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SALT LAKE CITY — Fall camp started for the University of Utah football team Monday. The lack of tempo, however, was not what Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham was hoping to see.
"Nothing special — very average," Whittingham said. "It was very slow starting. It picked up as practice moved on, but I expect more out of the seniors.
"We've got to get better," he added. "If you want to be 5-7 again, keep operating like that. If you want to get better, we've got to come out with a little more resolve than we did today."
Whittingham said the team is looking to be more uptempo and work to compete in the league. Coming into practice, Whittingham said many appeared to be in "survival mode" early. "They're going to get used to it — that's how we operate and we'll get there."
The team started fall camp less than a week after freshman defensive lineman Gaius Vaenuku was tragically killed in a car accident in New Mexico last Tuesday. The team met Sunday night to discuss the upcoming camp and how to move forward with the death of one of their teammates.
"I think we handled that okay," Whittingham said. "We talked about it in the team meeting last night and I think everybody's on the same page and understand that it's something tragic and something that we've got to move forward, though. We've got work on our hands."
We've got to get better. If you want to be 5-7 again, keep operating like that. If you want to get better, we've got to come out with a little more resolve than we did today.
–Kyle Whittingham
The team will honor Vaenuku by wearing a sticker on the back of their helmets this season. But Whittingham said he is encouraging his team to move forward and focus on the upcoming year, while honoring their former teammate. "We'll miss him, obviously, but we've got to move forward."
Standouts for the first day of camp included the quarterbacks, but the level of play was "nothing out of the ordinary," Whittingham said.
"We've got to get more consistency and overall production out of that position," he said. "We haven't had that since ‘08 — since Brian Johnson was our quarterback. We haven't had the guy that has played the position how we need it played from start to finish. We've got to get that if we're going to be any good."
Whittingham, however, is encouraged by the depth at the quarterback position.
"That's huge. That's the biggest plus at that position right now is the competition," he said. "The negative is that they're young — sophomores and freshmen only at that position. But talent wise there's five guys that I feel real good about, and I don't think we've ever had that since I've been at Utah."
