SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Stadium college football insider Brett McMurphy released his way-too-early top 25 ranking and he put Utah football in the top 15.

The Stadium analyst put Utah football at No. 11 in his way-too-early 2021 top 25 ranking. McMurphy put 5 Pac-12 teams in his ranking and the Utes are the highest ranked team in the conference.

This is what McMurphy said about Utah in his ranking that was released on Monday.

“The tragedy and heartbreak of the sudden death of freshman RB Ty Jordan still resonates as the Utes look toward the 2021 season,” McMurphy wrote. “Utah will have 19 returning starters — nine on offense, 10 on defense. The quarterback battle should be interesting between Cam Rising, who will miss spring practice as he recovers from shoulder surgery, transfers Charlie Brewer, a three-year starter at Baylor, and Ja’Quinden Jackson from Texas, and incoming freshman Peter Costelli.”

2020 is thankfully done so here’s my Way-Too-Early Top 25 2021 rankings for @Stadium 1-Ohio State, 2-Alabama, 3-Georgia, 4-OU, 5-Clemson, 6-Texas A&M, 7-Iowa State, 8-Texas, 9-UNC, 10-Penn State https://t.co/ulVI6cBmzG

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) January 12, 2021

The only starter on defense that will not be back for Utah is Nate Ritchie who will serve a two-year church mission.

This ranking was posted before the Utes received great news on Monday afternoon when Oklahoma running back T.J. Pledger announced he was transferring to Utah after three seasons with the Sooners.

Since the season finale on December 19, Utah found out that they will be getting star tight end Brant Kuithe, offensive lineman Nick Ford and linebacker Devin Lloyd back for the 2021 season rather than going to the NFL.

Here is the entire way-too-early top 25 ranking by Brett McMurphy of Stadium:

1. Ohio State Buckeyes
2. Alabama Crimson Tide
3. Georgia Bulldogs
4. Oklahoma Sooners
5. Clemson Tigers
6. Texas A&M Aggies
7. Iowa State Cyclones
8. Texas Longhorns
9. North Carolina Tar Heels
10. Penn State Nittany Lions
11. Utah Utes
12. Oregon Ducks
13. Florida Gators
14. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
15. Wisconsin Badgers
16. Miami Hurricanes
17. Cincinnati Bearcats
18. Oklahoma State Cowboys
19. Washington Huskies
20. Arizona State Sun Devils
21. Virginia Tech Hokies
22. Iowa Hawkeyes
23. USC Trojans
24. Ole Miss Rebels
25. Liberty Flames

Teams outside of McMurphy’s top 25 but in top 40 (in alphabetical order): Appalachian State, Arkansas, BYU, Indiana, Louisville, LSU, Nebraska, Northwestern, Pittsburgh, TCU, UCF, UCLA, Virginia, West Virginia.

Trevor Allen is a Utah Utes Insider for KSLSports.com and host of the Crimson Corner podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @TrevorASports. You can download and listen to the podcast, here.