Author: Jesse

One of the “rules” for Summer League is this: If a player got regular run during the NBA season, they should dominate in Summer League. Their game should have risen to the point that they were above this level of summer run.

Case in point: Utah’s Brice Sensabaugh. The former Ohio State forward played 71 games for the Jazz last season, and on Monday night went out and dropped 37 in Utah’s win over Memphis in the Salt Lake Summer League.

Also of note from that game: Utah’s No. 5 pick Ace Bailey looked much more comfortable after a rough first outing. What rookies do in Summer League is more of a measuring stick than anything else, but a good sign is a player who learns and improves over the course of those games. Bailey did that between his first two Summer League games.

EA Sports College Football 26 liked the Utah football team and Devon Dampier, until it didn’t.

That’s what I learned from an informal exercise using the newly released college football video game.

On Monday, College Football 26 — the second edition of the popular game since its revival last summer — was available to play for those who paid for a three-day early release.

That included this sports reporter, who used this early access to see how Dampier, the Utes’ new QB1, “might” fare in his first season at the power conference level.

My first task was to simulate the 2025 season for Utah and track how Dampier and the Utes’ season played out.

Perhaps the simulation was influenced by how Utah finished its 2024 campaign — the Utes lost seven straight after a 4-0 start and ended the year with a 5-7 record. In similar fashion, Utah stumbled in the back half of the simulated season.

There were some promising aspects of the simulation, though.

Key metrics for Devon Dampier in a simulated season on College Football 26

Devon Dampier’s rating in the game: 87 overall.

Passing stats: 240 of 380, 63% completion percentage, 2,610 passing yards, 19 touchdowns, 6 interceptions.

Rushing stats: 119 carries, 179 rushing yards, 3 touchdowns, 1.5 yards per carry.

Season results: 5-7 (3-6 Big 12)

• @ UCLA: W, 26-23 (2OT)
• vs. Cal Poly (FCS West on CFB 26): W, 28-7
• @ Wyoming: L, 12-10
• vs. Texas Tech: W, 13-7
• @ West Virginia: W, 38-17
• vs. No. 25 Arizona State: W, 27-13
• @ No. 7 BYU: L, 22-17
• vs. Colorado: L, 27-24
• vs. Cincinnati: L, 33-28
• @ No. 14 Baylor: L, 38-14
• vs. No. 4 Kansas State: L, 21-14
• @ Kansas: L, 26-20

Big 12 champion: Kansas State.

Big 12 participants in College Football Playoff: Kansas State (No. 4 seed), BYU (No. 8 seed).

Heisman winner: Jeremiah Smith, Ohio State wide receiver.

National champion: Miami. The Hurricanes beat Ohio State in the CFP national championship game.

What stood out

Highlight No. 1: The Utes started the year strong with a come-from-behind, double-overtime win at UCLA. Utah trailed 14-6 going into the fourth quarter, but Dampier found tight end Dallen Bentley for the 12-yard game-winning score in a second extra session in a 26-23 victory.

Dampier outdueled Nico Iamaleava, the Bruins’ new QB1.

Iamaleava completed 12 of 25 passes for 153 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, while Dampier had a better passing line, completing 21 of 28 passes for 222 yards and two touchdowns.

Highlight No. 2: Utah built off that early momentum, winning four of its first five games — including a Big 12-opening win over Texas Tech — before hosting defending Big 12 champion Arizona State.

Dampier had his best game of the year against the Sun Devils, sparking Utah to an early lead while the defense prevented Arizona State from rallying.

Dampier completed 67% of his passes against the Sun Devils for 227 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.

His two second-quarter touchdown passes gave Utah a 17-7 halftime lead, and he connected with Tobias Merriweather for a 4-yard touchdown pass with 4:33 to play to make it a two-score game.

Turning point: Unfortunately for Utah, the simulated season ended in a second straight year of not making the postseason — which would be a surprise, considering the buzz surrounding the program with a new offensive scheme in place.

The five-point loss at BYU started the skid (and Utah was ranked in the top 20 at the time), but it was a home loss to Colorado the next week that really shifted the momentum.

