Utah's Kyle Whittingham wants this WR more involved moving forward

Merriweather, a former Notre Dame commit who spent last season at Cal, was held to just one catch for 36 yards in his Utes debut, prompting his head coach to address the junior's usage rate during his weekly press conference leading up to a Week 2 matchup against Cal Poly.

"I think we need to get Tobias a little more involved," Whittingham said. "He seems to have a good knack for getting free up the field. He's also got a big catch radius, so we got to try to get him more involved."

Tobias Merriweather has quiet debut despite favorable skillset

After drawing a pass interference call while going up for a deep ball in the first half, Merriweather hauled in a pass from Devon Dampier for a 36-yard gain in the fourth quarter. He was among the eight Utah players to record at least one catch in the 43-10 win over the Bruins, with Smith Snowden's six receptions for 51 yards leading the way.

Junior tight end Dallen Bentley brought in five catches for 31 yards and a touchdown; freshman wide receiver JJ Buchanan and senior Ryan Davis each had three catches and combined for 51 yards, while Jackson Bennee, Lander Barton and NaQuari Rogers had a reception apiece (Barton's was a 14-yard touchdown in the second quarter).

Merriweather, meanwhile, was credited with the one target in the fourth quarter after a quiet first half.

"He's a weapon for us," Whittingham said of Merriweather. "You saw him catch a deep ball and then draw a [pass interference] on another deep ball. That's really his thing is."

How does Merriweather get more involved?

Merriweather's lack of productivity in Week 1 could've been a byproduct of the Utes' success on the ground. Led by its stout front line, Utah rushed for 286 yards and four touchdowns on 54 attempts (5.3 yards per carry) against the Bruins' run defense. Dampier finished with 25 or fewer pass attempts in a game for just the third time since the start of last season, on top of posting 16 carries for a team-high 87 rushing yards and a touchdown with his legs against UCLA.

Utah's ability to dictate the flow of the game in the trenches didn't put an emphasis on moving the ball through the air, which likely limited how many opportunities Merriweather had to make plays.

Though even if that's partly true, Whittingham won't be the one to make excuses for his wide receivers.

"Otherwise, it's just; you want more time, you want more production, play better in practice; that's how it is," Whittingham added when asked what he wanted to see from the wide receiver position moving forward. "You got to play your way into that. We're not just going to try to feature somebody if they haven't earned it — and not to say that they're not doing some good things in practice, but we feel like we've got the right guys on the field."

"JJ Buchanan is part receiver, he's kind of a hybrid; and then Smith Snowden is a receiver, and he doesn't sit in that room full time, but moving forward, it would be nice to be able to have more production emphasis placed on that. But again, it's got to be merited. You can't just hand out playing time and production. You got to earn it."