{"id":2061,"date":"2026-06-18T21:10:01","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T21:10:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=2061"},"modified":"2026-06-18T21:10:01","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T21:10:01","slug":"where-does-phil-steele-project-the-utes-to-finish-in-the-big-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=2061","title":{"rendered":"Where does Phil Steele project the Utes to finish in the Big 12?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><i>This article was first published in the <\/i><i>Ute Insiders newslett<\/i><i>er<\/i><i>. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox each Wednesday night. <\/i><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=2059\">Take a look inside the Obama Presidential Center, opening this weekend<\/a><\/p>\n<p>With less than two months until fall camps open across the nation, college football preview season is in full swing.<\/p>\n<p>The latest preview magazine to hit the presses is Phil Steele\u2019s long-running publication. <\/p>\n<p>Last year, Steele ranked the Utes tied for No. 1 in the Big 12 coming off of a 5-7 season. He wasn\u2019t too far off base, as Utah finished third in the conference and completed a turnaround with an 11-2 overall record and a 7-2 mark in the Big 12, but he had Big 12 runner-up BYU No. 7 in his preseason conference rankings and Big 12 winner Texas Tech tied for No. 4.<\/p>\n<p>College football is a tough sport to predict.<\/p>\n<p>This year, Steele has the Red Raiders going back-to-back, even without quarterback Brendan Sorsby, who ended a saga full of drama and plenty of billable hours by declaring for the NFL supplementary draft on Monday. <\/p>\n<p>The Red Raiders, who are now expected to be led by quarterback Will Hammond (coming off of an ACL tear last year), are still the favorites to win the conference, per Steele. The Red Raiders posted one of the nation\u2019s best transfer portal classes and are loaded with talent.<\/p>\n<p>Eight Red Raider players appear on Steele\u2019s All-Big 12 preseason first team.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf it is Hammond at QB this is still the best team in the Big 12,\u201d Steele wrote.<\/p>\n<p>The Beehive State schools trail behind Texas Tech, with BYU checking in at No. 2 and Utah at No. 3.<\/p>\n<p>The Utes are in a fascinating place heading into the season. Utah no longer has longtime coach Kyle Whittingham, who \u201cstepped down\u201d and then ended up at Michigan along with six of the Utes\u2019 assistant coaches, including offensive coordinator Jason Beck.<\/p>\n<p>After years of waiting, Morgan Scalley is now in charge of the program, and while there\u2019s not a ton of starters returning, he still has a talented team.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=2057\">Utah moves forward with $30 million Book Cliffs land transaction<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Quarterbacks Devon Dampier and Byrd Ficklin return \u2014 Steele rates the Utes\u2019 quarterback room as the best in the Big 12 \u2014 alongside running back Wayshawn Pakrer. <\/p>\n<p>The Utes hit the transfer portal for some key wide receivers, including Utah State\u2019s Braden Pegan and San Jose State\u2019s Kyri Shoels, but the big question is how the rebuilt offensive line will perform after losing all five starters to the NFL and graduation.<\/p>\n<p>Five-star freshman Kelvin Obot (guard) and Montana State transfer Cedric Jefferson (tackle) are newcomers, but Alex Harrison, Keith Olson and Zereoue Williams have all been in the program for a while. Utah feels like it has the talent on the line, but can they put it all together?<\/p>\n<p>On the defensive side, the line will feature all new full-time starters, but familiar faces in defensive ends Kash Dillon and Lance Holtzclaw and defensive tackle Karson Kafusi. Like the offensive line, they\u2019ll be the key to the defense this season.<\/p>\n<p>Utah\u2019s linebacker unit should be solid with the return of Johnathan Hall and Trey Reynolds stepping up in a starting position, and safety could be the strength of the team with Rabbit Evans and Jackson Bennee.<\/p>\n<p>Cornerback will be interesting, as the Utes lost starting nickel Smith Snowden to Michigan and starting outside corner Blake Cotton to graduation, but bring back starter Elijah Davis and move Rock Caldwell from safety to nickel.<\/p>\n<p>One of the key camp battles will be for the other outside cornerback spot, which could come down to Akron transfer Elijah Reed and USF transfer James Chenault.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, Steele feels like the Utes\u2019 schedule is manageable \u2014 the Utes miss Texas Tech, Kansas State and Arizona State and play BYU and Houston at home. The line of scrimmage, he says, will determine whether or not they are a playoff contender.<\/p>\n<h3>Which Utes made Phil Steele\u2019s preseason All Big 12 team?<\/h3>\n<p>Mana Carvalho, PR \u2014 1st team<\/p>\n<p>Devon Dampier, QB \u2014 2nd team<\/p>\n<p>Wayshawn Parker, RB \u2014 2nd team<\/p>\n<p>Braden Pegan, WR \u2014 2nd team<\/p>\n<p>Keith Olsen, OG \u2014 3rd team<\/p>\n<p>Johnathan Hall, LB \u2014 3rd team<\/p>\n<p>Jackson Bennee, S \u2014 3rd team<\/p>\n<p>Lance Holtzclaw, DE \u2014 4th team<\/p>\n<p>Elijah Davis, CB \u2014 4th team<\/p>\n<h3>In case you missed it<\/h3>\n<p>The University of Utah athletic department\u2019s deal with private equity firm Otro Capital was officially finalized Friday. Here\u2019s why Utah officials felt it was needed.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=2055\">A parent\u2019s guide to Trump Accounts<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>From the archives<\/h3>\n<div>\n<div>Related<\/div>\n<div>Utah receives commitment from 2027 QB Jonah Lubno<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>Meet the state of Utah\u2019s top prep football recruit from the class of 2027, Davis High\u2019s Bode Sparrow<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Extra points<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Utah basketball\u2019s Big 12 schedule matrix is set for next season. Here\u2019s who they\u2019ll play<\/li>\n<li>Utah football gets commitment from Texas safety Darrod \u2018Bug\u2019 Jacobs<\/li>\n<li>Big 12 RB rankings: Will anyone catch LJ Martin?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With less than two months until fall camps open across the nation, college football preview season is in full swing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2060,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Where does Phil Steele project the Utes to finish in the Big 12? - American Movers Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=2061\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Where does Phil Steele project the Utes to finish in the Big 12? 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