SALT LAKE CITY — Utah completed its second day of training camp Friday with a lot of optimism surrounding the progress the team has made so far.

The following are some takeaways from day two of #CampKyle:

Lack of camp drama

Overall, Utah's training camp has been free of drama or major storylines. Last year, Utah entered with a lot of questions covering several facets of the team. How would Oklahoma transfer Kendal Thompson work out with the QB unit and is Travis Wilson really healthy? Bubba Poole was seemingly the best running back option, but how were the new guys Devontae Booker and Troy McCormick going to fit in? How would Utah bounce back from back-to-back 5-7 seasons?

This year, Wilson is your QB, Booker is mini "Beast Mode," Hunter Dimick is the next Nate Orchard, and special teams is still going to continue to kick and run fast. So, all is well at Utah.

I guess, no drama is good drama.

Britain Covey is getting some early attention

Freshman Britain Covey is starting to become the media's favorite person to talk about. He's new, he talented and he's making a name for himself in a position group that desperately needs someone to emerge. Covey has made the transition from quarterback to receiver well thus far and is someone head coach Kyle Whittingham has singled out several times during camp.

"He's a natural athlete, so it doesn't surprise me at all with the things he's doing out there," Whittingham said. "That's why we recruited him because we projected that. That was our belief that he would make a nice transition to wide receiver as well as a weapon in the return game. So far it's been as we'd have hoped."

Although we haven't seen how efficient he can be in the return game at Utah, Whittingham believes Covey is one of the top three or four guys to get a shot at being one of Utah's returner. If Covey can even come close to Kaelin Clay, Reggie Dunn, or Shaky Smithson, Utah fans will be as happy as can be .... until he leaves to serve an LDS mission.

Defense ups its game, but offense not bad

The defense was by no means bad on the first day of camp, but the offense seemed to have the upper hand. On day two, Whittingham said the defense stepped up its game and looked great.

"It was a better day for the D," he said. "They ran the ball better, made more plays on the ball and it was pleasing."

The defense has a few questions surrounding who will play opposite Reggie Porter, but it's pretty clearly going to be Brian Allen. Fortunately for Utah, there is a lot of depth in the secondary this year, and it's only going to be time before more names emerge, likely after the team starts practicing with pads.

While the defense has done well, the offense has continued to put forth great effort all around, according to Whittingham.

"It's the second day in a row we've had zero turnovers on (offense), which is good for the O, but not creating enough turnovers on defense," he said.

That's not to say the offense has been perfect. There's been mistakes, bad reads, overthrown balls and deflected passes, but it's more that the defense hasn't been able to capitalize on them as much. If the offense continues to remain even with the defense as camp progresses, Utah will be in a good position heading into Michigan.

Utah better prepared than last year

Every coach on the team says Utah is better prepared this year than they were last year. And while that's usually coach speak, this year they may actually be correct. As mentioned above, there is little drama, lots of veterans players — 17 returning starters — and increased depth and talent at nearly every position.

"In a lot of ways you can get a lot more done sooner in camp," Whittingham said, speaking about the veteran leadership and ability to move quickly. "There's not such a process of mental mistakes and working through errors. We've got a lot of kids that have played a lot of football for us.

"You just hit the ground running," he added. "The learning curve is much less steep and now we're just working on fundamentals and techniques, which is where you want it to be."

NOTES: Whittingham said Clint Shepard is working through some injury issues and is currently not on the team. He added that it's going to be a "reach" to see him back with the program. … Whittingham said he would love to see five years of eligibility without having hardships or redshirts — players would get five years to play five years. "I would think that would be a better system than what's in place. It's not my call, obviously, but that would make things cleaner and take the guess work out of it and you'd know exactly where you stand."

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