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SALT LAKE CITY — It may be 90-plus degrees outside, but summer has officially ended ... well, depending on who you ask.
"It's over, brother," Utah defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley joked on Monday with a group of media members ahead of the team's first practice of the season. The dog days of summer have concluded and Utah is focused on fall.
Football season is back.
While the first day of fall camp is less about settling the depth chart or having every position group filled out, Utah's coaches were happy to be back on the field working with the players in a full-time capacity after player-led practices over the summer. The offseason was about developing depth, and fall camp is about preparing for a long season.
And if there was any question about what the main focus on Kyle Whittingham's mind was going into the first day of camp, he wasn't shy about what's most important for the team moving forward.
"Outside of quarterback, the biggest focus would be quarterback, and then quarterback again," he said. "I can't think of anything that's even close to that right now, as far as making sure if in the event Cam can't go, we've got the right guy that is going to start the game, and so that supersedes everything."
Cam Rising's health is the biggest concern to the team, but there's little the coaching staff and the team can do outside of waiting to see if he'll be cleared in time for when Utah kicks off against Florida on Aug, 31 at Rice-Eccles Stadium. He'll be an active participant in fall — he'll take part in throwing and certain drills — but will be limited in situations in which there are "sudden reactions."
So while Rising's health continues to hang over the program, the focus will be on identifying QB2 — or interim QB1 — from a group of redshirt freshmen, Brandon Rose and Nate Johnson, and previous backup Bryson Barnes. But none of that will be solved on the first day of camp.
For offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig, the focus of fall camp begins with a "pretty aggressive" install of the offense. That aggressive approach to the season install is made possible because of an offense that returns almost everybody from the previous year. With that veteran experience, Utah can move quickly with its complex offense that Ludwig hopes his team can execute effectively.
"It's really front-end loaded," Ludwig said of his install. "We have 25 practice opportunities between now and the home opener against Florida; and the first 12 practices, it's about exposing the players to the plays in the system. As we're exposing them to the plays and executing plays, you evaluate what fits our skill set and personality as an entire unit and draw from there.
"There's two types of plays that you draw from in an installation process: there's plays we're gonna master — we're going to rep the heck out of; other plays you just want to get exposure to — maybe they don't attack the Utah defense very well, but I know they're going to come up sometime in September, October, so I don't want that to be the first time they hear (it)."
It's a short-term plan for a long-term gain. And based on Ludwig's ability to improve the offense the last few years, it's a strategy that has been effective in getting Utah to four Pac-12 title games in the last five seasons.
There remains questions on offense, but Ludwig (and Whittingham) believe the offensive line — the starting point for an effective offense — is one of the strongest position groups on the team.
"I really think the offensive line is a strength with all the returning snaps that those players have accumulated," Ludwig said. "There's a lot of experience up front, a lot of big, physical athletes up front."
On the other side of the ball, Whittingham said he's most comfortable with his team's defense "at every level." It's a group that returns veteran talent, has measurable depth at every position group.
"We're deep," Whittingham said. "The front is physical, athletic; linebackers are active and tough; and the secondary, got a bunch of ballhawks back there and some really good tacklers at the safety spots. I think the defense really has a chance to standout for us this year."
That's good news for a defense that struggled to start the season and was characterized as "soft" by Whittingham after the team's loss to Florida in the season-opener. There were too many missed tackles, blown assignments, and the defense didn't have the amount of havoc plays it wanted — even if the defense, as a whole, led the Pac-12 by the end of the season.
The defense has the talent, according to the coaching staff, but Scalley said the opposing offenses of the Pac-12 is what keeps him on his toes as he prepares for the season.
"This is without a doubt, probably the best talent the Pac-12 has ever had, and particularly at the quarterback position," Scalley said. "We've got our hands full. We need to play well defensively. We've got very good quarterbacks in this league, very good coaching in this league. The great thing is, is that we've got good players too.
"We've got good players, we've got good coaches, and there's a lot that goes into having a great season, and remaining healthy is a big part of that. Gotta be smart and how we prepare; at the same time, we need to hit and we need to find out who's who."
By that standard, Utah enters the season relatively healthy and ready to go, but it's just the first day of a long season.
