In the transfer portal era, Byrd Ficklin is an anomaly.
Since the advent of the transfer portal, the position most impacted by college football's new order has been quarterback. Mostly gone are the days of Alabama having Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa on the same team or USC having Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart in the same quarterback room, though Oregon will pair starter Dante Moore with Nebraska transfer Dylan Raiola this year.
In the new age, there's little patience for quarterbacks to stay at a school, develop and wait their turn — with a limited number of years to play college football, more and more quarterbacks are transferring to a place they can start as soon as possible.
According to a story from CBS Sports , 60% of Power Four starting quarterbacks in 2025 transferred at least once in their careers, making what happened at Utah this offseason remarkable.
Utah starting quarterback Devon Dampier elected to return , giving the Utes their leader and signal-caller back in Morgan Scalley's first season as head coach.
Last year, while playing through injury much of the season, Dampier guided the Utes to an 11-2 record capped off by their first bowl win since 2017. Paired with offensive coordinator Jason Beck, the New Mexico transfer threw for 2,490 yards and 24 touchdowns with five interceptions on 63.75% accuracy and rushed for 835 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns as Utah set school rushing records.
As Kyle Whittingham, Beck and others left for Michigan, Dampier's decision to stay with Scalley and the Utes gave the first-time head coach some needed continuity.
But even before Dampier made his announcement to return to Utah, Ficklin was set on returning to Salt Lake City, despite interest from other programs.
Ficklin's birth name is Jamarian Ficklin, but his dad, Justin, nicknamed him Byrd.
"It came from my parents. As I got older, I had no meat on my body at all. And as I kept getting older, I wasn't putting on no weight. So my dad was like, you're like a little baby bird. And it just kind of stuck. And then I fell in love with it and everybody just started calling me Byrd and then the name Jamarian just kind of fell out," Ficklin said on an ESPN 700 coaches' show last year.
That nickname was apropos for the skinny quarterback who started as a freshman on Muskogee High's varsity team in Oklahoma, but there was a reason why coach Travis Hill had faith in him — his talent was undeniable.
By his sophomore season, Ficklin guided the team to an 11-2 record and a semifinal appearance, and in his junior year, as he was given the green light to run more, Muskogee won its first state championship since 1986.
That year, Ficklin threw for 3,249 yards and 32 touchdowns with just six interceptions on 68% accuracy and rushed for 947 yards and 20 rushing touchdowns. He followed it up his senior year with 2,351 passing yards and 30 touchdowns with just four interceptions and 687 yards and 13 scores on the ground.
Despite the eye-popping stats and winning résumé, no Power Four offers came his way.
"He's left-handed, he's got a little hitch in his throw. Is he just an athlete? I heard more excuses. I don't know what they were looking for," Hill said last year. "It really tested my patience. It tested my knowledge.
"I'm a 63-year-old man that's been coaching for a long time, coached at the college level. So I've been around all these particular situations and I just scratched my head every time. What are they seeing that I'm not seeing or vice versa?"
Ficklin originally committed to Texas State, but when Whittingham and Utah offered him late in the cycle his senior year — less than a month before signing day — he finally had his long-awaited shot at the Power Four level.
At the time in November 2024, Utah had no full-time offensive coordinator, but Ficklin believed in Whittingham, who recruited him, and a visit to Rice-Eccles Stadium helped seal the deal.
Ficklin and his father were on hand for an official visit during the tail end of Utah's 2024 season. That year, which began with so much promise with Cam Rising coming back, had been derailed due to injuries and poor offensive play. Offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig resigned midseason, the Utes missed a bowl game for the first time in a full season since 2013, and set a Whittngham-era record for consecutive losses after dropping seven in a row.
Despite the down season, the crowd at Rice-Eccles Stadium made an impression on Ficklin's visit.
"The one thing that stood out was the stadium was still sold out. And so I was like, you know what? This is a fan base that really loves football," Justin Ficklin said. "They're going to be here. And so you can tell that this fan base is not used to their program having a losing record right now. That kind of was a big thing because we knew that the fans love their football team."
With a new offensive staff coming in, it was a chance for Ficklin to be part of a fresh start for Utah's offense. It was no sure thing that he would see the field soon, as Dampier and Isaac Wilson were ahead of him on the depth chart, but he was ready for the challenge.
"He's always been a hard worker, it's always a competitive drive for him. If he feels like there's a chance, he attacks it every day," Justin Ficklin said. "And so to see him finally accomplish what he was reaching for once he got there in January, I know I heard the conversations every night that we talked on the phone, how bad he wanted to win the top three in the QB room. Then once he felt like he was closer, it was like, 'OK, I think I can become the backup.'"
Though Isaac Wilson was named Utah's QB2 coming out of fall camp, it was Ficklin who emerged as the natural backup to Dampier during the season. Both were dual-threat quarterbacks with similar play styles that fit well with the offense Beck ran.
