Two seasons ago, the MUSS rained down a chant on Rice-Eccles Stadium.
“Reggie, Reggie, Reggie,” they yelled as Reggie Dunn prepared to return kicks.
In 2012, Dunn set Rice-Eccles on fire, setting the NCAA record for touchdown returns of 100 yards in a single season, taking it from end-to-end four times.
Two years later, Dunn was a spectator on the sideline and he may have witnessed the man that will break his record — maybe sooner than he thinks.
Senior junior college transfer Kaelin Clay joined the team just days before fall camp and according to Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham, his late arrival on the team has caused him to play catch up.
On Thursday night, it was the Bengals trying to catch up to him.
On his first touch as a Ute with five minutes remaining in the first half of Utah’s 56-14 shellacking of Idaho State, Clay received a punt at the Idaho State 46-yard line and cut through the Bengal coverage team for his first Utah touchdown.
He wasn’t through either.
In the third quarter, the speedster struck again, taking a kickoff from end zone to end zone for a 100-yard touchdown return that saw him slip two tackles before bulleting by the helpless Bengals.
“It was great, I am just glad to be out here with my teammates,” Clay said. “They made it that much more easier for me. I am glad to be here, I want to thank my teammates and my coach.”
As Clay exited the field following the contest, running backs coach Dennis Erickson grabbed him and said, “It’s your time.”
He wasn’t the only that thinks so.
As Dunn watched from the sidelines he got a text from another great Utah returner of yesteryear, Shaky Smithson, that said “Hey, we might be in trouble with our numbers that we put up.”
Clay comes to the Utes by way of junior college Mount San Antonio College of the SCFA Central conference, where he led the conference in receiving yards and touchdowns. In Utah, Clay is buried on the depth chart at receiver, but he is just fine making a name for himself returning.
“I pride myself on special teams,” Clay said. “That’s a unit that goes unnoticed, so I take a lot of pride in that.”
Whittingham was also pleased with what he saw from his new returner.
“It was pretty exciting,” he said. “We saw him do that on tape in his junior college days and we didn’t get him a few days before fall camp so he’s been playing catch up ever since he got here.”
That catch up has been mostly dealing with schemes, and getting into shape, but the coach said Clay made a big jump with his Thursday’s performance.
“He’s still not quite in the shape that he needs to be in,” Whittingham said. “He’s still getting everything down from a scheme standpoint, he’s made a lot of progress and tonight was a nice step for him in the right direction.”
If the Clay that Ute fans saw Thursday night was an underprepared, out of shape version, then the Pac-12 should take notice, or he’ll be blowing by them shortly.
@millerjryan