Utah CFB Offensive Awards: Week One

Every Division 1 school in the state of Utah took the gridiron for week one and got their first teaser for the upcoming season.

Every team gained valuable experience in understanding who they are and where they stand in the college football world of 2024.

Now some of this experience was better for certain teams than it was for others, but we saw impressive individual performances throughout.

Here we are naming the top offensive efforts from the following groups at the D1 level in Utah:

BEST QB

BEST RB

BEST PASS CATCHER

BEST O-LINE

From Utah to Utah Tech all teams are eligible to take home an award if deserving.

Some big time names and major performances will be left out due to the nature of there being only one winner per category.

If your favorite didn’t make it, don’t worry, next week for sure.

Let’s begin.

BEST QB: CAM RISING, UTAH

Impossible to go in any other direction than Utah’s Cam Rising.

It wasn't just a return to the field for the first time in more than a year for the 7^th year man, but a triumphant reminder that Utah still has the pieces to make major noise.

Rising shook off any rust within a matter of plays before finding Dijon Stanley for a 64 yard strike for the first score of the game over Southern Utah.

That was just the beginning as Rising would chuck 5 touchdowns in the first half on 10/15 passing, 254 yards and an average of 16.9 yards per completion.

5 passing touchdowns in a half? Sounds like 2008 all over again, and if memory serves that was a pretty special year in Salt Lake City.

Rising will face a stiffer secondary against Baylor, and will get a chance to move with the momentum.

BEST RB: DAMON BANKSTON, WEBER STATE

Damon Bankston didn’t find the endzone in Husky stadium, in fact no one for the Weber State Wildcats did in a 35-3 opening road loss to Washington.

But Bankston proved he may be in line for a very special season regardless.

On 16 carries Bankston would rack up 105 yards, including a dash of 35, while averaging 6.6 yards per carry against a team that appeared in the FBS national championship game last year.

The senior out of Katy, Texas was the only Utah collegiate D1 back to go for over 100 yards in week one.

The running lanes should only get wider in Ogden as the Wildcats host Portland State who was gashed on the ground in week one allowing 227 yards to Washington State.

BEST PASS CATCHER: BRANT KUITHE, UTAH

I know, I know, another Ute.

Kyrese White (3 receptions, 131 yards and 2 touchdowns) had a fantastic performance for Utah State.

Chase Roberts eclipsed 100 yards (7 rec, 108 yards) in BYU’s win over SIU.

And Dijon Stanley’s 3 receptions for 150 yards and two scores is certainly elite, but his teammate Brant Kuithe takes the cake.

Kuithe didn’t have Roberts receptions, hauling in 4 passes.

He didn’t have White or Stanley’s yardage, only finishing with 69.

But he did have more touchdowns than any of those guys in half the time.

3 touchdown receptions had Kuithe tied with Colorado’s Travis Hunter, Oklahoma’s Deion Burks and NC State’s KC Concepcion for 2^nd most receiving touchdowns of the week.

Only Arizona superstar, Tetairoa McMillan hauled in more (4).

The thing is, in correlation with Cam Rising, Kuithe would do it all in one quarter.

Scoring at 14:48 in the 2^nd, 11:27 and 1:08 supplied one of the most meaningful workloads in the smallest amount of time.

Brant is also coming off a lost year, and the wait seemed to be well worth it for Ute fans.

BEST O-LINE: UTAH STATE AGGIES

COLE MOTES, WYATT BOWLES, FALEPULE ALO, ALOALI’I MAUI, TEAGUE ANDERSEN

BYU did a solid job up front against Southern Illinois (2 sacks allowed, 179 rush yards) but Utah State takes it home this week.

The Aggies protecting two different Quarterbacks, didn’t give up a single sack to FCS Robert Morris.

The fairly clean pocket allowed for 343 passing yards and three touchdowns between both Spencer Petras and Bryson Barnes.

But the most impressive effort from the big fellas was the way in which the ground game was paved for the Aggies.

303 total rush yards was the most by a Utah D1 team in week one, seeing 88 yards to Bryson Barnes, 88 to Robert Briggs Jr and 78 to Rahsul Faison.

Herschel Turner chipped in 44 yards on 4 carries and USU was getting the movement required to be electric via the run.

The Aggies wrapped their 36-14 win over Robert Morris averaging 9.8 yards per carry, easily the most in the state.