Tyler Huntley took time walking forward 30 yards and back 30 yards warming up his throwing shoulder less than two hours before the worst game of his career. Utah’s sophomore quarterback went through various exercises inside a mostly vacated Rice-Eccles Stadium before suiting up for the first time in a month.
The song that just so happened to be blasting through the speakers at the time was Kendrick Lamar’s hit “HUMBLE.” As Huntley waved his arms back and forth, the song’s chorus hit over and over.
“Be humble. Sit down.”
The four interceptions, the sailed passes, the miscommunications, the frustration, all of it served as a humbling experience for the 19-year-old. But the last month was just as humbling. Because football was off the table for the first time in his life. Instead of lofted balls to the corner of the end zone, instead of a delayed screen pass, Huntley was in a trainer’s room at 6 a.m. on a weekday working to strengthen his injured right shoulder.
Being forced to watch from the sidelines or on the couch at home on TV was humbling enough.
Not being able to grip a football and let it rip was humbling enough.
Eventually, Huntley’s first pass since the shoulder injury was a dart to Chad Hekking, who is going through his own injury rehab. Huntley sent him on a 45-yard go-route and said he hit Hekking in stride.
“You don’t have to motivate him at all,” said wide receiver and high school teammate Demari Simpkins. “When he was in rehab, he was always constantly telling me, ‘I can’t wait to get back.’”
The month off — Huntley was knocked out of the game at Arizona on Sept. 22 — left him outside the weekly fray. He’d never missed more than a couple of days of practice due to little nicks and bruises until this. Huntley wore a black Utah hat at Monday’s news conference because he said he hasn’t had a haircut since before he was hurt.
“It was just a long month,” he said. “It was great to be back out there [Saturday]. I really learned a lot.”
Tyler Huntley continues to say interceptions were result of miscommunication, and shoulder not bothering his throws down field. pic.twitter.com/xeotCnKwBx
— Lynn Worthy (@LWorthySports) October 23, 2017
It was a first for Huntley.
He’d never felt that off, looked that off or failed to march an offense down the field like that before.
“I say I’d never had a game like that,” he said, “but man, I could say I learned a lot from that game. I don’t plan on having no games like that no more. I promise you I won’t have no games like that no more.”
Was he 100 percent in the 30-10 loss to Arizona State?
“I say I was a good amount of myself,” Huntley said.
TYLER HUNTLEY TIMELINE <br>Aug. 21 • True sophomore Huntley named Utah starting quarterback over senior Troy Williams. <br>Aug. 31 vs. North Dakota • Huntley goes 23 of 32 for 227 yards, one touchdown, one interception and rushes for 70 yards on 18 attempts in first career start. <br>Sept. 9 at BYU • Huntley totals 389 yards (27 of 36, 300 yards passing and 89 yards rushing on 18 attempts and one touchdown). <br>Sept. 16 vs. San Jose State • Throws for career-high 341 yards on 30 of 43 attempts and four touchdowns and rushes for 53 yards on 14 attempts. <br>Sept. 22 at Arizona • Suffered injury to right shoulder in second quarter of 30-24 win at Arizona. Huntley started game 8 of 9 for 98 yards and one touchdown. <br>Oct. 17 • Returns to practice after month off. <br>Oct. 21 • Makes first start since injury, throwing four interceptions and going 19 of 35 for season-low 155 yards in 30-10 loss to Arizona State.
Will he be for Utah’s game at Oregon on Saturday?
“I hope so,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. “He will certainly be improved, we hope, as far as how he is feeling. Again, that is a question that he and the trainers would answer, but you won’t know the answer because we just don’t address it. It’s policy.”
The rust was clear. The fleet-footed, strong-armed quarterback was not the same quarterback who torched in the first three weeks of the season. Huntley said there were a few moments against the Sun Devils where he held himself back from taking off for a few yards to avoid taking a big hit. Which naturally runs counter to the instinctive runner able to pick up yards on the ground when designed runs are dialed up.
Wide receiver Darren Carrington II said Huntley told his teammates Monday he does not plan on having another performance like that.
“Nobody really has to tell Tyler to turn the page,” Carrington said.
“He knows he has to be better for his team to be successful in the future,” running back and high school teammate Zack Moss said. “I don’t expect that too many times out of him.”
“I’d never seen him like this before,” Simpkins said, “but I know Tyler very well. I know he’ll bounce back.”
Huntley vows it was just one bad day. “We all wake up one day, our hair messed, [but] you go on,” he joked.
Saturday’s outing on top of the last month has been the first of many tests for Utah’s young starting quarterback.
“It was hard,” Huntley said, “but hey, life teaches us lessons. And that was a beautiful lesson to learn.”