There's one big hole to fill at both linebacker and defensive line.
And there's pretty good ammunition, it seems, to stuff into both of those holes.
Everywhere else at both linebacker and defensive line, the Utes have proven starters returning — linebackers Kautai Olevao and Wes Tufaga and linemen Ma'ake Kemoeatu, Andy Bowers and Garrett Smith.
Olevao is an All-America candidate and a two-time first-team all-conference choice who has also made the Preseason Mountain West Conference team for 2000.
And for Olevao's senior season, he's expected to have two good legs. He played all of 1999 and made all-conference on a bum knee. He had surgery in spring and spent the summer running and conditioning with most of the team.
Tufaga's a two-year starter who made 52 tackles, had four tackles-for-loss and a sack and forced two fumbles last year.
On the line, the three returning starters are "all premier guys in the league, all competitive and all tough," says defensive coordinator Kyle Whittingham.
Bowers leads the Utes in the strength/power/speed index, Kemoeatu was Utah's newcomer of the year as a new sophomore and started every game last year and had the highest tackle total (59) of all linemen. Smith gained a starting spot early in his 1999 redshirt-freshman campaign and is back to make a league-wide name for himself with great speed and strength.
Other than a slight depth problem at backup tackle created by Ed Johnson's re-broken foot, the Utes seem quite solid in their front seven, even though they must replace Utah's all-time sack and tackles-for-loss leader John Frank at rush end and linebacker Howard Christianson, whose career ended a year early with a Las Vegas Bowl knee injury.
Utah's defense seems to have matured to the point that it can just plug in the next guy in line and not suffer greatly.
So sophomore Sheldon Deckart, bigger and heavier than Christianson and fast, too, takes over the middle linebacking spot with veteran Tufaga, who started two years at the middle, moving to rover, except in the nickel package when he plays middle. "Deckart is tremendously gifted with legitimate 4.5 (40-yard) speed," says Whittingham.
And true freshman Jason Kaufusi, smaller than Frank but already making a name for himself, is apparently taking over the end ahead of sophomores Marcus Jones and Dylan Bird, who scrapped for the job all spring. "He looked like a man possessed on his pass rush," coach Ron McBride said of Kaufusi after a scrimmage.
"He's been here all summer working with (brother) Doug (an offensive lineman). The first day he lined up, he had that quickness, just like Luther Elliss," McBride said. Elliss now plays for the NFL Detroit Lions. "The first day he lined up, you'd watch him and say, 'Oh, my gosh, this guy's a player.'"
Other than at rush end, backups for the front seven are relatively untested but are also highly thought of by the coaching staff.
Senior Matt Ward, who played in 10 games last season and has been out most of fall practices with a sore back, is still listed as Olevao's backup. Utah lost backup Stan Moleni early in fall practice to injury. Backup noseguard Lauvale Sape, a junior, played the final four games of 1999 after a preseason knee injury slowed him. As a freshman, he was defensive scout-team player of the year.
All of the other front-seven backups have less experience. Tevita Vakalahi of Taylorsville, a redshirt sophomore, stands behind Smith at tackle. Hillcrest High redshirt freshman Josh Savage is Bowers' backup at base end.
Former walk-on Brooks Bahr of Bountiful, who played two games in 1999 before a knee injury that killed his spring ball, has stepped ahead of Nebraska transfer Jeremy Lyman, a sophomore from Skyline High, as Tufaga's backup. "Bahr is starting to step forward," Whittingham says. Redshirt junior transfer from Mount San Jacinto CR Dwinell, a walk-on a year ago, is solidly behind Deckart in the middle. "He's had a nice camp," says Whittingham.
E-MAIL: lham@desnews.com