Tyler Huntley came out swinging with the first team offense on Saturday. Back to back completions to Jameson Field and Demari Simpkins got the Utes rolling early. Zack Moss averaged at least 5 yards a carry in the opening drive. Tyler Huntley then capped off the drive with a laser pass into the end zone to Siaosi Mariner.
Jack Tuttle struggled again to start the day. A fumbled first snap after a botched hand off in the option game led to the defense getting their first bit of momentum. Tuttle did eventually lead the #2 offense to a score after a nice pass to Samson Nacua got the Utes into the red zone.
Armand Shyne had a strong day as well getting reps with the number 1 offense. He’s more of a straight ahead style runner than Zack Moss but he still runs with great power. I bet there’s room for 10-15 carries a game for Armand Shyne depending on the game scenarios.
Tyler Huntley then backed up his opening drive with a well executed second drive, also for a touchdown. Huntley has a big arm and showed that several times with his deep comeback routes to Demari Simpkins. You also got to see a bit of that trademark Huntley speed with an option keeper for a score in the red zone from about the 5 yard line. Huntley is a great threat in the red zone and needs to be used there to cap off drives for the Utes.
It’s clear Jack Tuttle is not comfortable running the read option. Tuttle is not much of a running threat himself so the play design shouldn’t be used all that often when the freshman is playing anyways. If Tuttle ends up playing for an extended period of time then I assume Troy Taylor will adjust to more of a traditional hand off style run game.
Jack Tuttle can sling it though. He had the best pass of the day on a fade route to the end zone to Jaylen Dixon with a corner draped all over him. You can see the potential is there for the freshman phenom but Tuttle is no where near as ready to play as Tyler Huntley right now. Tyler Huntley still runs around an awful lot and in the past that has lead to injuries. If Huntley gets banged up at all in the 2018 season, Tuttle will be able to win games for the Utes.