The Utes led the Buffaloes 21-0 at halftime but were outscored 27-3 in the second half.

From there, Utah struggled to finish games, even though it only had one loss that came by double-digits.

Positive signs: Last season at New Mexico, Dampier had 12 touchdown passes to go with 12 interceptions.

In the video game, he improved on that TD-to-INT ratio significantly, finishing with 19 touchdowns to six interceptions. Dampier threw for multiple touchdowns in six of the team’s games, including a pair of three-touchdown contests.

He had seven games where he didn’t turn the ball over — Dampier only lost one fumble all year — and he threw for 200 or more yards in nine of the Utes’ 12 games.

Utah was also able to surround him with a couple strong playmakers in running back Wayshawn Parker and Merriweather, transfers from Washington State and California, respectively.

Parker led the Utes with 704 rushing yards and four touchdowns to go with 143 receiving yards and two more scores, while Merriweather had a team-high 60 receptions for 866 yards and five touchdowns.

What seemed wrong: The biggest red flag in this experiment were Dampier’s paltry rushing numbers.

He ran for 1,166 yards and 19 touchdowns at New Mexico last season, but in the simulation, Dampier never had a single 20-yard carry on the year and his per-carry average was just 1.5.

That is well short of the dynamic running ability he’s shown through his first two collegiate seasons. While Dampier is making the leap to the power conference level this season, it would be a major surprise for him to struggle that badly on the ground.

In general, I’d expect some better rushing numbers from Utah with five returning starters on the offensive line — even Parker’s numbers seemed low in what should be a run-friendly offense.

Better rushing numbers could well have been the difference between a win or a loss in several of these games for Utah.

BYU golfer Jackson Mauss fired a 5-under-par 65 at Logan Country Club Monday to take the lead in the stroke-play portion of the Utah State Amateur golf tournament.

Mauss, who will be a sophomore for the Cougars, is a 2022 graduate of Corner Canyon High School. He made eight birdies to go along with three bogeys in compiling the best score among the 156 entrants.

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Half of the golfers played at Logan Country Club and half at the Eagle Mountain Golf Course in Brigham City. Players will switch courses for Tuesday’s second round of stroke play.

Will Pedersen, a 17-year-old from Salt Lake, is one stroke behind after firing a 66 that included five birdies and a bogey.

Bowen Mauss, the younger brother of Jackson, is one of three golfers at 67, along with Weber State golfer Ty Anderson and St. George’s Noah Schone.

Two other BYU golfers, Tyson Shelley, a senior from Salt Lake and Angus Klintworth, a junior from South Africa, are among six golfers at 68.

Among former champions, Dan Horner (2008) and Cole Ogden (2013) fired 69s, Simon Kwon (2023) and Martin Leon (2021) came in at 71, Darrin Overson (1998) shot 73 and Brad Sutterfield (1992) had a 75. Defending champion Cole Ponich is not eligible after turning professional earlier this summer.

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The low 64 golfers will advance to match play beginning Wednesday morning. Matches will continue until Saturday when two golfers will compete in a 36-hole final at Logan CC.

First-round scores (par 70)

• 65 – Jackson Mauss

• 66 – Will Pedersen

• 67 – Bowen Mauss, Noah Schone, Ty Anderson

• 68 – Angus Klintworth, Chase Goetshel, Jacob Marx, Tyson Shelley, Jared McCleary, David Liechty,

• 69 – Andrew Cottle, Devin Andrews, Jackson Shelley, Dan Horner, Cameron Crawford, John Cook, Lucas Schone, Cole Ogden

• 70 – Hunter Nelson, Braydon Griffith, Emery Thomas, Sean Lam, David Timmins, Jacob Randall

• 71 – Simon Kwon, Hayden Howell, Stockton Penman, Tylan Birchell, Martin Leon, Braylon Bingham, Maddox Nielsen

Over the past couple of weeks, it was reported by Josh Yohe of The Athletic that the Pittsburgh Penguins had interest in one of the Utah Mammoth‘s young RFA forwards.

And it appears he is now off the board.

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On Monday, the Mammoth signed big forward Jack McBain to a five-year, $21.25 million contract extension to avoid arbitration. The contract’s average annual value sits at $4.25 million and will run through the end of the 2029-30 season.

