The first press conference of the regular season for the University of Utah football team took place on Monday afternoon. Quarterback Tyler Huntley, left tackle Jackson Barton and cornerback Casey Hughes were the three players in attendance.

“[It’s] great to get the season started, we’ve been in training camp a long time,” said Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham. “It seems like forever, but we handled it about as well as we could’ve given the new NCAA rules. Hopefully our guys feel fresh and ready to go on Thursday night.”

Whittingham said that a decision on who the placekicker is likely to be made on Wednesday, but both freshman Matt Gay and Chayden Johnston — who are battling for the position — may see time in Thursday’s game.

Strong safety Chase Hansen’s playing time is “to be determined” according to Whittingham. With a week of practice under his belt and a day off on Sunday, the team will see where he’s at this week.

“We’re going to be very cautious with him,” Whittingham said. “If he’s not 100 percent ready to go then you probably won’t see him.”

Four receivers on depth chart

On the depth chart that was released on Monday, wide receivers Darren Carrington II, Samson Nacua, Raelon Singleton and Siaosi Wilson were listed as starters.

“We feel that we’ve really helped ourself at that spot,” Whittingham said. “A lot of Troy’s offensive sets employ four receivers. … You’re definitely going to see four wide receivers on the field a good percentage of the time.”

When it comes to Carrington, Whittingham explained that he fits perfectly into Utah offensive coordinator Troy Taylor’s offense, and that the quarterbacks love to throw to him. For Huntley, he said Carrington adds a boost to the offense, something that wasn’t there before.

With all the targets Huntley has on the offense, he is looking forward to working with them and seeing what they can accomplish.

“I have a lot of receivers that can bring a lot to the table,” Huntley said. “They make a lot of plays for me in practice. We plan to show the receivers talents on Thursday and watch them make a lot of plays.”

Offensive line rebuilding

It’s something Whittingham said he wishes they could’ve solidified earlier in camp, but due to injuries and moving Utes around to make sure the top five offensive linemen were chosen to represent, they weren’t able to make that happen.

“The first objective is to get the best five players out there and then put those five in the best positions,” Whittingham said. “We are very confident we’ve done that now. We feel we have seven guys that are really ready to play. Five, plus two guys that are ready to come in, and then an eighth and a ninth guy that are just on the verge of being ready.”

Left guard Salesi Uhatafe, who played right guard his first three seasons, is the only returning starter. Left tackle Jackson Barton, center Lo Falemaka, right guard Jordan Agasiva and right tackle Darrin Paulo are listed as the starters on the depth chart.

“We’ll see how quickly those guys can gel,” Whittingham said. “But based on what we’ve seen in practice, they’ve come a long way. They’re starting to look like a Pac-12 offensive line.”

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