Nate Johnson Throws First Career Touchdown
Nov 12, 2022, 10:57 PM
Utah Utes running back Nate Johnson (13) celebrates a touchdown as Utah and Arizona play at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022. (Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)
(Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY – Utah Utes true freshman Nate Johnson threw his first career touchdown pass in the third quarter against Stanford on Saturday.
The touchdown by Nate Johnson was set up by back-to-back trick plays, where he ran for 21 yards before Andy Ludwig put Johnson and Cam Rising in the game at the same time. Johnson was at quarterback and Rising was lined up as a wide receiver. The true freshman took the snap and threw a 16-yard touchdown to Logan Kendall to give the Utes a 35-7 lead with 1:37 remaining in the third quarter.
It’s the first receiving touchdown of the season for Kendall.
The sideline reaction after Logan Kendall's first @Utah_Football TD 🥹 pic.twitter.com/3r9KNbE91D
— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) November 13, 2022
.@Shaboinate3 holds down turbo when he jukes. @Utah_Football | #GoUtes pic.twitter.com/12SCKWR5eG
— Utah Athletics (@utahathletics) November 13, 2022
About Utah/Stanford
Despite having good talent to work with, the Cardinal has once again struggled to put together a good season under head coach David Shaw. Last season, Utah blew their doors off 52-7 and it’s looking likely that the Utes will handle Staford again even with some of the injuries. The Cardinal have had their moments in 2022 like beating Notre Dame, but overall consistency game in and game out has been an issue.
The biggest storyline for Utah heading into their last three games is injuries. Thankfully, the Utes have only had three season-ending injuries with running back Chris Curry, tight end Brant Kuithe and defensive end Van Fillinger. The unfortunate news is they have several other guys with smaller injuries, that aren’t necessarily able to play to their full capacity and that will be the most interesting part to watch this coming week.
Cam Rising missed time against Washington State two weeks ago but was available last Saturday against Arizona. Rising’s game against the Wildcats was not his best- it was clear he still wasn’t 100% and the weather certainly didn’t help either. Still, he got the job done and should be closer to his old self against the Cardinal provided there are no setbacks.
Utah and Stanford is televised on ESPN.
