Utah tight finish Dalton Kincaid is tackled by USC defensive again Jaylin Smith at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake Metropolis on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022. Scott G Winterton, Deseret Information
A couple of weeks after star tight finish Brant Kuithe suffered a season-ending harm, Utah turned to its different star tight finish, Dalton Kincaid, to assist compensate for the loss.
“He’s an absolute athlete. He’s received to be probably the greatest tight ends within the nation, surely.” — Utah coach Kyle Whittingham on Dalton Kincaid
And Kincaid rose to the event with a outstanding efficiency.
Within the Utes’ memorable 43-42 win over USC on Oct. 15, he torched the Trojans, catching 16 passes for a career-high 234 yards and a landing.
Kincaid was focused 16 occasions and caught each ball thrown his method.
He completed one reception shy of the single-game FBS report for a decent finish. New Mexico’s Emilio Vallez had 17 catches towards UTEP in 1967 and Northwestern’s Jon Harvey had 17 catches towards Michigan in 1982.
“He’s an absolute athlete,” coach Kyle Whittingham stated about Kincaid after the sport. “He’s received to be probably the greatest tight ends within the nation, surely.”
All season, Kincaid has been a invaluable weapon in Utah’s offense. He’s the Utes’ main receiver, having caught 66 passes for 843 yards and eight touchdowns. He’s averaging 12.9 yards per reception.
Nonetheless, he has suffered accidents twice whereas scoring touchdowns. The primary time was at Washington State, and he missed the sport the next week towards Arizona.
Then final week at Colorado, Kincaid was injured whereas making an acrobatic landing seize within the first half. He didn't return.
What’s Kincaid’s standing as Utah prepares to face USC within the Pac-12 championship recreation Friday in Las Vegas?
“We anticipate him to play,” Whittngham stated. “It’s not a assure however we’ll see what occurs.”
The Utes determine the Trojans will modify defensively and concentrate on containing Kincaid this time round.
“You'd suppose so,” Whittingham stated. “If I have been them and seeing what he’s carried out and what he did the final time we performed, I’m certain they’ll have some form of tactic to gradual him down a bit bit.”
Whittingham stated “it’s loopy” that Kincaid isn’t a finalist for the Mackey Award, emblematic of the nation’s high tight finish, or the Biletnikoff Award, for that matter.
Why was Kincaid so productive towards USC again in October?
“I don’t wish to make it sound like he wasn’t good on the onset. However we’ve simply been that includes him an increasing number of and he’s made an increasing number of performs,” Whittingham stated. “You noticed the catch that he made that he received dinged up on within the Colorado recreation. That was spectacular. It’s only a matter of constant to maximise his ability set and understanding how unimaginable that ability set is. … He’s a terrific expertise. He's a man that each week we have to goal a bunch of occasions.”
Pac-12 Championship Recreation
No. 14 Utah (9-3, 8-2)
vs. No. 6 USC (11-1, 8-1)
Friday, 6 p.m. MST
Allegiant Stadium
TV: Fox
Radio: ESPN 700