{"id":792979,"date":"2026-03-05T05:05:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T05:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/792979\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T05:05:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T05:05:16","slug":"utah-utes-ol-coach-jordan-gross-lays-out-vision-for-his-new-group-deseret-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/792979\/","title":{"rendered":"Utah Utes OL coach Jordan Gross lays out vision for his new group \u2013 Deseret News"},"content":{"rendered":"

As new Utah head coach Morgan Scalley<\/a> assembled his staff after six former Ute assistant coaches, including offensive line coach Jim Harding, followed Kyle Whittingham to Michigan, he had one name in mind to be Utah\u2019s offensive line coach.<\/p>\n

Jordan Gross.<\/p>\n

Gross, who starred at offensive tackle at Utah from 2000-02, was drafted No. 8 by the Carolina Panthers<\/a> and to this day is still the Utes\u2019 second-highest selection in the NFL draft. Gross enjoyed a successful 11-season career with the Panthers with one All-Pro season and three Pro Bowl appearances, becoming a lineman the Panthers could depend on. <\/p>\n

He could have played longer for the Panthers, but retired on his own terms following the 2013 season, stepping away from playing while he was still healthy. Even though he wasn\u2019t on the field on Sundays, he continued to stay around the game as a color analyst on the team\u2019s radio broadcast.<\/p>\n

\"\"Carolina Panthers’ Cam Newton (1) looks for a receiver as his linemen, Jordan Gross (69) and Travelle Wharton (70) block the Jacksonville Jaguars’ defense during a game in Charlotte, N.C., Sunday, Sept. 25, 2011. | ASSOCIATED PRESS <\/p>\n

In 2022, he was given the opportunity to get into coaching by taking over as head coach of his alma mater in Idaho \u2014 Fruitland High. The first-time head coach rebuilt the program, finishing the 2025 season with a 10-1 record and making it to the Idaho 4A state semifinals.<\/p>\n

Along the way, he gained valuable experience about what worked in coaching.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing that\u2019s funny about football is, I think any coach will tell you, the more that they are in football, the more they realize they don\u2019t know very much,\u201d Gross told the Deseret News. \u201cAnd what I mean by that is I played offensive line for my entire life and then to end up as a head coach at the high school level, man, there\u2019s sure a lot about football I didn\u2019t know, whether it was special teams or defensive play or wide receiver concepts, you name it.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cSo that really increased my overall football knowledge. It helped me understand what it takes to run an entire team, run an entire program, and try to put your flavor on it and your ideas of what\u2019s important. And really it helped prepare me for this role because now I know more about the game. I\u2019ve been working with young people for quite some time now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though he\u2019s never been a position coach at the college level before, Gross has had discussions about joining other college staffs in the past. <\/p>\n

When Scalley called him, though, it was a bit different than those conversations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Morgan called me, he was very clear that it wasn\u2019t just conversations. He said, you\u2019re my guy. I want you to do this job,\u201d Gross said.<\/p>\n

On that phone call, Gross\u2019 former Utah teammate laid out his vision for the program, and he was all in. <\/p>\n

\u201cMorgan is very organized in his messaging. He\u2019s consistent with what he says he expects out of us and what he wants us to look like as a program each and every day,\u201d Gross said. \u201cThere\u2019s not any waxing and waning with his energy, his enthusiasm and what he cares about.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so it\u2019s very clear what\u2019s expected of us as coaches and of players in this program, and it\u2019s also very clear that he cares a great deal about everybody that he\u2019s hand-selected to be a part of this journey with him. So you feel very honored and fortunate to be on board.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gross has big shoes to fill as an offensive line coach at Utah. His friend Jim Harding<\/a> elevated Utah\u2019s offensive line room during his 12 seasons in Salt Lake City, developing six offensive linemen that were later selected in the NFL draft. Two more, Spencer Fano and Caleb Lomu<\/a>, are expected to be drafted this April. <\/p>\n

In more years than not, a strong offensive line and running game were hallmarks of Utah\u2019s identity, so there\u2019s expectations for Gross to come in and continue that level of play in the room.<\/p>\n

\u2018Pressure just to do the job well\u2019<\/p>\n

Gross said he doesn\u2019t necessarily feel pressure in following Harding.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel pressure just to do the job well as a coach. \u2026 Coach Scalley took, I don\u2019t want to say it\u2019s a chance, but it was an unconventional hire bringing me in to do this job and I want to do well for him,\u201d Gross said. \u201c… I want to do well for my teammates that are watching and rooting for me, the old alumni from Utah, and the fans. <\/p>\n

\"\"New Utah offensive coordinator Jordan Gross during Utah-BYU basketball game at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. | Anna Fuder\/Utah Athletics <\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s a big job, not something I take lightly, and I know that I\u2019ve got work to do, but there\u2019s a great staff around me and it\u2019s going to be a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gross is still settling into his new job \u2014 spring football is still about a month away \u2014 but he\u2019s already starting to make an impact. His NFL experience and knowledge of offensive line play is vast, and he\u2019s been able to instill that knowledge during his first two months with the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI give them all everything I have, man, all my knowledge, all my information, all my tricks, everything. I just want to see these young guys succeed,\u201d Gross said.<\/p>\n

