Utah Football’s Jaren Kump Is Liking Progress Of The O-Block

SALT LAKE CITY – A vital element to Utah Football’s success over the years has been the improved play of the offensive line. That isn’t expected to change this season either, which all starts with the man in the middle, veteran Jaren Kump.

Utah is looking to finish out of conference play unblemished and will do so in the Battle of the Brothers rivalry. The game is set for a 2:30 pm MT kick-off from Merlin Olson Field at Maverik Stadium.

.@ctb_mb had himself a day last Saturday🔥

3rd career game with 100+ yards
123 all purpose yards
6.3 yds/ rushpic.twitter.com/FtyKm0Drsm

— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) September 10, 2024

Jim Harding has done a fantastic job of recruiting and developing this group over the years. Kump in a lot of ways is where the improvements began, as he was one of Harding’s early big recruiting wins. His path of development has taken an extended route but it genuinely seems that Kump is in his best spot.

Jaren Kump seeing progress along Utah Football’s offensive line

After making the move to center in 2023, Kump has settled in and will take on the lead role in the line maximizing its potential this season. So far through two weeks, Kump likes the progress he’s seen.

“I think we’ve done a lot of good things and I think we’ve got things to work on,” Kump said. “I do feel good about where we’re at right now and the way we’re working to get better.”

Utah has a starting five that has been in place since spring ball essentially. That’s given the linemen an extended amount of time to build chemistry as a unit. Utah has improved the quality of depth in the group, and that’s allowed players to work in more specific roles. There is less cross-training, which has promoted chemistry beyond just the first unit.

“It allows us to continue building that chemistry, I also think if we needed any other guy to step in, I feel very confident in any other guy who would have to step in,” Kump stated.  “I think we’ve built chemistry not just with the other four starters but I think we have chemistry with all of our offensive line travel squad.”

Jaren Kump’s own development is significant for Utah’s O-Line

Kump joined the program prior to the 2020 season as an offensive tackle. Through his first few seasons, Kump battled through injuries to compete on the outside. Over the last two seasons, he’s moved inside to center and it seems he’s found his best spot.

“I feel very comfortable, it’s taken me some time to get comfortable and immerse myself in, but I feel really good there,” Kump shared. “The snap feels good, the calls and communication of fronts, defensive schemes, it’s becoming more and more natural for me. I just need to continue to work at it and continue to improve.”

With experience under his belt, Kump has become more comfortable with the extra responsibilities of the position. That’s also led coaches and teammates to raise their confidence level in him at the position.

“It builds my confidence. It builds my confidence to know that the coaches and the guys, they trust me to be able to take that lead and recognize defensive schemes and different defensive alignments and be able to make calls. It gives me confidence to know that and gives me the ability to play a little bit more freely because of that.” Jaren Kump on having the trust of coaches and teammates.

Kump, O-Block looking forward to this week and beyond

“We know that this Utah State defense is a group that gives great effort,” Kump said of the Aggies. “We know we can’t just show up, we’ve got to play through the whistle and beat their effort level this week.”

The offensive line has seen progress through two weeks. The offensive line was able to generate more movement up front against a better quality opponent this past weekend. That doesn’t change this week, improvement is the goal for Kump and the offensive line.

“Regardless of the opponent, as an O-lineman, it always feels good to run the ball,” he said. “When you get to be physical running the ball, that’s almost our calling card, we love the physicality. I think this last week we improved on rushing yards per play and we want to keep that going this week.”

Kump also made it clear that the unit wants to make big strides this season in the passing game.

“Our big goal this season is we want to be elite pass protectors,” he said. “We want to run the ball, improve our yards per run, improve our yards per game. But we also have a goal of being elite pass protectors, picking up stunts and blitzes. That’s going to be our next step and our big focus this week.”

Utah Football Schedule

You can find Utah football’s conference schedule here.

Steve Bartle is the Utah insider for KSL Sports. He hosts The Utah Blockcast (SUBSCRIBE) and appears on KSL Sports Zone to break down the Utes. You can follow him on X for the latest Utah updates and game analysis.

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