McBain, 25, registered 13 goals and 27 points for Utah last season. The 6-foot-4, 219-pound center also registered 78 penalty minutes and is known for his hard-hitting style and tendency to drop the gloves.

Yohe reported that the Penguins were interested in McBain last week, and this tracks with GM and POHO Kyle Dubas’s stated desire to potentially target young RFA forwards. With McBain out of the picture, the Penguins may very well look to other pending-RFAs on cap-strapped teams to consider trading for rights, as Dubas said they are unlikely to engage in offer sheets.

“I think the areas that you probably would see us spend more would be acquisition by trade, and then signing players that other teams might not be able to fit,” Dubas said in his post-season presser. “I think the effect in free agency is probably going to be somewhat of a spike in salary, and so it’ll dry up the cap space rather quickly for us, and those players are mostly into that late 20-early 30 category.

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“It could do two things. Number one, I think it’s going to allow us to maybe trade for players that other teams can’t afford that are restricted free agents, and then sign them longer range ourselves, using that cap space that way.”

Some other notable RFAs are Gabriel Vilardi (Winnipeg Jets), Marco Rossi (Minnesota Wild), Mason McTavish (Anaheim Ducks), Bowen Byram (Buffalo Sabres), and Mackie Samoskevich (Florida Panthers).

NHL Rumors: Penguins Top Trade Candidate Wants To Stay Put Rickard Rakell is one of multiple

Pittsburgh Penguins players who have been in the rumor mill this off-season. With the Penguins retooling their roster and Rakell coming off a career season, all eyes have been on the 32-year-old winger.

Bookmark THN – Pittsburgh Penguins on your Google News tab  to follow the latest Penguins news, roster moves, player features, and more! 

On the final day of Broncos rookie minicamp, like it was the first day of school, Freddie Whittingham told his kids they had to snap a picture.

And thus, they lined up on the turf of Denver’s practice facility and smiled, three iterations of Utah tight ends brought together in Dove Valley. Thomas Yassmin on the right, a staple in the Utes’ program from 2019-23. Caleb Lohner in the middle, a rookie who played his first dose of collegiate football in 2024. And Cole Fotheringham, a tryout invite who’d started at Utah back in 2018.

Somehow, for some reason, no less than six straight years of the Utes TE room was clad in Broncos gear this offseason.

“I’ve never heard of this before,” reflected Whittingham, Utah’s longtime tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator. “Three from the same school, being in the same rookie minicamp.”

A couple of years ago, the Utes staff started noticing their number of program alumni in the NFL climbing — specifically with the Broncos. Ask anyone in the building today where the most Utah kids have wound up, as defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley noted, and every single person would tell you it’s Denver. In the last few years, a quiet pipeline has been built 500 miles east from Salt Lake City. The Broncos currently carry more players from Utah (five) than from any school outside of Texas, and Fotheringham still floats outside of the 90-man roster on the team’s injured reserve list.

“One more from Utah,” Broncos head coach Sean Payton cracked in early June when asked about the prevalence of former Utes on Denver’s roster, “then one from Utah has got to go.”

He wasn’t lying. Denver had literally waived Fotheringham two days earlier.

An exhaustive in-depth investigation by The Post — okay, fine, a few conversations with staffers in Utah’s program — didn’t reveal any concrete answers to this particular riddle. When asked about it during minicamp, Payton made it abundantly clear that he never sat in a draft room and specifically targeted one school. Pablo Cano, director of NFL relations at Utah, thought this phenomenon was simply a coincidence. Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham said he had “no good answer” as to why this connection was developing.

But it is happening. Everyone acknowledges that.

“I’ve been here 30 years,” Kyle Whittingham said. “I can’t remember a time where we’ve had as many guys on one NFL team as we do with the Broncos.”

On the surface, the only obvious reason for Denver’s interest in Utah would be proximity. The Utes finished 5-7 last year and didn’t field a particularly dynamic offense. A large percentage of Utah’s roster is made up of in-state recruits, and Utah has some solid talent but typically produces only a small handful of four-star kids in any given recruiting class.