Thanks to Utah's 19.8-point average margin of victory last season, Ficklin got game reps early and often when Dampier and the Utes had already put the contest away, and that experience came in handy when he was tasked with starting against Colorado when an ailing Dampier didn't play.
All season long, Whittingham raved about Ficklin's composure, which was put to the test as he led a Ute team for the first time.
"He's just unflappable. Nothing bothers him and he is an intelligent young man, extremely intelligent," Whittingham said.
On the second play of his first-ever college start, Ficklin faked the handoff to NaQuari Rogers and tucked the ball. As Colorado defenders converged on the Ute running back, Ficklin was sprinting 63 yards for a touchdown.
Talk about a dream start.
After that adrenaline-pumping beginning, it took Ficklin a bit to settle in. After a couple up-and-down drives, Ficklin grew more comfortable and got into more of a rhythm. He threw for 140 yards and two scores on a 45% completion rate, but really stole the show with his rushing ability — scampering for 151 yards and a touchdown.
Yes, the performance came against a Colorado team that won just one conference game, but it proved that Ficklin could hold his own as a starting quarterback.
"The Colorado game, to finally see him lead his team to a win, that was huge," Justin Ficklin said. "I think that was probably the biggest moment to see him be able to step in when needed and take his team to a win."
Two weeks later, against Baylor, Ficklin was once again called upon to help the team. Dampier was not his usual self, completing just 4 of 11 passes for 52 yards and a score at halftime.
With Dampier not fully healthy, Utah's offense needed a spark, and the Utes turned to Ficklin.
In the second quarter, Utah's offensive line gave Ficklin just enough of an opening and he burst through Baylor's defense for a 67-yard touchdown run to put Utah up 21-7. Later in the third quarter, with the Bears down just eight and all the momentum on their side, Ficklin made one defender miss, gave another a nasty stiff-arm and rumbled 74 yards to the end zone.
That kicked off a 21-0 scoring run for the Utes, who won 55-26.
The following week, in Utah's wild 51-47 comeback win over Kansas State, Ficklin had three rushing touchdowns to help the Utes keep pace with and ultimately defeat the Wildcats, who ran all over the Utes' defense.
From under-recruited to a major difference-maker in at least three Utah wins, it was a phenomenal freshman season for Ficklin as he flashed glimpses of his potential — especially in the run game.
"I think his mentality was to just be a servant. Whatever the team needed him to do, that he just wanted to do it at a high level and be able to give him everything they need to succeed," Justin Ficklin said. "So he kind of took the approach that whatever they need me to do to get me on the field, I'm willing to do it."
After two years of middling-to-poor offensive play after Rising went down with injuries, Utah's quarterback room in 2025 was the strongest it had been in years.
The big question: Would it remain that way in 2026?
One of the first big dominoes to fall in Utah's offseason came on Dec. 11, when Ficklin announced his decision to return to Salt Lake City.
Less than 24 hours later, Whittingham — the man that recruited Ficklin to Utah — announced he was stepping down. Two weeks later, Utah's longtime head coach inked a deal to coach Michigan and ended up taking Beck with him.
With a new head coach in Scalley and a yet-to-be-named offensive coordinator, would Ficklin keep his commitment, or perhaps enter the transfer portal in search of a new situation?
In the immediate aftermath of Utah's 44-22 win over Nebraska in the Las Vegas Bowl, while Scalley was putting together his coaching staff for the 2026 season, he fired off a text to Ficklin telling him he wanted to have a meeting with him when the team got back to Salt Lake City.
"I think Byrd absolutely loves Scalley. They really clicked right after the bowl game," Justin Ficklin said. "Scalley told him as soon as we land back in Salt Lake City, I want to have this one-on-one with you. And him and Byrd talked, he revealed some things to Byrd that Byrd really loved to hear."
In the meeting, Scalley outlined an expanded role for Ficklin in Utah's offense, one that should have him on the field even more than last year. When offensive coordinator Kevin McGiven was hired, Ficklin and Dampier were the first players to meet with him.
"I think with Byrd, it's utilization. How can you contribute and what does that look like?" McGiven said. "He's like a Swiss army knife and without giving up the ship, there's a lot of different things that he can do on a play-to-play basis and different places that he can line up. And we need to be able to utilize those and get creative with those packages."
In conversations with Ficklin that offseason, Justin asked him how he felt about Scalley.
"He was like, 'I love him. I can always see myself playing for him.' And so I told him that's all we needed to hear. If you love Salt Lake City like you say you do and you love the coach that you'll be playing for, then don't hesitate on your decision," Justin Ficklin said.
Ficklin's meetings with Scalley and McGiven reaffirmed his desire to stay at Utah.
Instead of transferring somewhere where he could immediately start, he felt like the right decision was to continue to stay at Utah.
What does it say about Ficklin that he came back?
"That he loves it here, that he loves the culture, that he sees himself as being able to succeed here. He's a competitor," Scalley said. "And for guys that love to compete and love ... I mean, you look at this place, why would you want to leave?"
