Utah Football held it’s first scrimmage of Fall Camp on Thursday morning at Rice Eccles Stadium. It was a day that belonged to the defense, which forced 4 turnovers (2 that were likely scores) and made life very difficult on the Utah QB’s.
Defensive highlights included interceptions by Cory Butler (who Kyle Whittingham says is now a corner full time), Andre Godfrey and Jordan Fogal. Sacks by Fauonuku, Fanaika and Mokofisi. Reggie Porter is clearly the best corner right now for Utah’s Defense, per the coaching staff. It appears that Marcus Williams and Tevin Carter have a lock on the safety spots right now. After practice I caught up with Defensive Coordinator John Pease, he was cautiously optimistic about what he saw from his defense. He liked the four turnovers forced, but wants his guys to be better in containing the QB’s in the pocket. Here’s my full conversation with John Pease.
It wasn’t all bad for the Utah offense, back up RB Joe Williams ran for 80yds on 12 carries including a 60yd TD run and converted DE turned TE Caleb Repp had 4 catches for 27yds and is making a good case to be the guy at TE. It was a bit of a struggle for the Utah QB’s on Thursday Morning, Wilson (6-17–55yds INT) Thompson (8-20–85yds INT) and Hansen (5-9–23yds TD/INT). While the numbers don’t look great, much of it can be attributed to the fact that Utah’s top 2 WR’s (Scott/Patrick) are out right now. The newcomers and youngsters while fast and talented are still raw and had a ton of drops and route mistakes during the scrimmage. In offensive news that will surprise no one, freshman Britain Covey continues to shine (4 catches 24 yds) and after a week of camp is a top candidate to start at the slot WR position.
Here’s Kyle Whittingham meeting with the media after the scrimmage with his thoughts….
The Utes will host Michigan 21 days from Thursday at Rice Eccles Stadium in the season opener. Highland High School product and Michigan starting DT Bryan Mone will not play in the game. Mone suffered a broken bone in his ankle and will likely miss the season for the Wolverines.
Utah heads back to “double day” practices on Friday and their next/final scrimmage will be next Tuesday.