The fundamental reason here lies in the Broncos’ scouting preferences, an organizational attitude that bleeds from the top down. Colleagues and players from Payton’s past, and particularly with the New Orleans Saints, are adamant he has an affinity for the underdog. And Payton and general-manager George Paton are “totally in sync” as far as talent acquisition in the NFL draft goes, new assistant GM Reed Burckhardt said.

The Broncos are an organization, as O’Connell noted, that likes “lunch-pail guys.” And Utah is a program expressively built on lunch-pail guys.

“We’re not the school that recruits a class full of four- and five-star players,” Freddie Whittingham said. “We’re often getting guys that didn’t have a dozen or more offers coming out of high school, developing them, and sometimes moving positions, things like that.”

In good years and bad, that philosophy has been consistent, too.

Kyle Whittingham has been helming Utah for two decades. Brother Freddie and defensive coordinator Scalley have each been there over a decade. There’s little turnover in terminology, or in culture.

Glance at the careers of Denver’s Utah imports, and there’s rather distinct commonalities. None of the Utes on Denver’s roster, plus Fotheringham and Yassmin, ever transferred. Wide receiver Devaughn Vele, the Broncos’ seventh-round pick in 2024? Played at Utah all five years. Linebacker Karene Reid, an undrafted free agent signing this year, played all four years at Utah. OLB Jonah Elliss, Denver’s third-round pick in 2023? Played at Utah all three years — and his father, Luther, is both a former Bronco and Utah’s defensive tackles coach.

A month ago, the University of Utah had just two commits in its 2026 football recruiting class.

My, how much things can change.

A busy official visit season has paid off for the Utes, which now have received commitments from 17 players and have risen up the Big 12 and national recruiting rankings.

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As of July 6, 247Sports has the Utes No. 46 in the nation and No. 8 in the Big 12 Conference, with room still to grow.

Texas Tech, which over the weekend landed five-star offensive tackle Felix Ojo, currently sits in first place in 247’s rankings. BYU, which landed five-star quarterback Ryder Lyons, is in second place, and Kansas, which has three four-star talents, is in third place.

The Utes’ recruiting fortunes started turning in June, when they got a string of commitments to start building out their class.

Utah checked off the quarterback box with the addition of three-star Michael Johnson, who fits the dual-threat mold that new offensive coordinator Jason Beck relishes in his quarterbacks.

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Last season, Johnson threw for 2,700 yards and 24 touchdowns and rushed for 618 yards and 10 scores. He chose the Utes over Big 12 foes West Virginia, UCF and Cincinnati.

Next on the agenda was the offensive line, a position group that will need to be restocked both through high school commits and the transfer portal.

If tackles Spencer Fano and Caleb Lomu live up to expectations, they could move onto the NFL next season, and Michael Mokofisi, Tanoa Togiai and Jaren Kump — the other starters — are all seniors.

The Utes made a splash earlier this week with the commitment of four-star offensive tackle Kelvin Obot, whom 247Sports ranks as the No. 9 offensive tackle nationally.

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He became not just Utah’s highest-rated player in this class, but one of the highest-ranked players ever to commit to Utah. With a 247Sports composite rating of 0.9406, he ranks No. 9 all time for Utah, just behind offensive tackle Garett Boles, who had a composite rating if 0.9462 out of Snow College.

Obot’s pledge was a significant win for Jim Harding, as the 6-foot-5 and 300-pound Obot picked the Utes over other finalists Michigan, Oregon and Nebraska.

Obot has the size, athleticism and skill to start right away at tackle for the Utes, much like Fano did in his freshman season.

Utah also added two interior three-star linemen around Obot — 6-foot-4, 280-pound Moses Sparks and 6-foot-3, 280-pound Rowdy Pearce.

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Next, the Utes got two of the most significant wide receiver commits in school history, landing Lone Peak High twins Jaron and Kennan Pula after they had previously been committed to UCLA.

The 247Sports composite system, which takes into account ratings by 247Sports, Rivals, and ESPN, tabs Jaron Pula — 6-foot-3, 185 pounds — as the No. 7 prospect in the state of Utah and the No. 61 receiver nationally. 247Sports itself has him as the No. 35 receiver in the country.