Clearheaded, aggressive and confident<\/p>\n

On the whiteboard in his office at Utah\u2019s football facility, Gross has three words that are a mantra for how he wants the offensive line to play \u2014 clearheaded, aggressive and confident.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s be clear on what their job assignment is and on their techniques. Let\u2019s let them be aggressive and reward that behavior and not be negative when it doesn\u2019t work out. And then let\u2019s let them be confident,\u201d Gross said. \u201cSo they need to know that I support \u2019em, that if they\u2019re trying the techniques and the assignments that we\u2019ve talked about, they need to feel good that whether it ends up good or bad, I\u2019m going to support the decisions they made because a confident and clearheaded offensive lineman is a dangerous thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gross didn\u2019t inherit a blank slate, but Utah does have to replace all five starters on the offensive line \u2014 Fano, Lomu and seniors Michael Mokofisi, Jaren Kump and Tanoa Togiai.<\/p>\n

The Utes appear to be confident in their internal replacements, as they only picked up two offensive linemen in the transfer portal \u2014 Ohio State freshman Isaiah Kema<\/a> and Montana State redshirt sophomore Cedric Jefferson<\/a>. Jefferson started at tackle for the FCS national champions and earned an All-Big Sky honorable mention nod, while Kema played 31 snaps for the Buckeyes. <\/p>\n

Jefferson should be in the mix to start at one of the tackle spots, with five-star tackle Kelvin Obot<\/a> also in the running to start in his first year under his former high school coach.<\/p>\n

At Fruitland, Gross passed his NFL expertise onto Obot, helping develop him into one of the best offensive line prospects in the nation.<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-5, 265-pound Obot was rated a five-star prospect by 247Sports composite and had his choice of schools, including Oregon, Michigan, Ohio State, Florida, USC and Washington. In the end, he chose Utah and became the school\u2019s highest-rated prospect ever. <\/p>\n

At that time, the offensive line was coached by Harding, but even after the man who recruited him left, he stuck by his decision.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t hurt, of course, that Scalley hired his high school head coach to join him at the college level.<\/p>\n

Already, Obot is showing glimpses of his potential.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat makes him special is he\u2019s an incredible athlete, just a special body type, lean, excellent feet, can bend, long arms, aggressive, smart, so it doesn\u2019t matter where you\u2019re from, that\u2019s what\u2019s going to get you that notoriety that he received,\u201d Gross said. \u201cHe\u2019s in here now. He came in as an early enrollee. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going through the winter program with us and just looking like he belongs. Doesn\u2019t look like a freshman out there when he plays physically or mentally.\u201d<\/p>\n

No special treatment<\/p>\n

Obot arrives at Utah with high expectations and pressure to live up to his high rating, but for Gross and the program, all of that is outside noise. <\/p>\n

\u201cNobody\u2019s treating him any differently than anybody else on the roster right now, and especially me as his coach,\u201d Gross said. \u201cI\u2019ve known him for so long. It\u2019s just Kelvin to me. <\/p>\n

\u201cI know what he needs to work on, what he needs to get better at, kind of know what makes him tick, and I don\u2019t care if he was the highest or the lowest rated prospect from Utah. I just want him to succeed, so I\u2019m going to do everything I can to make that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the middle, there will be plenty of competition. Seniors Alex Harrison (143 snaps last year) and Zereoue Williams (156 snaps) bring experience to the room, and so does junior Keith Olsen, who played 295 snaps last year.<\/p>\n

Harrison and Williams, who were out of eligibility after the 2025 season, appear to have been granted an NCAA waiver, as both are on Utah\u2019s recently-released spring football roster.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2018m preparing for them to be a big time part of what we\u2019re doing. They\u2019re both very healthy, they\u2019re both excited for the opportunity to start potentially their senior years being great leaders for us. Just a joy to coach. So very excited about those guys,\u201d Gross said.<\/p>\n

Solatoa Moea\u2019i (336 snaps) is also expected to be in the mix for the starting jobs, along with four-star redshirt freshman Isaiah Garcia, who suffered a season-ending injury last fall camp.<\/p>\n

Realistic expectations<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not fair to expect this year\u2019s group to live up to last year\u2019s lofty standards \u2014 Utah set school records for rushing yards and rushing touchdowns behind their veteran offensive line \u2014 especially with a new offensive line coach.<\/p>\n

But the 2026 season could hinge on if Gross\u2019 group can be good.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not a completely blank slate, but it\u2019s a fresh start for the Utah offensive line in a pivotal season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a fresh start for everybody, right? So you lose five starters, three to graduation, two to the NFL draft. It\u2019s a unique situation, but I\u2019m coming in with a new head coach. I don\u2019t have any history with anybody. So I think the room has enjoyed that. Everybody\u2019s kind of got the same fair shot in this journey together,\u201d Gross said. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo I\u2019ve been very impressed with the work ethic, with the attitude, with the intelligence of these guys. They\u2019re athletic, they\u2019re strong. So I could not have asked for a better group to come into as a first-year coach than this because they just want to work. They want to please, they like to have fun. I\u2019ve got no problems, behavioral issues with them or anything, just a real treat to coach these guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NewNew Utah offensive coordinator Jordan Gross claps during Utah-BYU basketball game at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. | Sophia Kuder\/Utah Athletics <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As new Utah head coach Morgan Scalley assembled his staff after six former Ute assistant coaches, including offensive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":792980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2075],"tags":[235,260,2567,7,3309,6,236],"class_list":{"0":"post-792979","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-carolina-panthers","8":"tag-carolina","9":"tag-carolina-panthers","10":"tag-carolinapanthers","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-news-feed-local","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-panthers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116174831302355341","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=792979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/792980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=792979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=792979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=792979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}