The high-end potential of Spencer Fano, and why he's not feeling the pressure to succeed

SALT LAKE CITY — In case you haven't heard, Spencer Fano is pretty good at football.

The junior right tackle from Spanish Fork returns for another season at Utah as one of the highest graded linemen in the country from last year — Pro Football Focus ranks him the best offensive tackle — and is a potential top-10 pick in next year's NFL draft in a near consensus of early prognostications.

Should he have a similar — or dare we say better — season to last year, there's little doubt Fano will be well on his way to securing a big-time salary and a future spot on an NFL team after this upcoming season.

But with that early praise can come with it a lot of pressure.

It's easy to read or hear about how good Fano is or could be this season — it's littered everywhere online this offseason — but it's another to actually live up to those expectations.

Fano, though, doesn't see it as too much of a pressure situation; in fact, he's embracing it head on with a humble yet confident attitude as he works to get better for another season — a season in which he could prove instrumental in helping Utah make a big jump on the offensive side of the ball.

"I feel like there is a little pressure there, but I feel like it's really — it's not that much," Fano said. "I know what I have to do, and I feel like there's not a lot of pressure, just because I know this is the situation that I've always wanted to be in. So if I prayed to be in this chair, to be in this moment, why would I stress about it?"

To Fano, it's just preseason fun to get people talking in the offseason. Sure, he had a stellar sophomore season, and it's understandable why people would heap high praises on him, but none of that is a guarantee for the future.

"Yeah, I see it for sure, and it's definitely a blessing, and I'm very grateful to be in the position that I'm in. But, yeah, I see that stuff, and it's not really real to me," he said. "I could get all these preseason awards and be the worst player this year, so it's not really real to me. I think that I just need to prove it on the field and that the postseason awards are little cooler to me."

Head coach Kyle Whittingham, who praised his offensive line repeatedly at Big 12 media days last week and said it "should be the best offensive line since I've been at the University of Utah," with two tackles with first-round grades and three interior lineman capable of being drafted, too, said offensive line coach Jim Harding is largely to thank for the team's success.

Harding, Whittingham said, is the driver of the vehicle that makes the offensive unit go, in particular with what he teaches the unit that goes beyond the football field.

"Jim Harding is a phenomenal offensive line coach, and he instills into them just that mentality: 'Hey, it's not about you, it's about the team. Don't be a selfish guy. Work hard, do the things we ask you to do, and good things will come,'" Whittingham said. "Those that do that, his track record is incredible, as far as taking guys, developing and helping them advance in the National Football League.

"And all our offensive linemen see that and believe in him, and whatever he says they follow. I think he's the best offensive line coach in the country, and we're fortunate to have him."

Of course, Fano and his fellow lineman have had to put in the work to get to where they are today, though. Each of the starters — most notably with Fano and left tackle Caleb Lomu — have stuck together despite high NIL offers from other programs around the country.

They believe in Harding and have stuck together in an ever-evolving quasi free-agency market that persists now in collegiate sports. And while some offensive linemen have left Utah — almost all outside of the yearly two-deep roster — Harding's unit remains intact each season.

"He just does such a great job of developing talent, and if you stay with Jim Harding from start to finish and don't transfer, don't leave, your chance to get to the NFL are pretty high," Whittingham said.

And that's the latest opportunity for a guy like Fano — and Lomu — who immediately added value to the program and started as a freshman. He took some early lumps, but bought in to Harding's coaching and stuck with it to be in a position where he could be one of the highest-drafted players in the upcoming NFL draft.

The rest remains in Fano's hands this season as he — as well as his fellow linemen — looks to help protect starting quarterback Devon Dampier and get Utah's offense back to a successful state.

Related topics