The Kenny Dillingham era in Tempe kicks off on Thursday, facing an FCS opponent that features a passing game that was formidable in 2022 and a defense that has been challenged with significant departures in the secondary. Here’s an examination of Southern Utah.
Southern Utah Offense
Guiding the Thunderbird offense is veteran quarterback Justin Miller, one of the more accomplished players at his position at the FCS level.
Miller has started all 28 games he’s played for SUU since coming over from Snow College after the 2019 season, and for his career, he has totaled 7,007 passing yards with 45 touchdowns and 25 interceptions while completing 64% of his career passes with a career average of 233.6 passing yards per game.
Last season, Miller completed 65.4% of his passes while throwing for 2,821 yards in 11 games (256.45 avg.) with 20 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He has shown a bit of a tendency to throw interceptions, as he has thrown 21 picks across the 22 games of the 2021-22 seasons.
Miller offers very little as a rusher; as though he had three scores on the ground last year, he finished with a net total of -62 yards for the year. For his career at SUU, Miller has -149 net rushing yards with seven scores and a long run of 11 yards.
On the ground, SUU returns Braedon Wissler, the team’s top rusher from 2022, who posted 444 rushing yards on 79 carries (5.6 avg.) with one touchdown while also showing prowess as a pass-catcher with 34 receptions for 230 yards.
No other current member of the SUU roster at running back registered a carry last season, but the Thunderbirds added Arizona transfer James Bohls, a former three-star recruit who did not see any action for the Wildcats across the 2021-22 seasons he was with the program.
Southern Utah returns its top two pass-catchers in receivers Isaiah Wooden and Timothy Patrick but must replace its third and fourth-leading pass-catchers from 2022 and six of its top-10.
Wooden, a former Kent State transfer, was an all-purpose stud for SUU last year as he had team-bests of 40 catches for 832 yards – an excellent 20.8 yards-per-catch average – with six touchdowns, while also ranking second on the team with 253 rushing yards and two scores on just 21 carries (12.0 avg.). In addition to all that, Wooden was SUU’s top kick returner and ultimately claimed Second-Team All-WAC recognition.
Patrick, also a former FBS transfer who came to SUU by way of Utah State, ranked second on the team with 39 receptions for 341 yards with one touchdown catch.
Ethan Bolingbroke also was a contributor at wide receiver last season, catching 30 passes for 286 yards with two scores.
The trio of Wooden, Patrick, and Bolingbroke represent the only wide receivers on the SUU roster to have registered a catch for the Thunderbirds in 2022.
At tight end, Mesa Mountain View alum Mata’ava Ta’ase had a strong 2022 campaign with 19 catches for 214 yards with two touchdowns, but he opted to transfer to BYU this offseason. His departure leaves Francisco Calderon, with one reception for 15 yards in five games last year, as the only tight end on the roster to have caught a pass for SUU in 2022.
Leading the SUU offensive line is Lyle Santos, a First-Team All-WAC pick last year who has 26 career starts entering this season, mostly at right guard with some time at center.
Southern Utah Offense Summary
Southern Utah figures to rely heavily on its veteran quarterback and talented receivers in this game, especially if ASU can put together an early lead that causes SUU to accelerate the urgency of its offense.
Though he struggled mightily against ASU two years ago, Miller is a talented and proven quarterback who can use the likes of Wooden in various ways to exploit defenses.
Last season, SUU averaged 30.9 points per game with an average of 392.2 yards per game of total offense, broken down as 260.73 passing yards per game with 20 touchdowns and 131.5 rushing yards per game with 20 scores.
Southern Utah Defense
The strength of the Southern Utah defense comes in the form of its returning crop of linebackers, headlined by former Gilbert Highland High School standout Kohner Cullimore, a First-Team All-WAC and Freshman All-American last season after he totaled a team-high 76 tackles in 10 games, including 10.0 TFLs, 2.5 sacks, four quarterback hurries, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.
Elsewhere at linebacker, Aubrey Nellems ranked second on the team with 52 tackles with 10.0 TFLs with four forced fumbles.
Trent Whalen posted 51 tackles, including 7.0 for loss with 2.0 sacks, while Josh Dunn added 47 tackles, including 2.5 for loss with four pass breakups.
Up front, SUU returns a couple of key linemen in tackle Rylen Sua-Filo and end Julian Sanderlin. Last season, Sua-Filo had 28 tackles, including 5.5 for loss with 3.0 sacks, while Sanderlin notched 5.0 TFLs and 4.0 sacks as part of his 17 total tackles on the year.
The secondary, however, experienced a slew of departures from 2022, though cornerback Quadir Lockett-Smith enjoyed an excellent freshman campaign last year with 28 tackles, including 2.5 for loss with six pass breakups, one interception, and one blocked kick.
