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SALT LAKE CITY — The injuries keep piling up for a Utah program hanging on.
On Monday, Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham announced at his weekly press conference with the media that sophomore defensive end Van Fillinger has suffered a season-ending "lower-leg injury." The exact timeline or the extent of Fillinger's injury was not made known, but he was absent from Utah's 45-20 win over Arizona on Saturday.
"It's unfortunate," Whittingham said. "Van's a really good player for us and has really done some good things last couple of years, so we'll miss Van the rest of the season."
Fillinger won the starting defensive end job opposite of Mika Tafua last season in a battle with former Utah player Xavier Carlton, and was part of a five-man rotation this season in the two different edge spots for the Utes. The hometown sophomore was "particularly stout against the run," Whittingham said, and was one of the more veteran players on the line with experience.
He finishes his sophomore campaign, which is actually his third season in the program due to a COVID freshman year, with 18 total tackles, five tackles for loss — all sacks — two quarterback hurries and a forced fumble.
With Fillinger's injury, Whittingham said not much changes in terms of how the defense approaches its assignments, just more in how many players are available to switch out in the two edge spots. Whittingham said Jonah Elliss and Connor O'Toole will continue on one side, with Miki Suguturaga and Gabe Reid filling in on the other side.
"Just one less guy in the rotation," Whittingham said. "Instead of five guys getting reps, it's now four guys, but, yeah, we will miss Van; he brings a lot to the table."
Fillinger is the third player that has suffered a season-ending injury this year for the Utes, which includes tight end Brant Kuithe and running back Chris Curry. Utah, however, has a multitude of players that have been injured over the weeks that continue to miss games, including tight end Dalton Kincaid, who did not play due to a shoulder injury against Arizona.
Whittingham said he hopes to have Kincaid back by Saturday as the team welcomes Stanford to town for the final game of the regular season at Rice-Eccles Stadium, though his status remains unknown.