" You've got a fan base that loves the players. You got fans that show up every single home game. We're a winning program, and he's sitting there in a sweet spot right now. So absolutely love Byrd and his attitude. And I think you all have seen the progress in the time that you've been out here, right? It's pretty awesome."
At the time Ficklin made up his mind to return to Utah, Dampier had still not officially announced whether he was coming back for his senior season.
Last year, Ficklin and Dampier built an unbreakable bond, quickly becoming friends. In a cutthroat college football world — especially at the quarterback position — it's pretty rare for the starter and backup to be so close, but that's exactly what transpired.
The two room together on the road (and in the team hotel before home games) and are often seen together, whether that's at the mall, Jazz games, at Utah athletics events or around campus.
Utah quarterback Devon Dampier (4) and Utah quarterback Byrd Ficklin (15) look on during warmups before a game against the Kansas State Wildcats held at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News
"Me and Dev, we're basically brothers at this point. At some points we even just live together. He's staying at my crib, I'm staying at his crib," Ficklin said.
In high school, Ficklin never got the chance to learn behind a veteran player — he was a starter from Day 1 — so learning from Dampier was an important part of his development when he arrived at college.
"I think Byrd found somebody that he trusts as in a big brother. If you go back to him in high school, he was thrown in the fire at 14, starting on the varsity team as a 14-year-old," Justin Ficklin said. "And so he now has a big brother that he can learn from, and that's something that he didn't get to really do in high school. So I think he understands part of his development is being able to learn from somebody older.
"That's the part that I think he's starting to really take from Dev is, 'You know what? I get to sit back and watch you, but also when you're watching me, you're able to tell me what I'm missing here or what I did wrong here.'"
After Ficklin decided to stay at Utah, the first person he told was Dampier.
"I told him Day 1, I'm coming back, so now it's on you. It's all you now," Ficklin said.
"Me and him had a lot of deep one-on-one conversations. A lot of feelings were dropped between me and him on if he should come back or if he shouldn't, where he sits with me and where I sit with him."
In the end, Dampier decided to return to Utah with Ficklin, giving the Utes something incredibly rare in the transfer portal era — consistency and stability in the quarterback room.
"We were kind of just like, let's tag team this. It's your last year. Let's go ball. Let's show we're still brothers and let's go hoop," Ficklin said.
The expectation is that Dampier will once again be Utah's starting quarterback, but that Ficklin will see the field in a lot of creative ways.
A subplot of this season will be Ficklin continuing to learn from Dampier to take over as Utah's starter next season. Utah fans have already seen what the sophomore can do on the ground, but in practices, his arm talent and throwing ability have stood out.
That's not to say he's a perfect prospect. There's still plenty of room for him to grow, and putting in the work to do that is an emphasis for him this year.
"Get as much knowledge as you possibly can from Dev, as well as develop your passing game," Justin Ficklin said. "There's some coverages that I'm pretty sure that in a full game where the teams are able to scout you, that they're going to throw at you, just continue to develop those things."
"I know there's a lot of things that people haven't seen. I know people have seen the running part of him, but there's other parts of his game that I know people really have not seen. And I know once he shows it, it's going to be like, wow. And so for me, it's just continue to learn small things."
Ficklin will be mentored not just by Dampier and McGiven this season, but by new quarterbacks coach Ryan Gunderson. The veteran quarterback coach had stops at UCLA and San Jose State, plus Oregon State, where he was the offensive coordinator, and will be an integral part of Ficklin's continued development as a quarterback.
"Coach Gundy has been a really big part, whether that be full-field progressions to get the ball out of my hand quick to just knowing coverages. He's been teaching me a lot. And that's a big thing I really like about coach Gundy. He's a really, really smart football player," Ficklin said. "And he might've been a pocket passer back in his day, but that's also really helping me to be a better quarterback as well."
Whether it's this year or next season as the starter, Ficklin wants to play a part in Utah winning a Big 12 championship, or even loftier goals.
"I think his loyalty runs back through high school. I think for him, the competitor in him, he knows Utah hasn't been to a Big 12 championship," Justin Ficklin said. "They haven't been to a natty, and that's the challenge he wants. I think he wants to be that person who takes them to those heights or be a part of the team that takes them to those heights."
Ficklin is 1,250 miles from his hometown in Muskogee, Oklahoma, but he has settled into a new home, found friends, been embraced by a fan base and is part of a program that he believes will develop him the right way.
With all of that in mind, it was an easy choice to return to Salt Lake City — a decision his father is happy about.
"I'm really proud and I'm happy for the most part because with us being, I think, what, 17 hours away, it makes me a lot more at ease knowing that he's somewhere that he's loved," Justin Ficklin said. "Where now I can sleep a little better at night, not having to stay up and worry as much because I know he's in the city that loves him."
Utah Utes quarterback Byrd Ficklin (15) claps to begin a play during an NCAA football game between the University of Utah Utes and the California Polytechnic State University Mustangs held at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
