Sione Vaki's offensive success raises questions about his future role on defense

SALT LAKE CITY – What to do with emerging two-way star Sione Vaki moving forward doesn't exactly qualify as a problem for Kyle Whittingham, but some decisions may have to be made at some point.

For the unaware, Vaki is an All-Pac-12-caliber safety for the University of Utah. With the offense unable to produce much of anything through the month of September, Vaki, an accomplished slot receiver in high school, made a brief cameo as a running back at Oregon State. Against Cal on Oct. 14, Vaki broke out, running for 158 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries.

What may have begun as an experiment to subsidize a running back room beset by injuries is now an irreplaceable part of the offense after Vaki went for 217 all-purpose yards and two receiving touchdowns in a 34-32 win at USC over the weekend.

With Vaki playing such a critical role on offense, there is a growing notion that, at some point, Vaki should move to that side of the ball in a full-time capacity, at least for the remainder of this season, which has the 13th-ranked Utes at a surprising 6-1 overall going into a critical showdown with No. 8 Oregon Saturday at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

"It seems to be trending in that direction, so we'll see where it ends up, but the first thing we have to do is make sure we don't overload him and make his workload too heavy, too much to realistically handle, because there's also a mental aspect to it, too," Whittingham said Monday morning during his weekly press conference. "It's not just physical, it's how much can you learn and assimilate on both sides of the ball."

Any such movement to strictly offense for Vaki is not going to happen this week, not against the Ducks, who are one of the most-balanced offensive teams in the country, let alone the Pac-12. Oregon will come to Rice-Eccles ranking in the top eight nationally in total offense (No. 2, 551.6 yards), rushing offense (No. 6, 225.4 yards), and passing offense (No. 8, 326.1 yards).

Such a move would make more sense next week against one-win Arizona State; but even then, it has to be approached carefully.

At least one thing is certain: Vaki is going to keep playing offense; it's just a matter of whether it's solely or as a two-way player like he has been the last two weeks. At a minimum, Whittingham and defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley need to believe they have enough depth and viable options in the defensive backfield to pull Vaki out of there.

Cole Bishop is entrenched at the other safety position, while Nate Ritchie has experience and is comfortable in Scalley's scheme, and Scalley and Whittingham have both talked positively of true freshman Johnathan Hall.

One more option could be Tao Johnson, which would require dropping the redshirt freshman from his nickel spot back to safety.

"The safety position here, there's a lot of adjustments, they do all the adjustments and coverage calls and run the show back there, so there's a lot on their plate mentally with that," Whittingham said. "It's analytically proven, the impact of offense is greater than the impact of defense, and so we're going to continue to have him be a big part of the offense and see how much he can handle.

"I think it'll become obvious, I believe, when we get to that saturation point where, OK, that's enough. Is he going to become more of an offensive player than defense? I'm not going to rule it out, but not yet. We're not there just yet."

Added cornerbacks coach Sharrieff Shah: "For him, with his role, there are more opportunities for him on the offensive side as it comes to fruition, it requires us to get more people ready, which is nice because a lot of ball players in the safety room recognize that, so as a consequence, they're practicing harder. People are getting a little bit more film time, so it's kind of a trickle-down benefit for everybody."

As for offense, Vaki has proven himself to be multidimensional in a short time. He can take a direct snap out of the Wildcat, he can come out of the backfield as a pass catcher, he can get a traditional running back look with a handoff or a pitch. Such versatility, plus a more comfortable, capable-looking Bryson Barnes, and a healthy Ja'Quinden Jackson have injected new life into an offense that was searching for answers.

Vaki is clearly one of those answers.

"That dude's a baller, man," wide receiver Devaughn Vele said. "I don't know. He's like, made in a factory or something. I've never seen anybody that can make cuts like him, be as big as him, be as fast as him. The dude can do everything. So, I mean, he's a huge addition to the offensive unit.

"Just got to keep him healthy. Playing both sides of the ball, especially at this level, it can wear and tear on your body. So, obviously, we're making sure we're taking care of him, but, yeah, he's a huge addition to our team."

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