Last year, he had 77 receptions for 1,209 yards and eight touchdowns and was named to the Deseret News 2024 5A All-State first team.

Kennan Pula, a three-star prospect, checks in as the No. 68 receiver nationally, and also displayed exciting potential at safety last season for Timpview.

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He was named to the Deseret News 2024 5A All-State second team as a safety.

The Utes also received a commitment from three-star wide receiver Perrion Williams, who tallied 757 yards and nine touchdowns on 52 receptions.

LaMarcus Bell filled Utah’s 2026 need at running back, as the Utes landed the talented ball-carrier from Oregon. Rated the No. 63 running back in the nation according to 247Sports’ composite rankings, Bell rushed for 1,538 yards and 25 touchdowns, with eight games of 100 yards or more.

Rounding out Utah’s offensive pickup are a pair of three-star tight ends — one from the junior college ranks and one from the high school ranks.

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Josiah Jefferson, from Southwestern College near San Diego, picked the Utes over Oklahoma and Arizona. As a freshman at Southwestern last season, Jefferson had 23 catches for 213 yards in nine games played, and is ranked the No. 1 junior college tight end and the No. 4 junior college player overall by 247Sports.

Bear Fisher, from Queen Creek High in Arizona, chose the Utes over Arizona, North Carolina and BYU.

The Utes aren’t done on the offensive side of the ball, and could soon receive a commitment from one of the best players in the state of Utah.

Recruiting expert Steve Wiltfong, of Rivals, recently placed a prediction for the Utes to land athlete Salesi Moa. The son of former Ute tight end Ben Moa, Salesi Moa is ranked by 247Sports as the No. 44 overall prospect in the entire country and the No. 1 prospect in the state of Utah.

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With a 0.9723 composite rating, Moa would become the second-highest-rated player in school history, behind only cornerback Clark Phillips III, who was part of back-to-back Pac-12 championship teams at Utah and was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons.

Moa will choose from a final list of Utah, Tennessee, Michigan, Washington and Michigan State soon.

The Fremont star had 800 yards and 10 touchdowns on 58 receptions and also played safety, with two interceptions and 40 tackles.

He has real two-way potential in college, but told 247Sports’ Blair Angulo that “(Utah) they want me to play receiver first and help out on the offensive side.”

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If the Utes can land Moa, it would rocket their 247Sports recruiting ranking to No. 3 in the Big 12 and into the Top 30 nationally.

On the defensive side of the ball, Utah has loaded up on cornerbacks and safeties.

Local product Aisa Galea’i, from Timpview, headlines the group. The three-star safety had offers from BYU, UCLA, Miami, Oregon and Washington but decided to stay home and commit to Utah.

Rivals rates him as the No. 6 overall prospect in the state of Utah, while 247Sports has him at No. 10.

Last season for Timpview, Galea’i totaled 82 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, three sacks, six interceptions, seven pass deflections and two forced fumbles.

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He was named Deseret News 5A All-State honorable mention.

Fellow three-star safety Carter Stewart, from Texas, chose the Utes over offers from Arizona State, Baylor, SMU, Michigan State and Oklahoma, among others.

He notched 21 tackles and six pass deflections last year for Shadow Creek High in Pearland, Texas.

At cornerback, the Utes received commitments from a pair of three-stars — Dylan Waters and Major Hinchen. Waters, who had 20 tackles and three pass deflections while playing eight games, took official visits to Utah, UCLA and UNLV before deciding on the Utes.

Hinchen had offers from Cal, Nebraska, Missouri and BYU before deciding to play for Morgan Scally’s unit. He had 21 tackles, a tackle for loss, two interceptions, three pass breakups and a forced fumble last season.

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The Utes have also added two along the defensive line — Texas three-star edge rushers Preston Pitts and Javion Ramon.

