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After a great freshman season that saw him become one of the more important figures on Utah’s offense, Ute quarterback Byrd Ficklin had a decision to make.
In his true freshman season, Ficklin played a surprising role in Utah’s offense while backing up starting quarterback Devon Dampier. While coach Kyle Whittingham didn’t name him the backup ahead of the season — indeed, before Whittingham called timeout, Isaac Wilson came in during Utah’s season opener after Dampier had to go to the sideline — Ficklin’s play in practice elevated him to the QB2 role and a lot more.
Offensive coordinator Jason Beck loved what he saw from the dynamic Ficklin and made him the team’s backup ahead of the team’s second game against Cal Poly, in which Ficklin threw for 53 yards and rushed for 55 yards and two scores in extended second-half run.
After that, Beck knew that he had to get Ficklin on the field a lot more.
Ficklin made his first-ever start against Colorado when Dampier was unable to play, and showed a glimpse of the future — and present — of Utah football by tallying 140 yards and two touchdowns through the air and 151 yards and a score on the ground in a dominant 53-7 win.
On the second play of his first-ever college start, Ficklin ran for a 63-yard TD in a dream start for the Utes.
After that, Ficklin played key parts in wins vs. Baylor (166 rushing yards, two touchdowns) and Kansas State (54 rushing yards, three touchdowns).
With the departure of Whittingham, who personally recruited him to Salt Lake City, the loss of Beck and the return of Dampier as Utah’s starting quarterback, it would have been easy for Ficklin to bolt elsewhere and become a starting quarterback a year earlier than he would at Utah.
In the transfer portal era, it’s incredibly rare for a starting-caliber quarterback to stay put behind an entrenched starter.
Instead, Ficklin re-signed with Utah.
Sure, he was well taken care of monetarily by Utah, but for Ficklin, the decision to stay was much more than that.
“I’m thinking more of the future. Here I can be developed by (quarterbacks coach Ryan Gunderson) and (offensive coordinator Kevin McGiven),” Ficklin said.
Ficklin is in line to become Utah’s starting quarterback as soon as 2027, but that doesn’t mean he’ll sit on the sidelines in 2026.
While Dampier is the team’s starting quarterback, Utah plans to use Ficklin in a variety of ways on the field this season. McGiven, obviously, is keeping specifics under wraps, but it’s safe to say that Ficklin will be very involved in Utah’s offensive plan similar to last season.
“A lot of explosiveness. A lot of explosive plays. Even when I’m on or off the field, no matter what’s going to happen, something exciting is going to be on the field,” Ficklin said. “Every player is going to be exciting, a lot of speed, a lot of gos, everything.”
McGiven is excited about utilizing the sophomore quarterback’s talent in Utah’s offense this season. Ficklin was one of the first people, aside from Dampier, he spoke to upon accepting the offensive coordinator job.
“I think with Byrd, it’s utilization. How can you contribute and what does that look like?” McGiven said this spring. “He’s like a Swiss army knife and without giving up the ship, there’s a lot of different things that he can do on a play-to-play basis and different places that he can line up. And we need to be able to utilize those and get creative with those packages.”
“It’s versatility. That’s what I can say about it. We can do so many different things with him in there,” added offensive lineman Zereoue Williams.
Ficklin is putting a lot of stock into being developed by McGiven and Gunderson, which was part of the reason he stuck around at Utah.
The duo has already helped Ficklin, as well as Dampier, with progressions and reading the defense.
“I think my development’s going really good, especially under coach Gundy and McGiven. They’re helping my process of elimination, what I do need to look at and what I don’t need to look at,” Ficklin said. “Also reading the field, progressions. There’s a lot of big things that I have been needing to become a complete quarterback, read the progressions and get the ball out quick.”
The on-field fit and development is important to Ficklin, but the off-the-field camaraderie with his teammates was another factor in deciding to stay in Salt Lake City. He’s previously talked about his relationship with Dampier — “we’re basically brothers at this point” — but he felt a deep sense of loyalty to the entire team and coaching staff, which weighed into his decision.
“I mean, you can’t just ditch your own family. That’s how I see it. These guys have took me under, from coaches to players to even the staff in the training room. It’s just been an all-out family and I know I couldn’t just leave them,” Ficklin said.
In Dampier and Ficklin, Utah has one of its best overall quarterback rooms in quite a while, perhaps since Alex Smith and Brian Johnson. McGiven says that both quarterbacks have made progress throughout spring and summer, especially on the mental side.
“We’ve pushed both him and Dev kind of the same way in terms of becoming elite decision-makers and having elite processing skills and being able to apply concepts to cover defensive looks, things like that,” McGiven said.
But Ficklin has also made strides in his throwing mechanics and accuracy, and during fall practice, that’s been evident.
“Early on in fall camp, that development through the spring is already showing up,” McGiven said.
“Some of the tight windows that you would say quarterbacks are being a little bit risky, as long as it’s calculated risk, there’s been some ball placement in the first couple of practices where you can tell he’s much more comfortable riffing that in there because he knows what he’s seeing and it’s not so reactive.”
As Ficklin enters his sophomore season, he knows he will have a role in an offense he’s excited about — and that should excite Ute fans as well.
“I love it. It’s literally everything I can dream about,” Ficklin said of McGiven’s offense. “I mean, it’s a go-go offense. Everybody’s flying everywhere. You never know what’s going to happen. It’s a lot of movement, everything from upfront to the backfield, it’s a lot of movement. So I think it’ll be a lot of fun this year.”
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