Morgan Scalley Weekly Press Conference: Colorado
10/12/2026 2:19 PM | Football
SALT LAKE CITY – University of Utah head football coach Morgan Scalley held his weekly press conference on Monday with members of the media inside the Spence and Cleone Eccles Football Center.
Selected quotes from Coach Scalley can be seen below. Click here for the full press conference video.
Opening Statement…
"Good luck to the men's golf team. They're hosting the Big 12 Match Play Tournament at Salt Lake Country Club. It began this morning with a shotgun start. Good luck to Coach Clegg and that crew. And if any of his guys find a Titleist or Titleists with safety pride on there, I have a friend that loses a lot of golf balls. He'd appreciate those back. Our other next-door neighbor, women's tennis, getting ready for the ITA Regionals, kicks off tomorrow in Provo, so good luck to the Utes. Volleyball is in a tight race at the top of the Big 12 standings and they host a ranked BYU team coming in Thursday night at the Huntsman Center. I expect a great crowd for that one and then extremely well-represented, the Utes were, extremely well-represented this past week as the U.S. Ski Team announced its rosters for the season. A combined seven current and former Utes were included on those rosters. That is big time. Go Utes. Wrapping up the game, just watching film, really good start to the game, both the defensive side of the ball and the offensive side of the ball. A kind of a lull there in the second quarter that started really with a fourth down stop on their part. A couple of chunk plays led to a touchdown and then an interception that leads to points going into halftime, so really the momentum was on their side for sure going into halftime. Talked a lot about this in the locker room at halftime, but this is a game of momentum and you got to go steal it back. That doesn't just magically happened for you just because we're the home team. You've got to go out there and establish yourselves. I thought Devon and the leaders did a really good job in the locker room of getting these guys ready. Good stop on defense to start the third quarter. A touchdown by the offense and then they responded, went back and forth for a little bit. Again, tale of the tape at least on the defensive side of the ball were those red zone stops. They were 2-of-5 in the red zone in terms of touchdowns. We were 5-of-5. The big fourth down stop, the Wayshawn touchdown after that really kind of sealed the deal and then we're able to get stops down the way. Hard to win in college football and really proud of our guys. The toughness they showed, the resilience, and grateful for another win. We've got Colorado on the road. They're coming off a bye, so I know that they're going to be prepared and ready. Got a couple of Utes on that squad with Isaac Wilson and Jason Stokes on the defensive side of the ball, so they know all about the Utes. I respect Coach Sanders a lot and what he's done with that program. They're going to be ready, the crowd's going to be awesome and it'll be a good challenge for our guys."
On the quarterback situation and the usage of both Devon Dampier and Byrd Ficklin…
"I think that there's probably more programs than you think that have two quarterbacks that could start. What's unusual about our situation is the willingness of the backup to play a different role, to play more than just at quarterback. That's something the offensive coordinators love. It's worked out for us and it's working out because both of those guys can run it, both can catch, both can throw. Would I like to see that going forward? Yes, because, as a defensive coordinator, I know the issues that it presents. Is it always going to happen like that? And are you always going to stay healthy? No, and you have to have a plan for if that doesn't work out. And Kevin's always agreed with that as well."
On the usage of Wayshawn Parker…
"The distribution and the ability to get different people the ball makes you unpredictable. I think if it's Wayshawn, Wayshawn, Wayshawn, it's easy for people to load the box. The other thing are the hits that running backs take over and over and over again. It is a car crash every tackle for the most part, and so just making sure, player-load wise, you're doing everything you can to keep him healthy. And yes, does he want the ball? You bet. Any competitor does, but it's also what's best for the team and he understands that too. I think we're doing a really good job of distributing the ball and he is so valuable in so many ways beyond what you see on TV because if he's blocking downfield, he's probably not going to see that, but we see it, and that's why the NFL Scouts love it right now."
On the We Are Utah slogan and what that means from a recruiting standpoint…
"Well, you're not just going to recruit and offer kids in state just because they're in-state kids. They have to be able to play at this level. The great thing is that they can. More and more teams, every SEC team, Big 10, you name it, they're coming into Utah and particularly for your offensive, defensive lineman. It goes to the quality of high school coaching that's going on in state as well, really good, quality high school coaching, how competitive our kids are in state and every time I see a Utah guy out of state excelling at a different program, it eats at me, and so, just doing everything we can. We know we're not going to keep all of them. We know we're not going to be 100% on projection, but doing the best you can to make sure that every high school coach, every recruit knows that that's a big priority here."