Pitts had offers from TCU and Oklahoma State. He had 116 tackles, an astounding 27 tackles for loss and nine sacks, plus one interception. Ramon had an offer from Baylor, but opted to venture out of Texas to Salt Lake City

Rounding out the defensive side, Utah added three-star linebacker LaGary Mitchell Jr. from Meridian High in Idaho. Mitchell, who was originally committed to Boise State before flipping to Utah, was one of the Utes’ early commits back on June 2.

In spite of swirling punditry parsing the subtleties of pesky inflation, interest rate adjustments and potential tariff-induced calamities, the overall U.S. economy is showing persistent good stead.

And the Utah economy is doing even better, outperforming the nation on a slew of metrics and functioning at a level that is the envy of most other states.

Interestingly, data gathered in new statewide polling conducted by Deseret News in partnership with the University of Utah’s Hinckley Institute of Politics finds Utah voters are of two minds when it comes to their feelings about our local fiscal health versus that of the nation.

U.S. economy solid but Utah better

More, mostly positive U.S. economic news emerged Thursday with the June jobs report from the Labor Department showing U.S. employers added 147,000 positions in June, easily outperforming pre-report estimates of around 110,000 new jobs. The national unemployment rate also defied an expected uptick, instead dropping a tenth of a percent to 4.1% last month.

While the headline numbers reflect a robust U.S. labor market, last month’s job gains were overwhelmingly driven by two sectors — health care and government — and some economists registered concerns that the concentrated growth areas mask lagging performance across the broader employment spectrum.

“The U.S. job market continues to largely stand tall and sturdy, even as headwinds mount — but it may be a tent increasingly held up by fewer poles,” wrote Cory Stahle, economist at Indeed Hiring Lab, per a report from CNBC. “The headline job gains and surprising dip in unemployment are undoubtedly good news, but for job seekers outside of health care and social assistance, local government, and public education, the gains will likely ring hollow.”

Utah has plenty to be happy about at the moment when it comes to its own employment landscape, with the latest data from the Department of Workforce Services showing the state added nearly 43,000 jobs in May, a volume that pushes the state’s year-over-year jobs growth rate to 2.5%, more than doubling the national annual rate of 1.1%.

The Beehive State is also easily outpacing most of the nation when it comes to unemployment, with the Utah jobless rate at 3.2% in May, a full percentage point better than the U.S. average of 4.2% that month.

“Utah continues to experience strong job growth, particularly in the private sector,” said Ben Crabb, chief economist with the Utah Department of Workforce Services. “While the unemployment rate saw a slight increase, the state’s economy remains robust.”

Economic slowdown

Gross domestic product is a value measure of all the goods and services produced in a certain time period and a common metric for assessing overall economic vitality and direction.

The latest U.S. GDP reading for the first quarter of 2025 showed a marked slowdown with growth moving into negative territory for the first time in three years.

But the 0.5% contraction in the first three months of the year comes with an asterisk. U.S. import volumes soared earlier in the year as retailers and manufacturers stockpiled inventory and raw goods aiming to beat a raft of new trade tariffs instituted by President Donald Trump. The collective value of imported items is subtracted from the overall GDP measure.

As of July 3, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s GDPNow tracker estimates second quarter GDP growth is on pace for a 2.6% growth rate. GDP growth in the 2% to 3% range is considered to be a normal or healthy rate of economic expansion.

And while the U.S. clocked solid 2.8% GDP growth in 2024, Utah blew past that national rate, and every other state in the country, with a 4.5% year-over-year GDP jump last year and broke the $300 billion mark for the first time with $301 billion in economic activity in 2024.

Utah is also holding down the No. 1 spot in cumulative GDP growth over the last 10 years with a 64% rate.

How voters feel about local, national economies

The new Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll found Utah voters, overall, are mostly bullish on the local economy but much less so when it comes to the state of the country’s fiscal health.

When asked, “Do you think Utah’s economy is on the right track or is it off on the wrong track?”, 52% of poll participants said the right track, 34% said the wrong track and 13% reported they didn’t know or weren’t sure.

When pollsters asked the same question about the American economy, 51% said they felt the country’s economy was on the wrong track, 38% said the right track and 11% of respondents weren’t sure or didn’t know.

Parsed by self-reported political affiliation, poll participants were deeply divided when it came to their relative takes on local and national economic performance.

