Whittingham never used to talk about transfers in-season, but portal has changed that

SALT LAKE CITY — The ever-evolving nature of the NCAA transfer portal includes an interesting quirk.

If a head coach is fired during the season, players on that team have a 30-day window from the day the coach was fired to be allowed to enter the transfer portal regardless of sport and any other portal window that may come into play. For example, Texas A&M fired Jimbo Fisher Sunday, so those players now have a 30-day portal window, which a small handful have already taken advantage of.

Kyle Whittingham is well aware of that quirk and that the portal is already open for business despite the next regular 30-day portal window not opening until Dec. 4, the day after Selection Sunday.

Whittingham can go portal shopping now, but such a notion will pick up exponentially more steam on Dec. 4. To that end, the Utah head coach has his own roster management to deal with, so he at least has an idea of how many roster openings he may have. These kinds of things used to be saved for after the season finished, but in this day and age of the transfer portal, those things need to be dealt with now.

"It's not just Cam (Rising) and Brant (Kuithe), we've got probably a dozen guys in that boat that at the end of the year, do I test the waters in the NFL? Do I come back for another year?" Whittingham said Monday morning.

"There's quite a few guys, and to answer your question, we've already begun those discussions. I think I said a week or two, or three ago, that what used to be taboo, and you wait until the end of the season to handle all that type of business, it's too late by then, so you have to get a good idea and a good handle on what you're expecting from those guys that have the option to go either way."

Whittingham did not elaborate on which dozen-or-so guys are in that boat, but there are a few obvious ones.

Rising and Kuithe are mortal locks to receive medical redshirts after not playing a down this fall, but that doesn't mean they have to return to Utah. Both could enter the NFL draft, or both could take the medical redshirt and hit the transfer portal. Cole Bishop is being widely projected as a Day 2 NFL draft pick, while Jonah Elliss has popped up on a handful of mock drafts produced by reputable outlets, mostly in the third round or later.

Clarity on Rising, Kuithe, and anyone else mulling over their futures is not expected until at least the regular season ends on Nov. 25.

"We don't have all the answers, but we have a good idea what to expect," Whittingham said.

Ja'Quinden Jackson will not be shut down

Ja'Quinden Jackson has been dealing with a balky ankle since early in the Aug. 31 opener against Florida.

Jackson, though, has persevered and missed just one game at Oregon State, but he has clearly been hampered. His weeks have generally been spent practicing and rehabbing as much as possible in an effort to get himself to Saturday.

Once there, he is playing, but there have been quite a few instances where he has left a game, either briefly or entirely. To make this point, Jackson took the first snap Saturday at Washington for a 4-yard game, then had to exit briefly after coming up lame.

With Utah having three losses and chances at a trip back to the Pac-12 championship game gone, the topic of Jackson being shut down for the remainder of the season is now being broached.

"Not at all," Whittingham said without hesitation. "We would never let a record or wins and losses dictate that, the safety of a player or the health of the player. If he feels good to go and he's ready, then we go, and so that doesn't enter into the equation. It's completely dependent upon the safety of the player and where he is physically and how ready he is."

Realistically, based on how this season has played out, Jackson would appear a safe bet to play at Arizona on Saturday and vs. Colorado on Nov. 25. Only then might there be a decision to make on Jackson or anyone else hobbled as Utah could have up to a month of prep before it plays in a TBD bowl.

Colorado-Utah placed in six-day hold

The Nov. 25 regular-season finale between the Utes and Buffaloes did not receive a kickoff time or broadcast designation Monday morning, 12 days out from the game, and was instead placed in a six-day hold.

In layman's terms, a six-day hold means the networks want to see how games this weekend pan out before setting a kickoff time for Nov. 25. Such a move is commonplace at this time of the season as games become higher-profile with teams jockeying to reach the Pac-12 championship game in Las Vegas on Dec. 1.

The most-critical Pac-12 games that weekend have kickoff times. Oregon will host Oregon State at 6:30 p.m. MST on Black Friday, with Washington set to host Washington State the next afternoon at 2 p.m. MST.

The Ducks (9-1, 6-1 Pac-12) and Huskies (10-0, 7-0 Pac-12), forever rivals separated by 285 miles down Interstate 5, enter this weekend in the driver's seat to reach Vegas.

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