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SALT LAKE CITY — When starting running back Ja'Quinden Jackson transferred away from Utah at the conclusion of the 2023 season, redshirt freshman Mike Mitchell took it upon himself as a challenge.
"I took it as my chance; it's my time," Mitchell said. "So I really approached this camp — I wanted to come in hot, make my presence felt, and that's really where I came in. I'm like, I want the RB1 spot. I don't want to be two or three. If I have to I will, but RB1 spot is where I want to go for."
After "taking it to the chin" last season as a scout team running back, where Mitchell said he "just gave myself to the defense," the next season was going to be different. And in many ways it has been different.
Since spring camp, Mitchell has been one of the most talked about backs in the Utah football program. With his 6-foot, 210-pound frame, Mitchell brought a welcomed potential to an already deep room that features veterans Micah Bernard and Jaylon Glover.
"Mike is probably going to be one of them guys coming out of here," Glover said. "He's talented, he's physical, he's a big dude, and he can break some tackles. But as he continues to grow, he's only going to get better, and he's definitely going to help us this year."
Mitchell said he's feeling "really comfortable" during fall camp, now with a year of experience under his belt going against one of the toughest defenses in the country. That weekly test on the scout team helped prepare him for primetime.
"I'm getting comfortable with the offense, and right now I'm just, I'm fighting for a role," Mitchell said. "And as an underclassman that didn't play last year, a freshman, I'm trying to get that No. 1 role, so I'm working my way up the depth chart, and I'm just trying to bring my A-game to practice every day."
But until he sees the field when the bright lights come on, Mitchell remains an unproven commodity. The talent is obvious in practice, but it now has to translate to the field when the games matter — a fact that many in the program believe will come for the young back.
A little more than two weeks into fall camp and Mitchell remains locked in a relative dead heat with Bernard and Glover for the starting nod.
At Big 12 media days in early July, Kyle Whittingham said one of his top priorities of fall camp was figuring out Utah's running back situation.
A little over a month later, not much has changed.
Utah has depth and talent at the position, but there hasn't been a player separate themselves from the pack to take over the room — the traditional "bell cow back," the every down back. It's a room that so far embodies the running back by committee moniker.
Whether that's a good or bad thing remains to be seen.
Whittingham has made mention that he doesn't have a preference — a bell cow back or RB by committee — but that it's more a desire to find out what the team has available to help plan the offensive schemes.
Still, Utah's offense traditionally runs better with a player that can generally be relied upon to take the bulk of the reps.
On Monday, though, Whittingham said the running back situation is "pretty much what we saw at the beginning, not a lot of separation." The key difference, however, has been the separation of various groups within the room.
Bernard, Glover and Mitchell have separated themselves as the leaders of the room, with Dijon Stanley, Charlie Vincent, and freshman Hunter Andrews — who made a late position change from linebacker to running back — as the next tier of players that could see time this fall.
"It's those six guys that are getting the reps," Whittingham said.
It's a crowded room, and one that might have three great running backs that could be interchangeable in the offense (while highlighting different skill sets), or one that is still finding its way with a couple weeks to go before the season kicks off on Aug. 29 at Rice-Eccles Stadium against Southern Utah — a great test to see how each back performs in a live setting.
To Glover, though, having a loaded running back room with little separation is the Utah way.
"It's like every year," Glover said. "Utah is always gonna have a loaded room of backs, and that's why you come here. And that's why I enjoy playing here, just because I know I gotta come every day with my head on the swivel ready to go, because it's a small plate, everybody's trying to eat, so I'm trying to do what I gotta do so I can eat."
Glover saw the field more last season and is another player looking to take a big step forward in 2024. A minor hamstring strain set him back at the beginning of fall camp, but Glover said he's healthy and feels better than ever.
"I'm probably like five, six practices in, but didn't lose a step," Glover said. "Actually feel a whole lot better. Coach Whitt got me down to 200, and I feel faster than ever, so I'm feeling good right now. Guys in the room keeping us competing, so it's been fun."
The next two weeks will likely do little to change the pecking order for the running backs, but the games will be the ultimate decider.
Bernard summed it up succinctly: "It just depends on what we need. We have a lot of guys who can do a lot of things."
For many in the program, it's a good problem to have — at least as long as each back produces on the field.
