QB2 battle remains dead heat as Team White defeats Team Red in Utah's 2022 Spring Game

At the conclusion of Utah's 2022 Spring Camp, Team White bested Team Red 21-14 as Bryson Barnes and Ja'Quinden Jackson battled for QB2.

112 days after the Utes made their first ever Rose Bowl appearance, Utah football was back on the field with the Red and White Spring Football Game game to officially conclude spring camp. While we only saw snippets from most of the starters, the game provided an opportunity for fans to get their first look at some of the new faces while the coaches hoped to see some separation for QB2 between Ja’Quinden Jackson and Bryson Barnes.

“[It] was good competition out there, a great way to end spring football. We really had an excellent spring and were able to stay healthy for the most part…A lot of guys making plays today, great to see Ja’Quinden Jackson and Bryson Barnes get extensive work and I thought they made the most of it,” Whittingham said.

As you can imagine, with a majority of the starters sidelined to avoid injury, some of the younger players had an opportunity to play in a game-like situation, which resulted in a fairly low scoring game.

Participating in just one series, Cameron Rising was nearly perfect and did exactly what you’d expect. In just 2:01 he marched White’s offense right down the field with multiple receptions to his favorite target Devaughn Vele, who finished the contest with 72 yards on just three receptions. He then capped it off with a touchdown pass to Taniela Pututau in the back of the end zone, and Team White took an early 7-0 lead.

“[Rising was] very smooth. He was sharp, I think you saw Vele catch a couple balls from him. Devaughn and him have really started to develop a good chemistry together…what Cam did is exactly what we had hoped and expected. Came in and engineered a touchdown drive and made it look easy,” Whittingham explained.

Throughout the rest of the first half, the two teams switched possessions as Bryson Barnes and Ja’Quinden Jackson took command of the offenses and mostly struggled to facilitate scoring drives.

Bryson Barnes — Jeffrey Bennett, Sports Illustrated Utah / Bryson Barnes, Utah — Jeffrey Bennett, FanNation AllUtes

However, right towards the end of the second quarter, Jackson and Jaylon Glover orchestrated a scoring drive just before time expired. After a beautifully placed pass by Jackson 35 yards down the right sideline to Hayden Erickson, Team Red set up shop inside the red zone.

Shortly thereafter, Jackson connected with Zach Vaughn on an impressive floater to the left corner of the end zone despite being under immense pressure from two defenders who had breached the backfield. Vaughn however was wide open and Team Red tied things up 7-7 right before halftime.

Into the second half, both quarterbacks appeared to get their footing and things opened up with several scores.

Bryson Barnes demonstrated his escapability and speed as he juked a defender out of his shoes with a shoulder fake and switched to the opposite side of the field for a 55 yard touchdown run. However, near the goal line Barnes was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct which resulted in the touchdown being called back.

Barnes was able to redeem himself just plays later though on a 22 yard floater to a wide-open Makai Cope in the corner of the end zone to retake the lead 14-7 with 8:30 left in the third.

As the game continued it was obvious that both quarterbacks were feeling comfortable as Jackson connected with Money Parks for a 14 yard touchdown, and Barnes followed up with a 56 yard touchdown to McClain across the middle as a result of a broken tackle and busted coverage.

Ultimately, that would be the final score of the day as some of the more inexperienced players stepped in and Team White would claim a spring game victory 21-14.

If the coaches were expecting some obvious separation between the two quarterbacks, they didn’t get the results they were hoping for. Both Jackson and Barnes were quite impressive as Jackson finished 11-17 for 138 yards and two touchdowns with an interception. Meanwhile, Barnes concluded the contest with 157 yards and two touchdowns with 47 additional yards on the ground.

“We will have a better idea [of who the backup quarterback is going to be],” Whittingham said. “I couldn’t tell you by observing it first hand out there but I thought they both did some really good things. Ja’Quinden Jackson has really made a ton of progress since he got here. He’s really starting to become a guy that looks like a quality quarterback but then Bryson Barnes made some big plays too. Hopefully we have a pecking order going into fall camp…we’ll have it sorted out by the time we need to.”

With the completion of spring camp, players and coaches will now have a short break before returning for summer workouts. The season will then kick off on September 3 with an immediate test against SEC opponent Florida in the Swamp.

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