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SALT LAKE CITY — It may be March, but the only madness Utah football head coach Kyle Whittingham will be looking forward to is how his team comes together as spring camp begins at the end of the month.
The 2022 season may have ended just two month ago, but there's no offseason in the most popular collegiate sport, and Whittingham is ready to see the younger players on his roster make some headway in spring camp while also cementing the mechanics of the veteran players in Utah's pursuit for the rare three-peat Pac-12 championship.
But as Utah kicks off its spring football camp on March 21, starting quarterback Cameron Rising will be forced to observe from the sidelines as he recovers from an ACL injury he suffered late in the Rose Bowl against Penn State. Rising underwent surgery earlier this year and is hopeful for a Week 1 return against Florida as the SEC program makes its first-ever visit to Rice-Eccles Stadium.
For Whittingham, the biggest priority going into spring is figuring out the depth at quarterback — the guy's that will round out the depth chart and provide a quality backup to Rising, whether he's ready by Week 1 or whether one of the depth players will have to fill in for a period of time in his absence.
"Yeah, we've got to find out who's two, three and four at the quarterback depth chart," Whittingham told KSL.com in a wide-ranging interview. "We know who one's going to be. Without Cam being able to participate in spring, that opens the door for a bunch of reps for the young guys, and that'll give us a good opportunity to sort these guys out.
"Hopefully we come out of spring with a lot more information than we have right now about these guys. If we don't have a definitive two, three, four, at least we'll have a big body of work to evaluate during the summertime."
That group will include walk-on Bryson Barnes, who has served as Rising's backup the last two seasons; redshirt freshmen Nate Johnson, who was utilized in occasional goal-line packages last season, and Brandon Rose; and freshman Mack Howard, who enrolled at Utah early; among others vying for the backup spot.
Whittingham said Rising is "on schedule" for a return to the field around the time Utah will open up its fall camp, but there's still a lot of time between then and now to gain a better understanding of how Rising will respond once he gets his brace off and works through physical therapy.
"Well, we don't want to rush him; there's no chance that that's going to happen," Whittingham said. "We're going to listen to our medical people and do exactly as they prescribed. ... It's not a situation where he's going to be ruled out for the Florida game, but you certainly have to have enough work going into the Florida game to make sure he's ready."
Utah hopes to have Rising on the field when fall camp opens up, but if for whatever reason he's not available, Whittingham said they'll create a benchmark date — 10 days out or something to give them confidence it wouldn't adversely affect their game plan — for when Rising has to be back before the coaching staff explores a backup quarterback getting the nod against Florida.
But even the day of the game is still in flux. The game's contract allows for a Thursday or Saturday possibility for the season opener, and a date has been not finalized, though Whittingham said there's several factors to consider — time, broadcast networks, etc. — that will go into its selection. Whatever the date, Whittingham remains hopeful he'll have his starting QB.
"Cam's a tough guy, he's competitive, and to keep him out of that Florida game, there's gonna have to be some real setbacks, and so we hope that doesn't doesn't occur," he said.
Beyond quarterback depth, Whittingham said the team will look to find a starter at running back after Utah utilized a running back by committee approach last season — even moving quarterback Ja'Quinden Jackson to running back to help with its depth after Tavion Thomas was rarely utilized due to injury and off-the-field issues.
Utah returns a loaded running back room with varying degrees of talent and experience. Veteran back Micah Bernard, who has been with the program the longest, entered the transfer portal earlier this year before eventually returning to Utah. Jackson, Jaylon Glover and Chris Curry, who is coming off of a season-ending injury, join Bernard from last year's roster.
Joining them is four-star freshmen John Randle Jr. and Dijon Stanley, and three-star freshman Michael Mitchell. All three incoming players will join the team in fall.
Whittingham didn't offer any insight on whether one player has an inside track over the others, but said the depth chart will be determined by how each performs on the field.
"They'll play their way into it, and that's the only thing I can say; it's a competition," Whittingham said. "That is a deep room with a lot of guys that are very talented, and so we'll see how it plays out on the field. My guess is somebody will emerge as the lead back, but if not, there's no problem doing running back by committee; that works, as well. So we'll just have to see how that shakes out."
Utah returns a majority of its production on offense going into the 2023 season, but getting tight end Brant Kuithe back on the field will be an added bonus, as will the position switch of Miki Suguturaga from defensive end to tight end. Whittingham said Suguturaga is "built like a tight end" and is expected to fill the "inline" tight end spot left void from a productive Logan Kendall.
Though Utah loses a proven defensive end to the other side of the ball, Whittingham said he feels "really good about that position," where Van Fillinger, Jonah Elliss, and Connor O'Toole have emerged as effective edge rushers. With Chase Kennedy, who Whittingham described as "really coming along," and Logan Fano added to the mix, Utah appears set at the position.
Spring camp will likely prompt more changes before fall camp opens up in August, but Whittingham said the main focus of spring camp will be "predominantly for the development of players, fundamentally and technique wise." There will be few, if any, live reps for the team's starters as the coaching staff evaluates and prepares the depth players.
"Let's develop the two's and three's and just keep the one's sharp with drills that are not live and go from there," Whittingham said.
Utah's spring camp begins on March 21 before culminating in the spring game on April 22 at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
