Six players, one recurring complaint
Six former Utah players told the Salt Lake Tribune today that they questioned how their injuries were diagnosed, and that coaching staff pushed them back onto the field before they felt ready. The group spans the 2020 to 2024 rosters, a stretch in which Utah won two Pac-12 titles and reached the Rose Bowl twice.
Defensive linemen Van Fillinger and Tevita Fotu, receiver Mycah Pittman, running back Jaylon Glover and tight end Miki Suguturaga spoke on the record. A sixth player stayed anonymous.
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What the players describe
Fillinger recalled fracturing his right tibia in 2022, feeling his ankle give way, and being put in a walking boot without an immediate X-ray. The scan came later and ended his season. He said a position coach told him a redshirt would not be approved and that his place on the roster depended on playing.
Pittman said an ankle problem in 2024 fall camp was diagnosed as a sprain after an X-ray. An MRI a month later found a partially torn Achilles.
Fotu, who tore his left ACL as a redshirt freshman, said an assistant relayed that the head coach wanted him to push through, and that his scholarship was raised as leverage. Suguturaga described rehab deadlines he considered unrealistic for the injuries involved. Glover framed the pattern as a gap between what the training staff advised and what the coaching staff wanted.
The responses
Utah athletics and University of Utah Health said return-to-play calls involve doctors, trainers and the athlete together, that the department follows university and national guidelines, and that it reviews its processes and will adjust them where they fall short.
Whittingham spent 22 seasons in charge at Utah, from 2004 through 2025, before taking the Michigan job this year. A Michigan spokesperson said he “followed the lead of the medical team” and did not make medical decisions in Salt Lake City.
All five named players had already left the program by the time Whittingham did.
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