SALT LAKE CITY — It’s not a case of ready or not for the University of Utah football team. Despite a delayed start to the season because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Utes are ready — given the circumstances.
Camp opens Friday, Oct. 9, with the first game (opponent yet to be announced) planned for the first weekend of November.
Utah coach Kyle Whittingham is elated to get things going. The players, he added, are are also excited to get started.
“They’ve worked hard and really done a great job up through this uncertain period of time that we’ve been in and really not knowing much about whether or not we were going to play for several months,” Whittingham said. “And they handled that just right. We’ve got a group that’s very eager to get going, to put the pads back on.”
Whittingham noted it’s been almost a year since the Utes have had much contact. They had one padded practice in spring before the COVID-19 crisis hit and haven’t played a game since a 38-10 loss to Texas in the Alamo Bowl on New Year’s Eve.
“We need to get get going again,” Whittingham explained in looking ahead to the opening of camp next week. “So like I said, I can’t tell you how excited we are to finally be able to have a season to look to.”
The Pac-12 is expected to release it’s abbreviated schedule Saturday. Whittingham is confident they’ll have enough time to prepare.
“I think so, particularly with the fact that we’ve had several months where we’ve been able to get some things done on the field,” said Whittingham, whose squad has been operating under the NCAA’s 12-hour-per-week practice model during the pandemic — although no contact situations have been permitted.
“But at least we’ve been on the field and and doing skill instruction, fundamentals and technique work and so I’m confident that our guys will be adequately prepared,” he continued. “How we play is anybody’s best guess. But as far as the preparation time, I think it’s more than adequate.”
Whittingham is aware that half the teams in the Pac-12 have not had much of an opportunity to spend time with their players in meetings or the weight room. That simply hasn’t been the case — all things considered — at Utah.
“As far as our own situation we feel like we’re in a good spot for right now,” Whittingham said.
When camp opens, the Utes must work through the NCAA-mandated acclimatization period. That means no hitting the first two days. Shoulder pads can be worn the next days with full gear allowed on the fifth day.
“As far as our own situation we feel like we’re in a good spot for right now.” — Kyle Whittingham
Fully padded practices after such a long break with very limited spring football, Whittingham acknowledged, will require being smart.
“There’s a sweet spot that we’re going to try to hit. It’s no different for this year than any year other than it’s been an extended period of time that we haven’t had contact this particular year,” Whittingham said. “But we’ve got to monitor that closely. We feel like we need to get at least two full scrimmages in prior to playing in the first ball game.”
The scrimmages, he explained, will likely be played on Saturdays — three weeks and two weeks out from the opener. Whittingham emphasized it won’t be the only live work during camp.
“You’ve got to make sure you’re ready,” he said. “If you go into a game not ready to play — from a physical standpoint — that’s not a good thing.”
To help combat the situation, which will likely include just 20 hours of week for camp, the Utes have spent a lot of offseason time in the weight room — bulking up for the challenges ahead.
Whittingham said 90% of the players have hit personal bests in testing by the strength and conditioning staff. The extra time has allowed the players to finish two lifting cycles instead of one and a maintenance routine. It’s led to what Whittingham describes as “exceptional gains” in that regard.
Linebacker Devin Lloyd said the Utes are both smarter and stronger because of the added time in film study and lifting. Games, though, are what it’s all about. Lloyd said it’s obviously exciting considering the uncertainty of the past several months.
“Everybody is really anxious to get out and play — just get out and do what we love to do,” he said. “Everyone is here because we love the game of football and we want to play the game of football. So obviously, you know, everyone was ecstatic.”
The Utes have been going at things for several months now. Whittingham said they gave the players four days off to kind of rejuvenate themselves.
“You can get a fine line there of diminishing returns when you work too hard, too long,” he added. “So we feel like they’re coming back ready to get back on the field.”
Tight end Brant Kuithe agrees. The tight end said it’s a great feeling just knowing they’ll get some games in this fall. The Pac-12 originally postponed the season to at least January. There wasn’t much motivation without an actual start date.
“Once they announced the seven games I think a lot of us guys that kind of felt down got our energy back up and we’re ready to go,” Kuithe said.