Just like most other college football programs at this time of year, No. 8 Utah is in a state of flux, as some players, like All-America cornerback Clark Phillips III, have declared for the NFL draft and opted out of the Rose Bowl.
Meanwhile, the future of several other key players, like quarterback Cam Rising and wide receiver Devaughn Vele, appear uncertain.
But coach Kyle Whittingham has a pretty good grasp of who’s staying and who’s going.
“We have a good idea of who’s going to do what. I’m sure it won’t go completely as we think but we have a pretty good handle on it,” he said Wednesday at Disneyland. “We’ve been able to recruit towards that, as far as who we’re going to lose and who we’re going to retain. You never know for certain until the deadline passes, which is in a couple of weeks. Right now, we feel like we’ve got a really good idea of who’s coming and who’s leaving.”
How confident is Whittingham that this program could potentially three-peat as Pac-12 champions?
“We feel like we’re in a place with our program that we’ve recruited very well and we have a lot of talent on this roster,” he said. “If we continue to work and respect the process, we think we could be in the conversation most every year.”