Utah won’t hold a spring game this Saturday. Here’s what the Utes are doing instead

White team quarterback Devon Dampier (4) throws a pass during the Utah Utes’ 22 Forever spring game at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Saturday, April 19, 2025. | Brice Tucker, Deseret News For the first time in a while, the Utah Utes won’t be hosting a spring game as they close out their annual spring camp. First-year head coach Morgan Scalley said he plans to use the traditional spring game slot as the Utes’ 15th practice instead.

“We’ve got enough new in the system that I really want to take advantage of that 15th practice,” Scalley said. Scalley’s decision to forgo the annual spring showcase reflects a trend around college football. In state, BYU hasn’t held a spring game since 2023 — holding an annual alumni football game instead — and under Bronco Mendenhall, Utah State cancelled its spring game last year, though it is bringing back a “spring showcase” this year on April 18.

Outside of the Beehive State, USC is not having a traditional spring game, and neither is Ole Miss or LSU. Some schools that are playing a spring game — such as Florida and Tennessee — are choosing to forgo televising or streaming it. The shift in spring game thinking is partly due to the transfer portal, with coaches concerned about schools picking off up-and-coming players that perform well in the showcase.

Last year, Zacharyus Williams emerged as Utah’s top receiver post-spring, only to leave for USC in the spring portal. Even with the elimination of the post-spring portal this season, coaches weren’t convinced that players wouldn’t simply unenroll from their current school and walk on at a new school. To try to ease that fear, the NCAA approved harsh punishments for schools that try that loophole — including “a suspension of the respective sport’s head coach for 50% of a season and a fine of 20% of that sport’s budget.