diff --git a/.github/workflows/esmf-8.0.1_jasper-2.0.22_nceplibs-develop.yml b/.github/workflows/esmf-8.0.1_jasper-2.0.22_nceplibs-develop.yml
index a656d0b1d..9acfb790d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/esmf-8.0.1_jasper-2.0.22_nceplibs-develop.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/esmf-8.0.1_jasper-2.0.22_nceplibs-develop.yml
@@ -142,6 +142,7 @@ jobs:
       uses: actions/checkout@v2
       with: 
         path: ufs_utils
+        submodules: recursive
 
     - name: build-ufs-utils
       run: |