Following Thursday’s practice, Utah defensive coordinator John Pease emphasized the importance of consistent effort in the spring.
“It’s so important that day after day, after day, after day, you stack good practices on top of each other,” he said. “Today we started a little slow. We had a real good Tuesday, people were on top of things, no mental errors. And today it was kind of a pillow fight for the first 20 minutes of practice.”
Evidently, the Utes picked it up and finished practice at Rice-Eccles Stadium on a strong note, and Pease, commenting on the encouraging takeaway from the practice said, “Good players played good.”
Luckily for the Utes, there is a log jam of good players on the defensive side of the ball. Head coach Kyle Whittingham remarked to having “nearly too much depth” on a defensive unit that features nine returning starters.
“We have a lot of good leadership on this football team, and really, if you were to say where the core of that is on defense, its certainty the linebackers,” he said.
Returning all three starters in Jared Norris, Gionni Paul, and Jason Whittingham, those three seniors will be instrumental to creating a repeat performance on last year’s successes on defense.
“We’re not called ‘Sack Lake City’ for no reason,” said Norris.
Speaking on what the linebackers are expecting of themselves this coming season, Norris stated, “Honestly, as a group, to be the best linebacking core in the nation.”
While it may sound like a lofty goal, it’s not an unrealistic one. Norris has twice been named Honorable Mention All Pac-12. Gionni Paul, who transferred from Miami (FL) prior to last season, was named the Athlon Sports National Player of the Week after leading the Utes to a 26-10 victory at Michigan with 14 tackles, an interception, and a fumble recovery. Jason Whittingham, coach Whittingham’s nephew, was also named Honorable Mention All Pac-12 in his sophomore year, in 2013.
Looking ahead, coach Whittingham referred to Saturday’s scrimmage as the most important one of the spring, citing ongoing position battles at five to six spots, including safety, offensive line, and wide receiver.
Looking even further ahead, the Utes played host to a couple dozen future recruiting prospects at Thursday’s practice. Prep athletes from multiple local Utah high schools lined the sidelines, dressed in their respective team uniforms.
On the importance of in-state recruiting, current recruiting coordinator, former Ute safety, and graduate of Highland High, coach Morgan Scalley, said, “You look at the dynamic of our team, the majority of our team is made up of Utah guys. In-state will always be a huge priority for us. Unfortunately we lost some guys to out of state [universities]…we had to up our efforts and make sure that the in-state guys know that they are a priority. It was good to have a good amount of them out here today.”
The Utes will hold their second scrimmage of the spring practices on Saturday at 10 am. The scrimmage is open to the public.