Ganther strives to bring toughness to Weber offense


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

OGDEN — Good football teams are defined by toughness, and Weber State running backs coach Quinton Ganther would certainly know.

Throughout his career as a player, both at the University of Utah and the NFL, Ganther was famous for being a running back who sought contact with other players. Indeed, his mindset was to initiate contact before anyone else even thought that contact was possible. And it’s that mindset that he tries to instill in his position group as a coach with the Wildcats.

“This is a violent sport, so you have to play it violently,” Ganther said. “They’ve had a lot of tendencies where they weren’t violent. So, I’m installing the violence in them.”

Ganther grew up as a tough kid in Southern California. He consistently defied the odds, playing junior college ball before going to Utah, which then enabled him to have a six-year career in the NFL.

Weber coach Jay Hill said Ganther brings a bevy of experience to share with all of the running backs.


"This is a violent sport, so you have to play it violently," Weber running backs coach Quinton Ganther said.

“Quinton relates to the players well, because he’s still pretty young,” he said. “He’s been there, done that. He’s been in the NFL for five years; he was a (junior college) kid before he came to Utah, so it wasn’t an easy path he had to take as a player. And he overcame a bunch of stuff.”

The former Utes star is a hands-on coach, meaning he works out with the players during training sessions.

“It’s been a great opportunity to come here and work with these guys, and show them I’m all in,” Ganther said. “I’m here at 6 a.m. everyday, grinding it out. When they’re in the weight room working out, I’m in the weight room working out with them. If I can do it, then they can do it.”

The Wildcats’ running backs have been some of the more praised players in all of spring football to this point, but Ganther said some of the players need to change their viewpoints on their talents, specifically junior Bo Bolen.

“Bo Bolen does not have speed; that is not his strength,” he said. “I tell him all the time to use his strength. Bo’s not going to turn the corner and go 80 (yards). But, he can put his foot in the ground and give six or seven hard yards, and I am the happiest coach alive.”

Overall, a lack of offensive consistency has marred the Wildcats throughout spring practice, and Hill said that has to be fixed.

“The offense has got to continue to clean things up,” he said. “We can’t have the fumbled exchanges; we can’t have guys jumping off sides. And, I’d like to see our passing game get a little better.”

Ganther said much of a successful offense’s identity should be built around toughness.

“I would identify toughness as not wanting to ever be beat,” he said. “We as individuals have to have that identity where, say we do a circle drill, (right now) no one is scared to go against anyone. No one on this team has that mindset that I’m not going to lose.

“When I played, no one would get in the circle drill with me, because they knew it was going to be a long day. We don’t have any of those guys right now.”

Most recent Sports stories

Related topics

SportsWeber State Wildcats
Jon Oglesby

    ARE YOU GAME?

    From first downs to buzzer beaters, get KSL.com’s top sports stories delivered to your inbox weekly.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast