ST. GEORGE — The Trailblazers were back on the gridiron at Greater Zion Stadium Saturday afternoon for the team’s annual Red/White Spring Game.

Actually, the defense wore red and the offense wore blue in the team’s first exhibition under the direction of new head coach Lance Anderson.

“I thought we did a lot of good things,” Anderson told St. George News after addressing the team. “Lot of good situational work. Guys played hard, gave good effort. I think we’ve seen a lot of improvement as the Spring has gone on.”

As previously reported in St. George News, former head coach Paul Peterson was dismissed shortly after last year’s season-ending loss to Southern Utah.

Peterson compiled a 17-32 record over his tenure at Utah Tech, including a 9-29 mark during the program’s NCAA Division I transition into the Football Championship Subdivision.

The Trailblazers will look to improve upon last season’s 2-9 record, including a 1-5 showing in the United Athletic Conference.

In the changing landscape of college football, where players are free to move in and out of the transfer portal at whim, many teams are in the same boat as Utah Tech: they have to completely start over every year.

“We’re still getting to know our guys and what we have and what they’re good at, where we need to improve,” Anderson said. “But overall I’m very happy with our roster.”

He added that he is very happy with the guys who are coming back from last year, the mid-year players they were able to add and is also excited about the freshmen and new players who are coming in.

“Really looking forward to just seeing the entire team compete,” Anderson said. “We’ll see where we are when we finish Fall camp and get ready to start the season.”

One Trailblazer who did not return is former starting quarterback Kobe Tracy.

During Saturday’s game, most of the reps at QB went to Syracuse transfer Luke MacPhail and Dixie High School product Reggie Graff.

“Those two guys have both done really well,” Anderson said, noting that the coaching staff has not decided who will start under center.

“Luke and Reggie have had a great competition going back and forth,” he added. “If we had to start right now, those guys are very even and they would both get playing time.” 

At his introductory press conference, Anderson said he is a coach who believes everything starts at the line of scrimmage.

At Saturday’s game, it was clear that both the offensive and defensive lines are works in progress.

“Really been impressed with the offensive line, how physical they’ve been this Spring, how hard they’ve worked, how they’ve really started to gel as a unit,” Anderson said, also noting that as a group there’s not much experience among this year’s O-linemen. 

“Equally impressed with the defensive line,” he said. “We’ve had a few injuries there, guys moving in and out, but we’ve had some guys play some really good football there.”

The coach said that defensive line is a position they’ll seek to upgrade as Fall camp approaches, maybe adding some big bodies that will give them some depth.

“But you look at guys like Laytan Tanuvasa, TJ Talamoni-Marks, John Sniffen,” Anderson said. “Those guys have really competed hard this Spring and have gotten better every practice.”   

The turf at Greater Zion Stadium sizzled on Saturday in one of the hotter days so far this year in St. George. Judging from the number of players cramping up, the Trailblazers might not be physically ready yet for the speed and punishment they’ll face in the UAC.

“We’ve got to get in even better shape than we are now. We’ve got to get stronger so that we can play more physical,” Anderson said. “What I really want to  see this summer is that physical development. It’s conditioning, it’s strength gains. We’ve got to see that.”  

Utah Tech kicks off their season-opener at home August 31 against Montana State.

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