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Utah Camp Notes – Day 9

Separation is being seen on day nine of Utah fall camp.

The second full week of fall camp is underway for the University of Utah football team. Monday’s practice took place at the Ute baseball field where head coach Kyle Whittingham said preseason camp is continuing to go well.

“We’re in the first day of what feels like camp,” Whittingham said. “School’s over with so we don’t have classes to work around so it’s all football for the next two weeks. [We] had a good practice today, a good walk-through this morning. We see improvement every practice, which is what needs to happen. We still got a long ways to go.”

Separation across the board

At the kicking position, Whittingham believes freshman Chayden Johnston and senior Matt Gay, who played soccer at UVU before becoming a walk-on transfer, have started to separate themselves from sophomore Hayes Hicken in the placekicking battle.

“Those two guys are the top two right now and they’re very close,” Whittingham said. “We’re charting every kick and putting them in as many situations as we can out here.”

Despite the difference in years between the two competitors, Whittingham isn’t looking at that as a factor into who should earn the job. He said it’s an exact science, you either make it or you don’t. The one who proves he can nail the field goals and help his team win will earn it.

“They both have strong legs,” Whittingham said. “Their get-off times are good, they’re very poised and confident and seem to be able to handle pressure, but you never truly know until their under the lights at game time.”

The secondary, quarterback and running back positions are also seeing separation according to Whittingham. Troy Williams and Tyler Huntley are getting the majority of the reps, while Cooper Bateman is not getting nearly as many as he was last week during camp. Whittingham said running backs Zack Moss and Armand Shyne are still neck and neck and are performing very well, but he did add that Moss might be nudging ahead. Devonta’e Henry-Cole sits behind the two.

Kyle Whittingham:

Kylie Fitts:

Bradlee Anae:

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