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Day 3 of the Utes fall camp, first full day in pads, and Kyle Whittingham announced his plan trim the quarterback overload. Juniors Corbin Louks and Terrance Cain looked to have the inside track on the starting job in the spring with true freshman Jordan Wynn the longshot.
Louks has been in the program for several years, contributing heavily during the Utes BCS run.
Cain was a Juco All-American, but is new to the offense and the program.
The surprise has been the development of true freshman Jordan Wynn, who looks much more comfortable with the offense after a summer with the team.
Whittingham knows that sooner, rather than later, they must pare down the competition. "All three quarterbacks will get equal reps with the ones (first team offense) until after the scrimmage this coming Thursday, and then we go have a big scrimmage on Thursday and that will be a defining moment in the quarterback battle to at least get it down to two." said Whittingham. "That's the objective anyway. If we get it down to one at that time, great. I don't think that will happen, but we got to get it down to two. We've got to start sinking more reps into two guys, we're getting spread too thin and we don't want to do that very much longer."
After Whittingham finds a solution at the quarterback spot, the next order of business is moving on after the BCS success of a year ago and the bullseye that is placed squarely on their back.
Senior defensive back Robert Johnson said, "We're not really worried about the target. We're just worried about playing Utah Utes football and that's how it's always been. If we do get respect we do, if we don't it's okay, we're still going to do what we have to do."
All Mountain-West Conference preseason unanimous selection Stevenson Sylvester, "Everyone needs to make their own chapter. We saw how happy and how well the seniors went out last year and we'd like to go out the same way."
The linebacker reminded the media, "We keep talking about 2008, mainly with the media," he says with a shrug, "we feel great about our team and are excited for this year."
Looking for an encore experience, this year's team is looking to improve on their strength and speed.
"A big thing is we need to be in great shape," said offensive lineman Zane Beadles. "We feel like we (the O-Line) are going to be one of the strongest units on the team. We need to carry this offense. As we go, so will the offense go."
Sylvester is focusing on speed. "Our strength is speed. That's what helped us in the BCS game, speed. We understand that this (speed) is what got us here."
Coach Whittingham is focused. He knows that each battle in fall camp is to prepare for the regular season. "We have a lot to do between now and the opener against Utah St. I like the mentality and the attitude and what has transpired so far."
