SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Utes face a tough task, looking to improve on two of the best seasons in team history that happen to have come in back to back years.

In 2014, the Utes won nine games, including a bowl win over the Colorado State Rams. In 2015, they won 10 games, including a bowl win over rival BYU. The Utes have proven that five years into the league, their name belongs among the contenders in the Pac-12 South.

Over the four-year career of Travis Wilson, the Utes won five games during his freshman and sophomore seasons, before jumping to nine and 10 wins as a junior and senior. Typically, Wilson would have been credited for the team’s improvement, maturing into an offensive force capable of competing against the conference's best defenses.

But for those who watched the Utes, the success fell more on the shoulders of Devontae Booker than it did their four-year starter at QB. Booker committed to the Washington State Cougars out of high school, was poised to end up at Fresno State after a low ACT score, but missed the NCAA clearinghouse deadline before finally landing at American River College in Sacramento. Two years and 19 Utah wins later, Booker was selected by the Denver Broncos in the fourth round of the NFL draft. Booker went from a fallen angel in college football to an NFL draft pick in two short seasons.

Gionni Paul shares a similar story. The undersized linebacker committed to the University of Miami out of high school, started seven games as a sophomore, before transferring to Utah and ending his career as a Pac-12 All-Defensive First Team caliber player.

Tevin Carter found similar success at Utah, as did Kaelin Clay and Keith McGill in recent years. Kyle Whittingham has a found an edge against the competition by collecting some of college football’s best transfers.

This year will be no different.

Whittingham recently handed the keys to his offense over to Troy Williams, a former University of Washington commit now playing for his third college program. Troy is one of two Williamses making up Utah’s backfield, as he’ll be handing the ball off to running back Joe Williams, also suiting up for his third college football team, landing in Utah by way of the University of Connecticut and ASA College in Brooklyn, New York.

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As fall camp rolls into week three and different positions start to develop a pecking order, coach Kyle Whittingham says the Utes are grading out around an "A minus" for their effort and consistency thus far.

The offensive transfers don’t stop there.

If the team’s fall scrimmages are any indication, the Utes' starting left tackle will be Garrett Bolles, who made his way to the Utes after transferring from Snow College. By traditional standards, the quarterback, running back and left tackle are the team’s three most important offensive players, and in the Utes' case, none of the starters will have begun their career at Utah. The Utes' presumed top wide receiver option is Tim Patrick, who came from Grossmont Community College in California.

The Utes are also looking to find offensive production from wide receiver transfers Tyler Cooperwood and Alec Dana, and tight end Evan Moeai.

Utah’s defense shares a similar story.

At defensive end, Kylie Fitts, one of Utah’s most formidable returning starters, began his career at UCLA. Sunia Tauteoli projects as a starter at linebacker, finding his way to Utah through Snow College, and may share linebacking responsibilities with Kavika Luafatasaga, who joins the Utes from Arizona Western College.

Despite Utah’s heavy reliance on these names, not every university counts on transfers so readily. Often, qualifying for a Division I school becomes an issue, taking up valuable recruiting time for a talented player that may never make it on campus. Others, like the Cleveland Browns’ Josh Gordon, may transfer but never suit up. Gordon transferred to Utah after failing a drug test at Baylor, but left the Utes for the NFL’s supplemental draft in 2012, having never played a game.

Cases like Booker’s may be unusual in college football, but allow for the Utes to acquire some of the nation’s top talent without being a highly sought after landing spot for the country’s top high school recruits. As the Utes look to continue their transformation to an elite team in the Pac-12, they’ll depend on players looking to transform their careers to the elite level all the same.

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