Cornerback Cody Coleman and safety George Ramirez, a graduate of Mesa’s Red Mountain High School (10 tackles each in 2022), are the only other returning defensive backs to have recorded double-digit tackles last season.
Southern Utah added multiple FBS transfers this offseason to help fortify the secondary in cornerback Jehvonn Lewis (Pittsburgh) and safety Jaden Robinson (Kansas), as well as a pair of Arizona high school products at cornerback in Dean Jones (BYU/ALA Queen Creek) and Lacarea Pleasant-Johnson (UNLV/Utah/Mountain Pointe High School).
Southern Utah Defense Summary
Statistically, SUU returns four of its top five tacklers from 2022 – all linebackers – but experienced some significant departures both in the secondary and on the defensive line. Ultimately, Southern Utah must replace eight top-15 tacklers from last season.
Last season, SUU tied for 16th in the FCS with 14 team interceptions, but only three of those picks return for 2023. A key loss for the Thunderbirds came when defensive back Rodrick Ward, a second-team all-WAC pick a year ago, transferred up a level to Colorado.
Similarly on the line, Southern Utah last season ranked 25th nationally, averaging 2.55 sacks per game as a team, but loses two of its top four sack leaders – a pair that combined for 8.5 sacks and 24.0 TFLs in 2022.
In 2022, Southern Utah allowed 27.91 points per game, 154.1 rushing yards per game with 19 touchdowns, and 272.09 passing yards per game with 20 touchdowns to add up to a total defense that allowed 426.2 yards per game.
Southern Utah Special Teams
In the kicking game, Southern Utah faces a tremendous rebuild with Unanimous FCS All-American and 2022 WAC Special Teams Player of the Year Jake Gerardi, who, over his career, handled all kicking duties for SUU, has exhausted his playing eligibility.
Last season, Gerardi primarily punted and kicked off with Micah Pettit handling field goals, but he, too, is no longer on the SUU roster. He connected on 13-of-18 kicks (72.22%) with a long of 49 yards in 2022.
Redshirt freshman Tyler Graham and true freshman kicker/punter Reid Harris, along with punter Alyas Vigil, are the candidates to replace Gerardi and Pettit. Across the three, there is very limited D1 experience as Vigil is a junior college transfer in his first year with the program, Harris is a high school arrival, and Graham appeared in one game last year with two made PATs, so whoever gets the call at both punter and kicker will be seeing his first extensive D1 action on Thursday.
All-purpose standout Isaiah Wooden, the team’s top receiver, is a standout on kickoff returns, averaging 28.55 yards on 11 returns in 2022 with a long of 72 yards. Ethan Bolingbroke is also back for 2023 after being SUU’s top punt returner a year ago with a 7.79-yard average on 24 punt returns with a long of 26.
Overall Summary
As Southern Utah enters year two under head coach DeLane Fitzgerald, though the team’s 5-6 record from last year may not appear to be overwhelmingly impressive, it is a surefire sign of progress as it marks the program’s highest single-season win total since 2017 and is a four-win improvement from SUU’s 1-10 finish in 2021.
SUU has lost 12 consecutive games against FBS opponents dating back to 2013 when the Thunderbirds upset South Alabama in what was USA’s first game as a full-fledged FBS member.
These two teams met very recently, with ASU opening its 2021 season against SUU in Tempe. The Sun Devils cruised to a 41-14 victory in that game behind a rushing attack that accumulated 228 yards on 40 carries with six touchdowns, while ASU’s defense limited Southern Utah to just 224 yards of total offense.
In this game, first and foremost, it is imperative that ASU is not mentally preoccupied with Sunday’s frustrating news of a self-imposed postseason ban for 2023. Beyond that, true freshman starting quarterback Jaden Rashada must be able to be effective yet comfortable in navigating the Sun Devil offense, which presumably will rely heavily on the ground game against an FCS foe.
On defense for the Devils, look for ASU to begin to ‘right the wrongs’ from 2022 in terms of improving its run defense and pass rush while working to stymie SUU QB Justin Miller, as was the case in 2021 when Miller managed just 146 passing yards with zero touchdowns and three interceptions.
Familiar Faces
Southern Utah has 12 Arizona natives listed on its 2023 roster:
QB Brendan Anderson (Mountain Ridge High School)
OL Colton Campbell (Williams Field High School)
LB Kohner Cullimore (Highland High School)
OL AJ Dutchover (Highland High School)
LB Rand Jensen (ALA Queen Creek)
CB Dean Jones (ALA Queen Creek)
CB Cooper LeDuc (Hamilton High School)
CB Lacarea Pleasant-Johnson (Mountain Pointe High School)
S George Ramirez (Red Mountain High School)
DL Aaron Romero (Skyline High School)
OL Kyle Sfarcioc (Liberty High School)
LB Mason Stromstad (Marcos de Niza High School)
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