Utah Blog

July 28, 2009

University of Utah Blog
Pre-season 2009
By: Urso

Spring practice closed with all the usual story lines; the team made lots of progress but still has significant work to do. It is difficult to gain more insight than this since Coach Whittingham is not one to give away much information to anyone outside the team.

The only major disappointment from the spring was the fact that the coaches were unable to settle on a starting quarterback. Most had expected a two-way race between Corbin Louks, the returning sophomore, and Terrance Cain, the junior college recruit who signed in December so he could participate in spring drills. The result was that neither player was able to separate themselves and in fact the problem was exacerbated by the emergence of true freshman Jordan Wynn. The two-person race now has three players. Wynn forced himself into consideration with a good spring performance and a very strong showing in the final spring scrimmage. He is still a likely redshirt candidate unless he is so strong in the early spring practices that the coaches are compelled to continue the competition. Coach Whittingham has said repeatedly that he wants to select his top quarterbacks quickly so he can intensify their practice reps. He would like to have a clear number one at least two weeks before Utah’s first game against Utah State on the 3rd of September. Sketchy reports from the summer workouts suggest that Corbin Louks is looking very strong. He has one of the fastest 40 times on the team so expect him to be more mobile and willing to run that Brian Johnson was last season.

One of the major differentiators’ between the top handful of college teams and the others is depth. In recent seasons Utah has put together a talented team that was one player deep at a few spots. If the inevitable injuries came at the spots where Utah was deep then we had a good year. If the injuries came at positions where there was little or no depth then we struggled. The 2008 season started off with injuries to two starters on the DL. Since there was already a lack of depth at this position it appeared that this would be a huge problem. However, two unheralded players changed positions and moved into the DL roles. They performed so well that it would have been hard to expect as much even from the original starters. This signified a turning point in Utah’s maturation as a big-time program. To be able to go undefeated and be ranked number 2 in the country with second and third string defensive linemen was a major leap forward. The emphasis on putting quality depth in place was the major focus area this spring. Utah has quality depth at QB, receiver, DE, DL, and linebacker. Coming out of spring ball it appears that we would have trouble absorbing a loss at running back, OL, cornerback or safety. At least some of these deficiencies should be filled during the first few weeks of fall camp.

So far there are no reported injuries over the spring and summer schedule. Nai Fotu is still recovering from knee surgery late last year so he may not be 100% this fall. If not he will be a redshirt. Utah is still waiting to see if help can arrive from James Aiono, Maxwell Lacy, Ray Magee, and Joape Pela this fall. All are penciled into the 2-3 deep but have not yet arrived on campus.