Kaufusi missed
Defensive tackle Sione Pouha said it's weird not having former teammate Jason Kaufusi around.
"I always expected him to be here,"said Pouha. "We've played together ever since little league. It's hard to see him in the situation that he's in but with the kind of character he has, he keeps his composure and has handled it real well."
Kaufusi, whose college football career was cut short because of chronic shoulder problems, is helping out at Cottonwood High this fall instead of playing for the Utes.
"It ended in a way we didn't plan for," Pouha said. "The reason I came here and the reason he came here was because of Coach Kaufusi (Jason's older brother Steve Kaufusi, a Utah assistant at the time). We decided to come here together from East High School. We made all these plans, like you and your best friend would, but it didn't happen that way.
"We're still best friends, but I have football and he has his family and work, so that kind of separates us a little bit."
Utah coach Urban Meyer thinks Kaufusi would be a good coach, especially at the collegiate level.
"I never got to see him play but I know what kind of person he is," said Meyer. "He's a great kid."
Injury update
Sophomore tailback Mike Liti's injured right shoulder has been diagnosed as a sprain. He's expected to resume practicing in three or four days. Freshman wide receiver John Peel, whose injured left leg was placed in a brace Monday, is awaiting results of an MRI.
Recruiting tool
Meyer said that brochures of Utah's new indoor practice facility, which was named the "Spence Eccles Field House" at a ceremony Monday, are already being sent to recruits.
The building, he added, puts Utah on par with and/or above schools in the Bowl Championship Series.
And speaking of the BCS . . .
"I'm going to get in trouble for saying this, but I usually speak my mind. This whole BCS thing, it's not right," said Meyer. "Shade it any other color you want to shade it, but it's not right."