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SALT LAKE CITY — Kyle Whittingham has two undefeated seasons under his belt in his tenure at the University of Utah. He’s been a part of historic teams and several winning seasons. But could his current crop of talent be the one that takes Utah to the Pac-12 championship game and beyond?
The head coach isn’t ready to make bold predictions about his season expectations, but he believes there may be something special brewing with his current roster.
“I've loved being around this team,” Whittingham said following Utah’s Friday practice. “This team is a special group as far as their focus, their work ethic, how they handle their business. Whether it will be translated to the field, we'll find out. But I just enjoy being around them and enjoy being their coach”
While past experience cannot be an indicator of future success, Whittingham said all of his past successful teams have had a special sense about them throughout the season. They have a “certain attitude and a certain demeanor” in all they do — the dedication they put into the upcoming season.
“This group,” he added, “all the preseason signals and preseason cues, I guess you could say, have been very positive.”
The players, Whittingham said, have been extremely focused since January and need little motivation to get after the daily work needed to compete on the field. He describes the senior leadership on the team as “excellent” and “outstanding” in how they’ve conducted the offseason workouts and their transition to fall camp.
“Those guys, they make their presence known,” Whittingham said. “They've done a great job ever since — I keep alluding back to January when the offseason program started — that those guys have taken charge and what we’ve had is outstanding.”
Add to that Utah’s depth in nearly every position and overall talent, and the Utes have a recipe for success. But preseason expectations and preparation are not always an exact predictor of overall success.
“We don't know yet. That's the beauty of college football,” Whittingham said. “You don't know from year to year. Every year, every team is its own separate entity, its own set of circumstances. I mean, it's so different, and you really — you have a general idea going in, but you don't know for certain until you start playing the game. To me, that's the exciting thing about collegiate football, just the unknown and the anticipation.”
Final scrimmage of camp
Utah will conclude its fall camp schedule Saturday with its second scrimmage that is closed to the public and media; however, the scrimmage is open exclusively to members of the MUSS. Members of the MUSS, though, are not allowed to bring their phones to record any portion of the scrimmage.
The intent of the final live-action scrimmage is to finalize the two-deep depth chart going into the season. Whittingham said he’s planning to settle around 70 snaps with the ones and twos and about 15-20 for the threes. Following the scrimmage, a season depth chart will be released the coming week.
