SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4 Sports) - There were so many positives that came out of Utah's season-opening 49-0 win over Southern Utah on Thursday, but there was also one big loss.
Starting cornerback and Georgia Tech transfer Kenan Johnson was lost for the season with a lower leg injury. Johnson suffered the injury in the first half against the Thunderbirds, and Kyle Whittingham confirmed their worst fears on Monday.
"It's season-ending," Whittingham said. "There is a silver lining, though. He will be able to get another year. We haven't had that discussion yet. It's just depend on what he what he wants to do and how he wants to handle it."
Johnson had three tackles before going down with the injury.
Smith Snowden, who had been playing the nickel position, as well as Michigan transfer Cam Calhoun and Scooby Davis, who had an interception on Thursday, will help fill the void.
"Smith Snowden played exceptionally well at the nickel spot on the inside, and he is very capable of playing on the outside as well," Whittingham said. "Scooby Davis came in and gave us some good reps. We get Cam back this week at corner. We don't have the exact answer configuration, but we'll take a look at the configurations in practice and determine in the next day or two what the what the best one's going to be."
There was so much build up for the return of Cam Rising and Brant Kuithe, and they delivered, hooking up on three touchdown connections in the first half alone.
"It was great to have Cam and Brant back on the field last week," Whittingham said. "Lethal combination. They've got great chemistry and obviously we saw that in the first half. So that was a big plus for us."
A new weapon unveiled was Dijon Stanley, who had two long touchdown catches, and finishing with three receptions for 150 yards.
"I don't think he's quite yet ready for every down type of a back," Whittingham said of the sophomore running back. "But he certainly will have an expanded package as the season goes on if he continues to have the impact that he did last week."
The competition steps up a lot this Saturday as Baylor comes to town in a rematch of last year's hard fought 20-13 win in Waco.
"A much bigger challenge this week," Whittingham said. "We understand that Baylor's a good football team fortunate to get out of there with a win last year. We know that we haven't forgotten that it was it was a right down to the wire game."