On the national economy question, 56% of Republican respondents said they feel the U.S. is on the right track, while only 18% of Democrats agreed. About a third of Republicans, 32%, were among the group of Utah voters who feel the nation is on the wrong economic track as were 78% of Democratic respondents.

Utahn’s collective difference of opinion narrowed a bit on the Utah economic questions as 64% of Republicans said they believe the state is on the right economic track against 38% of Democrats. About 1 in 4 Republicans, 23%, reported they believe Utah is on the wrong track, economically while 46% of Democrats shared that sentiment.

HarrisX conducted the poll of 805 registered Utah voters May 16-21. It has margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

What an expert has to say

Phil Dean, Public Finance Senior Fellow for the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, reviewed the Deseret News survey findings and said the results match up well with other data insights.

“The results definitely make a lot of sense to me given what I see in the current local and national economic climates,” Dean said. “The Utah economy continues to outperform the U.S. economy. And while we tend to move the same direction, Utah is operating at a higher level across the board.”

Dean noted Utah’s job growth rate, unemployment rate and GDP growth are all easily outpacing the national average and said he sees the same trends when it comes to voter sentiment in survey work conducted by Gardner analysts.

“It’s a consistent theme that shows up in our surveys,” Dean said. “In our monthly consumer sentiment tracking, our residents’ feelings about the economy follow national trend lines in movement but are consistently higher than the rest of the country.”

Dean said it appears the collective consumer worries about tariff policy changes and potential impacts on inflationary pressures spiked earlier in the year but have settled back as inflation readings have, thus far, held steady.

Dean said Utah’s diverse economic portfolio continues to provide underlying strength and resilience when it comes to the state’s fiscal health and believes the national economy is fundamentally strong but risks remain at both the local and national levels.

Housing issues, he said, remain Utah’s biggest challenge, though it is somewhat blunted by the state’s high rate of home ownership.

“I really do think housing represents a major risk to Utah’s economy over the long term but it’s one that has maybe not fully manifested itself,” Dean said. “While the bulk of our workforce has been here and are not paying today’s housing prices, our influx of new residents could be facing bigger constraints down the road.”

Doreen Woolley has a party trick. If someone gives her a rhythm, or just a few notes to start her off, she can make up a melody at the piano on the spot.

When asked how she does it, Woolley says, “That’s just how my brain works.” But she also has plenty of experience at the piano to back her up — nearly 90 years of it, in fact.

At 97 years old, Woolley is still using her unique skills as a pianist at the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City. For the last 22 years, Woolley has played in the lobby of the Randall L. Jones Theatre before the festival’s matinee and evening performances — without sheet music, and usually while looking up to greet people as they walk by, all without missing a beat.

“Because I can do what I do, I can interact with people while I’m playing,” she explained. “I’m not having to focus on what I’m playing.”

And that’s how Woolley likes it. Though her skill at the piano has made her a staple at the festival, she says she’s not there to “show off.” Instead, she wants to help festivalgoers feel “comfortable” and “happy” — and this year, as she plays before seven shows each week, she’s just as committed to that as she has been for the previous two decades that she’s played for the festival.

A resume of service and showmanship

When Woolley first started volunteering at the Utah Shakespeare Festival (which is on its 64th season this year) in 2001, it was not as a pianist, but as an usher.

That was also the year she moved to Cedar City, after living all across the country and the world — her husband, Galen Woolley, traveled for his work with the military, and the couple also spent years serving as leaders in missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in France and Hong Kong.

Woolley herself taught seminary classes for the church (she was a barrier-breaker, she says, in women teaching seminary full time and getting paid a full-time salary for it) and she earned a Ph.D. in gifted education.

Once settled in Cedar City, though, Woolley became enmeshed in volunteering for the festival. By 2003, festival founder Fred Adams was looking for volunteer pianists to perform in the theater lobby, and Woolley auditioned for R. Scott Phillips, who later became executive director of the festival until 2016.

She played eight bars of “All I Ask of You,” from “The Phantom of the Opera,” and Phillips told her, “‘OK, that’s enough, you’re hired,’” Woolley said.

