SALT LAKE CITY — Football is over for the University of Utah and already there are questions about how the offense will look in 2017, particularly with the hiring of new offensive coordinator Troy Taylor.

Utah entered the 2016 season with a renewed focus on improving its offense after head coach Kyle Whittingham said there wasn’t a consistent enough “throw game.” The offense in 2015 was largely made up of Devontae Booker run plays and an occasional completed pass to Britain Covey or Kenneth Scott. Utah ended the season as one of the worst passing offenses in the nation (105 out of 128 teams).

The 2016 season followed a similar pattern as Joe Williams became much of the offense, with the passing game falling off in the second half of the schedule. However, the passing game did take a step forward with Utah finishing 78th out of 128 teams. The slight progress was not enough as play-calling became predictable and the offensive playbook, at least what was utilized, was vanilla.

As a result, Utah made a change at offensive coordinator in an effort to take the next step toward a better offensive identity. So with a new offensive identity under Taylor, the following is what we can likely expect coming into the 2017 season.

Improved quarterback development

The quarterback is the soul of an offense. If the quarterback is incapable of making plays, it doesn’t matter how talented the other skills players are. The quarterback has to have the confidence, know-how and ability to react when the designed play is disrupted. This is something Utah hasn’t always allowed their quarterback to have, particularly in situations where an audible would be beneficial.

While it’s difficult to predict quarterback development before a coach has actually been given a chance to interact with his new players, Taylor has a proven history of developing quarterbacks. Most notably, Taylor coached Washington quarterback Jake Browning from the time he was in fifth grade through high school.

Browning set California high school records, including a season where he threw for 5,790 yards and finished his three-year career at Folsom High with 16,775 passing yards. He finished the 2014 season with 91 touchdown passes and his career with 229 touchdowns.

At Eastern Washington, Taylor coached sophomore Gage Gubrud to an FCS Player of the Year award after throwing for 5,160 yards and throwing 48 touchdown passes. Gubrud’s season-ending passing totals accounted for an FCS single-season record and his 368.6 average passing yards per game led the FCS.

As a former quarterback himself, playing at Cal and two years in the NFL for the New York Jets, Taylor understands the rigors of the quarterback position and has experience coaching the position. Already, Taylor believes he has two “intriguing” quarterbacks in Troy Williams and Tyler Huntley.

“They both impress me with things that they did, and I’m really excited to get my hands on them and watch them work and get some reps in spring and let them compete,” Taylor told ESPN700.

Taylor said he expects both to compete in the spring because “competition is great for everything in the world.” With someone who has played the position helping develop Williams and Huntley, he said he will tailor an offense that fits their strengths but will also push them to make weaknesses become a strength.

“A good coach always adjusts the system and tailors to the skill sets of their guys, especially the quarterback, and we’ll do that. I’ve had guys that were drop-back quarterbacks, like Jake Browning at Folsom, who was not really a runner, and we were able to utilize him,” Taylor said. “You can bend the system, and it should be versatile enough where you get to highlight a player’s strengths and minimize the deficiencies they might have, and obviously try to strengthen those deficiencies.”

Attacking the field and diversity in play-calling

It’s obvious when listening to Taylor’s offensive philosophy that he wants to “attack” in his schemes. What does that mean? He wants every part of the field used to get the ball into his players' hands. It also means that he wants to be quick, with few to no huddles. The offense will move quickly and will keep the opposing defense guessing with where the ball will go.

This is not something Utah has been able to do that last few seasons. As mentioned above, the offense became vanilla, predictable and slow. More accurately, the offense was safe. But safe did not always translate to success.

“We’re going to have an attacking style offense that is quarterback driven. He’s an efficient player, confident and plays with instinct and direction.” Taylor told ESPN700. “We’re going to attack for four quarters the entire field. It’s going to be fun to watch, and we’ll evolve and get better.”

Taylor said he wants to utilize a spread offense where the quarterback spreads the ball around to as many players as possible and “attack every down.” Basically, there won’t necessarily be any conservative play-calling to end the drive on a field goal, unless it is the last option available.

“I definitely have a clear, crystal clear identity of what our offense is and how we’ll attack and all those things, and then it’s all about developing the players and getting them to buy in and move forward,” Taylor said.

Taylor added that he prefers to be a more pass-heavy offense — think 60 percent passing, 40 percent running — but will do “whatever it takes for us to score as many points as possible to win a football game.”

“I’ve always believed the best way to attack the field is to be able to spread the field out with formations and your scheme and skill guys and try not to put them in a box,” he told ESPN700. “If you’re able to throw it effectively, I think it opens up things for you in the running game. For me it’s all about scoring as many points as possible.”

In Eastern Washington’s first game of the season against Washington State, the Eagles put up 45 points and utilized multiple looks: each screen pass had a different look, an empty backfield with five receivers, sweeps, slant routes, quarterback rollouts with a pass on the run, and read option plays, just to name a few.

The following are some of the plays from Eastern Washington’s second scoring drive:

Zone read by Gage Gubrud

Jet sweep to Cooper Kupp

Rollout pass to Cooper Kupp

Autonomy on offense

Over the last few weeks of the season, the sentiment on Twitter has been that Kyle Whittingham meddles with the offense, particularly because of its conservative nature. However, Whittingham has maintained over the years that the offense is that of his offensive coordinator. He has input and will make suggestions, but the offensive coordinator has the autonomy to do what he wants.

Taylor told ESPN700 that when he signed on to be the next offensive coordinator, Whittingham promised him autonomy.

“He said I’ll have complete autonomy to come in and do what I do and run my system. My role is to score points,” Taylor said. “He’s going to give me the freedom to do what I know, and that’s the only way I’ll have a chance to be successful, is to do the stuff that I’ve been studying and developing over a period of time and kinda be me.”

Most importantly, Taylor welcomes the responsibility and pressure that comes from being the head guy in charge of the offense. Despite the turnover at the offensive coordinator position over the last 10 years, Taylor is up for the challenge.

“If we’re not successful on offense, it will be because of me. That means I didn’t do a good enough job,” he said. “But that’s not going to happen. We have enough talent there and we’ve got some great assistant coaches on the offensive side of the ball, and it’s going to be a blast.”

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