Who is Caleb Repp? Well, for starters, apparently all he does is catch touchdowns.
It’s safe to assume no one knew who the freshman tight end was before Utah’s dismantling of Oregon on Sept. 26. Granted, he did get some playing time against Fresno State, but even then Repp was only in for a couple of plays where he didn’t do all too much.
No one saw him coming when he entered the game last Saturday night, and he took advantage of that.
Repp caught his first two collegiate catches, both for touchdowns against the Ducks. Head coach Kyle Whittingham thinks they should have used him more not only because of this, but also because of his pure athletic ability.
“Came right out of nowhere — Cinderella story,” Whittingham said. “Probably should have thrown it to him 10 times. He’s a matchup problem for defenses.”
The first touchdown was highly-contested, and Repp had to make a play on the ball just to be able to haul it in at the back of the endzone. He was gifted his second score after blown coverage by the Ducks allowed him to get wide open.
Both times he felt like he was going to come away on top and said the feeling was like nothing else he had ever experienced.
“It was like a high,” Repp said. “It was a good ball, and I just tried to make a play on it.”
Coming into the season, Repp did not even know whether he was going to be lining up for the offense. He didn’t participate in spring camp, so when he came for summer he mentioned to Kenneth Scott, who he has known for some time, that he might be playing defensive end.
Scott was immediately shocked by this because he had a feeling Repp would make more of an impact on the offense than the freshman thought himself.
“I see how he moves, and I’m like, ‘He’s going to be something,’” Scott said. “He has great hands, and [on] defense you don’t need great hands. He has a bright future at tight end.”
Even then, Whittingham does not consider the true freshman a tight end, nor a wide receiver. While he can play both positions well, he does not fit the typical norm of either of these positions, which makes him more of threat.
Whether or not Repp will make appearances as a starter this season is yet to be seen, but one thing is certain — he will see more playing time.
“He’s a ‘tweener, he’s a matchup problem,” Whittingham said. “We expect him to be a bigger factor moving forward.”
This matchup problem is something Scott also sees. Scott recognizes the value of having Repp on the team, and he will be a great addition no matter what position he plays.
According to Scott, Repp has more speed than a linebacker; he can jump higher than most safeties, and he’s got too much height for corners. All of these reasons make it so he can out-compete any defense.
“He’s a big weapon — just throw it up, and he’s going to catch it,” Scott said. “It’s awkward for defenses to pick up on him.”
His height and speed are aspects of Repp’s game Utah will use, and his performance against Oregon was not a fluke in Whittingham’s eyes.
“Going forward, if you got good players, you want to play them, get as much out of them as you can,” Whittingham said. “There will be a role for Caleb going forward, we’ll see how that expands.”
In the meantime, Repp is still soaking in what happened and will always remember the locker room atmosphere as something extraordinary. As for the future, Repp has more belief in his team than ever before.
“That was one of our goals — to go out there and beat Oregon, and we accomplished it,” Repp said. “Now that we beat them our next goal is to go win the Pac-12 South. I believe that we can do it.”
@kbrenneisen