But her experience with the piano started long before then. Growing up in Sandy, Utah, Woolley began taking piano lessons when she was 8 years old, though the lessons only lasted four years. Her mother took a job cleaning laundry in order to afford it.

“I didn’t have any advantages,” she said. “We were poor.”

She continued studying music in high school, however, and she later attended the University of Utah. While at the university, she needed a part-time job to help her afford tuition, and a friend suggested that she work as an accompanist at what is now the Children’s Dance Theatre, part of the Tanner Dance Program.

Playing for the dance program was part of what helped Woolley develop her skill for improvisation.

“The idea was that Virginia (Tanner, who founded the program) would give me a rhythm,” Woolley said. “And then I just had to make up the music.”

And so, Woolley’s party trick was born. She also found that she was able to carry on conversations while she was playing.

“I finally concluded that I have a talking brain and a playing brain,” she said.

And that’s been a huge benefit to her during her time at the Shakespeare Festival.

‘Sometimes they’ll smile back’

Woolley has plenty of people, playgoers and festival volunteers alike, that stop to talk while she’s in the middle of playing in the lobby of the Randall L. Jones Theatre, whether it’s to compliment her playing, to request a favorite song or even just to say hi. And to her, that’s as much a part of the “job” as the music.

“I can interact with people as they’re coming by,” she said. “And sometimes they come by with really grumpy looks. So I try to smile at them and talk to them. Sometimes they’ll smile back. Sometimes they’re still pretty grumpy.”

She remembers one occasion when a visitor asked her to play “Edelweiss,” from “The Sound of Music.” The festival happened to be performing “The Sound of Music” that year, and because of that, Woolley had been asked not to play any of the songs from the musical during her pre-show performances.

The visitor was insistent, however, so Woolley agreed to play it — even starting the song over in a new key when the woman told her “my husband can’t sing in that key.”

As she began to play, the woman’s husband began to sing along — and soon, Woolley said, the entire lobby joined in.

There are certain visitors that Woolley has come to recognize, because they return to the festival year after year — and request the same songs from her year after year, too.

“I have one guy who always comes and he always, always asks for ‘Moonlight in Vermont,’” Woolley says. “He just walks up and says, ‘Moonlight in Vermont.’” And Woolley will play it.

Her connections with the playgoers, the festival’s Executive Managing Director Michael Bahr told the Deseret News, are part of what makes Woolley such an integral part of the festival.

“What she plays, it’s ‘Edelweiss’ with an impact,” Bahr said.

‘Dear Miss Pianist’

Woolley has been pleasantly surprised by her connection with one group of festivalgoers in particular: kids and teenagers.

Woolley has amassed a collection of handwritten notes and even drawings that listeners have left for her at the piano in the theater lobby over the years. Many of them, she says, are from kids. She receives too many to keep all of them, but she does hold on to some.

One note that she kept was addressed simply, “Dear Miss Pianist,” and was signed by two teenagers. The teenagers wrote that they were “exhausted” after attending the festival’s annual student Shakespeare Competition, but after listening to Woolley play, they felt “refilled.”

“That has been one of the most amazing things to me,” Woolley said of the response from young people. “The kind of thing that I play, that these kids are responding to. Because this is not their milieu. This is not what they’re used to hearing.”

Yet she says that high school students in particular are some of the most enthusiastic about singing along to her music. Though some people may have worries about the next generation, Woolley doesn’t share those concerns.

“They’re just fine,” she said.

Looking ahead, Woolley isn’t entirely sure what the future holds, joking that she’s already “failed retirement.” But she’s certainly made an impact on many as she’s played with the Shakespeare Festival for over a third of its 64-year history.

“For me, Doreen is emblematic, metaphoric, the epitome of what the festival represents,” Bahr said. “A volunteer who has loved the festival and what it has, and has brought a standard of excellence in music and connectivity with the patrons. The fact she can list all of those individual patrons who come in and say, ‘Play this for me,’ … I think that’s what the festival is.”

As for Woolley, she also feels the importance of the connections that she’s made with people over the years.

“I’ve long since learned that my job is to help people feel comfortable and be happy and have a really good experience here,” she says.