Jim Harding will 'never be at ease,' but Utes offensive line projects well for 2023 season

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah gymnastics head coach Tom Farden cringed at the sight.

Offensive lineman Keaton Bills performed a double front flip into a foam pit at the Dumke Gymnastics Center over the summer as part of a small contingent of football players who were taught about the difficulty of gymnastics by several members of the Red Rocks team.

Bills executed the maneuver as flawless as one could, and put to rest any notion that a 6-foot-4, 316-pound lineman couldn't move like that through the air. Fun fact, most can't.

Farden was more than thankful one of Kyle Whittingham's players didn't suffer a serious injury in his gym — he even shuddered at the idea of the conversation he'd have to have with Whittingham if there had been an injury; he didn't like where that conversation would have gotten him.

The gymnastics experiment served as great offseason content for social media, but it highlighted the sheer talent and versatility of a veteran player on an already loaded offensive line room for Utah football. The line overseen by assistant coach Jim Harding is arguably Utah's best in Whittingham's tenure as head coach.

Harding enters the 2023 season with "probably eight or nine" linemen worthy of being a starter, and several behind that who are veteran players that will serve as a backup if needed. In an ideal world, Harding attempts to have at least eight starter-caliber players, and he's been building depth in recruiting to consistently be at or exceed that number each year.

This year, Harding has the depth he's looking for in a long season that features 11 of the team's 12 games being against Power Five programs. That depth will only help as the season progresses.

But Harding is never satisfied with where things are at, even though he believes he has a starting five unit identified going into the first week of Florida game prep.

"I will always be extremely nervous until the first play, just to kind of see where we're at, see how the kids respond in that environment," Harding said. "I will never be at ease or just think like, oh, it's cool, everything's good. I think as a coach, by nature, you're always wondering about the what ifs and things that you might have to do to compensate if things don't go as planned.

"It's nice to have options, but certainly we have a lot of work to get done still."

There remains several battles at various positions along the line, most notably because the team has experienced its fair share of injuries during fall camp, but Harding said he has a starting five that he feels comfortable — remember, he's not ever really comfortable — going with as Utah welcomes Florida to Rice-Eccles Stadium next Thursday.

That starting five could be Falcon Kaumatule (LT), Bills (LG), Kolinu'u Faaiu (C), Michael Mokofisi (RG) and Sataoa Laumea (RT) — all veteran talent — but other guys are in the mix for that job, as well. Most notable is freshman Spencer Fano, who joined the program in spring as the highest-rated recruit in the state of Utah in the 2023 class.

Harding said Fano has "done a really nice job" and is in the mix at left tackle, and could even overtake veteran Kaumatule in the starting lineup.

"He certainly is in the mix for that top five position," Harding said. "He's done a really nice job, but he's a freshman and he's gonna make mistakes. And so the key for him is to limit those mistakes and not have any mistakes he makes be a huge mistake, which could shift the tide in the game. But he's extremely talented kid."

Jaren Kump, Johnny Maea, Caleb Lomu and Tanoa Togiai, among others, have been locked in a battle for their respective positions, too, and continue to push the players ahead of them to improve the talent of the room. Already, two of the starters — Laumea and Bills — were named to the first team of the All-Pac-12 team, with Mokofisi in the mix, too.

It's a valuable unit for Utah in its pursuit of the first-ever Pac-12 three-peat.

Having someone like Fano entering the mix in his first season is what Harding hopes to see as Utah continues to bring in top talent on the offensive line to give the Utes offense everything it needs to effectively with the battle of the trenches. That has also been a major selling point as Utah goes on the recruiting trail to bring in more talent.

Harding has already secured the commitment of Utah's No. 1 overall recruit for the 2024 recruiting class in Corner Canyon's Isaiah Garcia.

"I think you're always trying to find guys that, first of all, are interested in us," Harding said. "We do our evaluation, but, unfortunately, it's not like the NFL draft where just because I like somebody, I mean, I have to make them come to our program, you can't draft them. I think just the success we've had through the years has kind of drawn the eyes of a lot of recruits.

"We have done a nice job in recruiting, but we've got to continue to do that, and by bringing in kids that have the ability to play early, all that does is continue to create the competition and the ability to really push one another is just going to be better in the long run."

Barring disappointment or underachievement, Utah is set up to succeed in 2023 and beyond on the offensive line. But Harding will never be satisfied until the on-field product matches the team's expectation.

Having the right guys in the room has certainly been beneficial to Utah's hopes that it can continue to improve each season in the trenches.

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