Utes Are As Well Prepared As They Can Be
With just over five weeks to ramp up and prepare for the upcoming abbreviated season, the University of Utah held a media session on Thursday, talking about the challenges and expectations going forward. Despite the challenges, Head Coach Kyle Whittingham believes that the Utes are as prepared as can be, for live practices and games to get underway.
“We’ve had several months where we’ve been able to get things done on the field,” acknowledged Whittingham. “We haven’t been in any contact situations or anything like that, but at least we’ve been on the field doing skill, instruction, fundamental and technique work. I’m confident our guys will be adequately prepared, now how we play is anyone’s best guess.”
The Utes are well aware that they’re one of the fortunate programs in the Pac-12, as the schools in California and as well as Colorado have been shut down for various reasons.
“I know a lot of schools in the Pac-12 have not had as much opportunity to spend time with their players in the weight room, meeting room, (and) on the field as we have,” he said. The Utes are one of few that have had no delays — outside of the season cancellation — whatsoever. “We feel like we’re in a good spot, right now,” Whittingham continued.
For one’s sanity, they can only take meetings and positional drills for so long. The extra time has been a blessing for the Utes, but nothing compares to making progress on the field.
“We’ve had a lot of time in meetings to install things, but installing them in meetings and getting them on the field and repped, are two different things,” said Whittingham. “We’ve got to be sure that we don’t give them too much. You’ve got to be smart with your game plans and not overload them, but I think we’ve done as good of a job as we can at this point.”
Starting towards the end of next week, the Utes will have just over a month to replace all five starters in the secondary, prepare a linebacker to start alongside Devin Lloyd, and most importantly name a starting quarterback. Of course, running back is also a concern, but the belief is that there are 4-5 capable guys.
The contenders at quarterback are Cameron Rising, Drew Lisk, and Jake Bentley — although, it’s believed to be a battle between Rising and Bentley with Lisk as a dependable alternative. The goal will be to narrow the competition to two after the first week and name the starter a week later. Those timeframes aren’t concrete, but for Whittingham that’s what’s ideal.
“The sooner it happens, the more ideal for us, as far as naming a guy and letting him get all the reps with the ones,” he said. “But, more importantly than that, is getting the right guy named.”
In order to sort everything else out, there will be the occasional live work throughout practice and they’re shooting for two scrimmages. “We’ve got to be smart about how we do it,” said Whittingham. “You don’t want to go into the season under-prepared—there’s a sweet spot that we’re going to try and hit and it’s no different this year than any year.”
The Pac-12 is currently in the process of drafting the guidelines on what’s needed to play the games: based on test results and number of players available at crucial positions. Still, Whittingham realizes they’re about to encounter a lot of unknowns and that the reality of getting all seven games in, isn’t as simple as some would hope.
“We’ll be elated if we get all seven games in, I think that would be fantastic,” he said. “I mean, I don’t know if that’s realistic with the way things are.”
As the Utes prepare to embark on an unusual season, Whittingham and his guys are just happy for some normalcy during one of the most bizarre times anyone has really encountered.
“It’s better than not playing, I can tell you that,’ said Whittingham. “It’s better than not doing nothing, at all.”