Here’s a rundown of what Whittingham had to say for day-1:
-Everything was exactly what you’d expect for day one. The attitudes were great.
-The battle for 2-5 at QB is underway. Johnson and Rose will receive the majority of the reps. Whittingham says Barnes has shown enough and wants to see the other two.
-Free safety isn’t as pressing of an issue as it could seem with losing Isbell recently. Whittingham is confident in Ritchie, Bishop and Vaki. They also have Hall here early and he’s practicing with the safeties. Ritchie is being slowly brought up to speed and wasn’t out there today. They’ll go to the portal after spring if needed. For now, they don’t plan on moving guys around.
-Cole Becker is the guy at kicker unless Joey Cheek beats him out. It’s his job to lose.
-Rising is ahead of schedule with no setbacks early on. He’s been and is going to be a big help this offseason. Whittingham mentioned it’s like having another coach on the field as he’s mentoring the younger guys.
-At OL, they have 15-16 they think are really good. They’re hoping to come away with a solid 10 for their two-deep. Jaren Kump is someone who could play all five spots.They’re going to have Kump focus on center a bunch this spring.
-He mentioned that they’re back to back Pac-12 champs and going for a three-peat, so that’s a big challenge.There’s a lot of enthusiasm and excitement. There hasn’t been a 3-peat championship since the Pac became 12 and that’s one of their objectives.
-He’ll be shocked if there’s not a ratio of 4 to 6 players coming and going through the portal for Utah after spring ball.
-Whittingham highlighted both Fano brothers, Hall, and Mikey Matthews when talking about the first day for the new guys. He also mentioned that Matthews is very reminiscent of Britain Covey, but obviously not to Covey’s level yet.
-Everything was exactly what you’d expect for day one. The attitudes were great.
-The battle for 2-5 at QB is underway. Johnson and Rose will receive the majority of the reps. Whittingham says Barnes has shown enough and wants to see the other two.
-Free safety isn’t as pressing of an issue as it could seem with losing Isbell recently. Whittingham is confident in Ritchie, Bishop and Vaki. They also have Hall here early and he’s practicing with the safeties. Ritchie is being slowly brought up to speed and wasn’t out there today. They’ll go to the portal after spring if needed. For now, they don’t plan on moving guys around.
-Cole Becker is the guy at kicker unless Joey Cheek beats him out. It’s his job to lose.
-Rising is ahead of schedule with no setbacks early on. He’s been and is going to be a big help this offseason. Whittingham mentioned it’s like having another coach on the field as he’s mentoring the younger guys.
-At OL, they have 15-16 they think are really good. They’re hoping to come away with a solid 10 for their two-deep. Jaren Kump is someone who could play all five spots.They’re going to have Kump focus on center a bunch this spring.
-He mentioned that they’re back to back Pac-12 champs and going for a three-peat, so that’s a big challenge.There’s a lot of enthusiasm and excitement. There hasn’t been a 3-peat championship since the Pac became 12 and that’s one of their objectives.
-He’ll be shocked if there’s not a ratio of 4 to 6 players coming and going through the portal for Utah after spring ball.
-Whittingham highlighted both Fano brothers, Hall, and Mikey Matthews when talking about the first day for the new guys. He also mentioned that Matthews is very reminiscent of Britain Covey, but obviously not to Covey’s level yet.
