Utah CFB Defensive Awards: Week One

Every Division 1 school in the state of Utah took the gridiron for week one and got their first teaser for the upcoming season.

Every team gained valuable experience in understanding who they are and where they stand in the college football world of 2024.

Now some of this experience was better for certain teams than it was for others, but we saw impressive individual performances throughout.

Here we are naming the top defensive efforts from the following groups at the D1 level in Utah:

Best Pass Rusher:

Best Ball Hawk:

TFL Master:

Best Tackler:

Best Defensive Unit:

From Utah to Utah Tech all teams are eligible to take home an award if deserving.

Some big time names and major performances will be left out due to the nature of there being only one winner per category.

If your favorite didn’t make it, don’t worry, next week for sure.

Lets begin.

PASS RUSHER: VAN FILLINGER, UTAH

The Utes defense got into Southern Utah’s backfield a plenty in their 49-0 shutout victory, evident by a total of 5 sacks on the night, a high amongst all Utah D1 schools.

Out of those 5 sacks, Utah was paced by Van Fillinger, the senior end from Draper.

Fillinger ripped down the T-Birds signal caller two times, the largest sack total of any individual in the state for week one.

Out of 3 total tackles, his two tackles for loss cost SUU 22 yards.

It was a great debut for the guy who had 3 sacks last season in 8 starts.

BALL HAWK: IKE LARSEN, UTAH STATE

This award was tight competition as three players recorded an interception in Week One.

BYU’s Jakob Robinson hauled in the Cougars win over SIU.

Elijah Davis returned a pick 13 yards the other way for Utah.

SUU featured two guys with an interception a piece in Jayden Robertson and LaCarea Pleasant-Johnson.

But all stats considered, this award goes to Utah State’s Ike Larsen.

After all the discomfort in Cache Valley, it was good to see Larsen pick up where he left off.

In the 36-14 victory over Robert Morris, Larsen hauled in an interception like the other’s but simply had a bit more impact on the field.

Ike recorded 4 total tackles, all solo pursuits.

Those 4 tackles were more than Robinson and Davis combined, and two more than Jayden Robertson.

Pleasant-Johnson had a legitimate case with 3 solo tackles in the Utah loss, but the one interception and leading all candidates in tackles paves the way for Ike Larsen to take it home for the Aggies.

TFL: KEMARI MUNIER-BAILEY, WEBER STATE

It would be easy enough to simply insert “See above” in Utah’s Van Fillinger as he technically led all D1 schools in Utah with yards lost for his 2 TFL’s.

But there are plenty deserving candidates, and Weber State’s Kemari Munier-Bailey deserves a mention.

In a tough 35-3 loss to Washington on the road, Weber’s defense kept their composure for a large part of the night and Munier-Bailey led the way racking up 5 tackles, all solo, and 2 tackles for loss.

Only one of them was a sack, the other was pure hustle tallying 14 total yards lost for Washington.

The former Fresno State Bulldog and Idaho Vandal settled right in and added to the impressive week one performance of defensive ends who played their high school ball in draper. (Juan Diego)

TACKLING: JAGGER WILLIAMS, UTAH TECH

Three players in the beehive state recorded double digit tackles in Week One.

Utah State housed two of these athletes with both Jon Ross Maye and Jordan Vincent totaling ten tackles a piece.

Maye even got his own TFL for 4 yards.

But as impressive as that was, the winner is Jagger Williams out of Utah Tech.

Getting it done from the Trailblazers secondary against a run heavy Montana State team, Williams would record 10 tackles in the 31-7 loss.

His 4 solo tackles were more than either Maye or Vincent, giving him the slight edge to add to his 6 assisted take downs.

And if you want to use TFL in favor of Maye, I get it, but Williams did record 0.5 TFL, AND had a pass break up.

Thus, Jagger Williams wins the tackling award in week one.

BEST DEFENSIVE UNIT: UTAH UTES

BYU’s defense certainly deserves recognition here after holding Southern Illinois to 231 yards and 13 points, but there is a clear cut winner in this contest and it’s Utah.

The Utes win on a handful of accounts in the Utah D1 scene for their victory over Southern Utah.

Least amount of yards, check: 150 allowed

Least amount of points allowed, check: SUU literally could not have scored less.

Lowest amount of yards per play for opponent, check: The T-Birds averaged 2.9 yards per play.

Most Sacks, you bet: 5 sacks for 40 yards lost.

Interceptions? Not so much, that one is Southern Utah’s to claim with two to lead the state.

That aside, moving the ball against Utah was next to impossible, as the Utes allowed 2.6 yards per carry on the ground and 3.4 yards an attempt via the air.

Stats don’t lie, at least in this case, and Utah takes home the Week One best defensive unit.