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SALT LAKE CITY — After two seasons as the team’s receiver coach, Taylor Stubblefield was let go from Kyle Whittingham’s staff. It was a decision many saw as necessary to help Utah move forward in the Pac-12.
Simply, the receiving corps underperformed and was a black mark to Utah’s pursuit at winning the south division and remaining at the top of the Associated Press and College Football Playoff polls. Whittingham even said it “kept us from winning a championship last year.”
“I don’t feel like Stubblefield brought the structure,” receiver Tim Patrick said. “We were kinda able to do our own thing, so having young guys like that they get relaxed, they get too comfortable.”
As a result, Whittingham hired on former BYU receiver coach Guy Holliday and made the receiving game the team’s No. 1 area of emphasis coming into the season.
“It’s gotten much more attention than ever before — not that we didn’t give it enough attention before. We made a concerted effort across the board to make sure that we have sunk enough reps into the throw game to get where we need to be, and hopefully we’re there,” Whittingham said. “But we’ll find out.”
From all accounts, the receiving game has made significant progress and is ready to be thrust into the spotlight. Whittingham wants a more balanced offense and the receiving corps is ready to shine, or at least that’s the hope.
“In practice we’re there, but that’s just practice,” Whittingham said. “Practice doesn’t count as far as making plays on Saturday, but it’s a pretty good indicator. Usually you play how you practice; that’s my experience.”
“We’re ready to show it. We’ve been waiting all camp to play this game, so we’re excited,” Patrick said. “I don’t think we’re going to be able to hold in the excitement in this game, honestly. We’ve been waiting for this for a long time, to show the nation what our receiving corps can do.”
The supposed improvement is a multi-faceted change, including Holliday’s approach to the receiving corps, the competitiveness amongst athletes, and overall attention and focus to improving that aspect of the offense.
Whittingham said Monday the improvement have come as a result of the “far more competitive nature by the receivers; they’re practicing with a great deal of intensity and purpose; far fewer drops — there’s been far less drops in practice than in years past; and big-play capability — it definitely seems to be on the rise in relation to the last couple of years.”
It’s been classified as an “all the above” approach.
For Patrick, the attitude of optimism about the receiving corps starts with Holliday and his nonstop, “high energy” approach to working with his players.
“He’s the same guy every day, he’s on us every day,” Patrick said. “I think that’s something we needed last year. Last year, the receiving corps got a little relaxed and that’s probably the reason why we had the year that we had. But Holliday is the same guy and on us, on our a---- every day. Every day he doesn’t let us slack at all and it’s just pushing us to be a better group.”
“I like that; that’s how I was raised,” Tyrone Smith said. “Nothing is too good. That’s just going to force us to keep working harder every day. It allows us to not get comfortable.”
“Guy Holliday, not to be disparaging against anybody else, but he seems to be just what this group, this particular group needed as far as his personality and how he operates,” Whittingham added. “They’ve really responded well to him.”
Holliday’s attention to detail and ability to game plan for the opponent has been a welcomed approach to Patrick and other receivers. In an effort to improve the receivers’ scouting of opponents, he’s given NFL playbooks to players to help them understand what NFL teams are looking at when breaking down film and how they approach the game.
“You see how NFL teams scout their DBs and safeties. So I look at that and put that into scouting Southern Utah,” Patrick said. “It’s just the small things and make the game come a lot easier to you.”
Whether the receiving game will actually be improved is yet to be seen, but Holliday’s history of putting more than 20 players into the NFL is a positive for Utah.
