so far.

 

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Last week,Whittingham indicated that the staff was starting to see some separation in the battle for QB2 but wasn’t ready yet to go into detail as to who was maybe moving ahead. There is no doubt all eyes will be on the competing quarterbacks come Saturday’s scrimmage.

Preseason Awards Watch

The Utes got their first guy named to a preseason award over the weekend with safety Cole Bishop earning Walter Camp’s Second-Team defense nods.

𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗢𝗡 𝗔𝗟𝗟-𝗔𝗠𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗡

Congrats, @Cole_bishop_8 ‼️ pic.twitter.com/jXqRDEcXC0

— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) March 31, 2023

Transfer Portal News

Utah had a new name jump into the transfer portal this week in cornerback Caine Savage. Savage joins safety Clayton Isbell as being the most recent transfer out of the program.

#LL22 pic.twitter.com/KxDR1phyhH

— Caine Savage (@LegendaryCaine2) April 2, 2023

Pro Utes News

• Former Utah defensive end Pita Taumoepenu has been making a splash in the XFL this season. This past weekened Taumoepenu forced a key fumble to give the Las Vegas Vipers the win over the Brahmas.
• As we inch closer to the 2023 NFL Draft, former Utah tight end Dalton Kincaid continues to get high praise from scouts and GMs. Our very own Stevenson Sylvester breaks down what makes Kincaid so special.
• Bam Olaseni decided to hang up the cleats last weekend and instead give the WWE a try.
• Finally, former Utah wide receiver and current Denver Bronco Tim Patrick sat with Ute Legend Steve Smith on his podcast to discuss the ups and downs of Patrick’s career in the NFL so far.

Utah Women’s Basketball

It may be officially the offseason right now, but great things are continuing to happen for Utah women’s basketball.

For starts, Alissa Pili was named a WBCA All-American last week. She is the first Ute in program history to win the honor outright.

The Utes also received some love on the Kelly Clarkson Show with Issy Palmer representing the team in Clarkson’s Snack Bracket. 

Lastly, ESPN put out their “Way Too Early” predictions for the 2023-24 season shortly after LSU were crowned National Champions and lets just say they think very highly of the Utes for next year.

👀👀#GoUtes https://t.co/GbQK7tmXMB

— Utah Women’s Basketball (@UTAHWBB) April 3, 2023

Transfer Portal News

The Utah women also appear to have their first transfer out of the program this offseason in freshman Teya Sidberry. Sidberry averaged 4.6 points per game, 3.4 rebounds, and .5 assists in her college debut season.

Utah Men’s Basketball

The Runnin’ Utes are also in the midst of the offseason but took some time to recognize the anniversary of one of the marquee points in the history of their program this past week. It’s been 25 years since Utah advanced to the NCAA Finals back in 1998.

𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟴 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻 – 𝗮𝗻 𝗢𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗛𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆

25 years later

📝 https://t.co/EhFayip2Qa@UtahMBB | #GoUtes pic.twitter.com/WQ2vCceMd7

— Utah Athletics (@utahathletics) March 31, 2023

Utah Lacrosse

Utah lacrosse had a massive game last Friday hosting No. 10 Jacksonville and pulled off the upset 18-15 in front of the home crowd. Lacrosse is now 4-0 in the ASUN conference and 5-4 overall after a slow start to their season. Up next the Utes will travel to Pennsylvania to take on Robert Morris. Faceoff will start at 10:00 a.m. MT.

‼️UTES WIN‼️

18-15 win against #10 Jacksonville

😁😁😁😁#GoUtes pic.twitter.com/ocMZSgD5hA

— Utah Lacrosse (@UtahLacrosse) April 1, 2023

Utah T&F/XC

It was a great weekend for Utah track and field/cross-country with several records being broken at the Stanford Invitational.

Josefine Eriksen broke the 200m school record posting a 23.92 on the event, overtaking Alissa Atisme’s seven-year-old record that was set back in 2016.

🚨𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗥𝗗 𝗔𝗟𝗘𝗥𝗧🚨

𝓙𝓸𝓼𝓮𝓯𝓲𝓷𝓮 𝓔𝓻𝓲𝓴𝓼𝓮𝓷 blazes down the straightaway to break the school 200m record with this run of 23.92 Saturday afternoon‼️ #GoUtes | #UtahTFXC pic.twitter.com/n6GNwkeCCd

— Utah T&F/XC (@Utah_trackfield) April 1, 2023

Dee Denis included her name in the record books too after posting a 24.20 mark, moving her into third all-time at Utah.Emily Martin moved into the fourth fastest time in school history posting 24.40.

Utah Tennis

The men’s tennis team had a banner weekend taking down Stanford 4-1 and following it up with beating Cal for the first time ever in program history, 4-2.

🔴 UTES WIN 🔴

The squad takes down the Golden Bears for the first time in program history!#GoUtes pic.twitter.com/wGZrEZ6hx6

— Utah Tennis (@UtahTennis) April 2, 2023

Utah Baseball

The Utes went 1-2 against USC over the weekend winning the last game of the series on Sunday but dropping the first two games. Utah baseball is now 11-16 on the season and 3-9 in Pac-12 play.

#UtesWin the series finale‼️ pic.twitter.com/IQBWR2Ytlj

— Utah Baseball (@utahbaseball) April 3, 2023

Utah Softball

It was a bit of a tough go this weekend for Utah softball after they won their first game in the series with Cal but dropped the last two. The Utes currently sit at 27-7 on the season and 6-3 in Pac-12 play.

See you all back at home on Thursday #GoUtes /// #SOTL pic.twitter.com/4LnBlOlv79

— Utah Softball (@Utah_Softball) April 2, 2023

General Utah Utes Athletics News

Last week Utah Athletic Director Mark Harlan was named A.D. of the Year for 2022. Harlan has been with the Utes since Chris Hill retired in 2018 and has helped see the Utes through three unspeakable tragedies, and a pandemic all while increasing donations and taking on some big renovation projects.

We also celebrated Utah Ski’s fourth-straight National Title from earlier in March, talking with Ski Director Fredrik Landstedt about what made this past championship so tough and special.

Michelle Bodkin is the Utah Utes Insider for KSLsports.com and host of both the Crimson Corner Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and The Saturday Show (Saturday from 10 a.m.–12 p.m.) on The KSL Sports Zone. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram: @BodkinKSLsports

Follow @bodkinkslsports