08-15-2017, 04:01 PM
may have the injuries to be really bad.
Practices are now totally closed to the public so I'm relying on what I hear second hand. Also, Utah isn't releasing depth charts during fall camp which I'm thinking could mean that some injuries may be more serious than they were represented. The key injury without question is starting Strong Safety Chase Hansen. The team issued a press release saying that Hansen would not practice with the team and when asked if Hansen would be ready for the opener Whitt only said that it would be "nice" to have him back, not that he expected him back. Completely unconfirmed rumors are either a sports hernia or a groin injury requiring surgery. But both of these come from the wife's friend who cuts the hair of the wife of an equipment manager who allegedly saw a website about (insert injury here) on one of the trainer's phone... You get the idea.
What is extremely disturbing is that Urban instigated and Whitt continued "The Pit". If an injured player is in the pit, the strength and conditioning personnel have them working parts of their bodies that aren't injured like a guy with a broken arm riding a bike, etc. Chase Hansen hasn't been spotted at practice at all from what I've heard. So with that said, here's the 61_Shasta probably way too long opinion on what you'll see in Salt Lake City in October. And hopefully you'll join us tailgating as well.
O-Line
As has been noted Utah put 4 guys into the league last year. That kind of talent is definitely hard to replace but one thing that I think benefits Utah is that Whitt believes strongly in an almost constant rotation of linemen so a lot of the 2's from last year have considerable experience in games. Garrett Bolles, last year's starting left tackle, will be starting as a rookie for the Broncos but some reports say his replacement has solidly locked down the spot. Major concern is projected starting C Lo Falemaka who missed most of last year and is not practicing at this time. Coach Whitt's policy is that he will only comment on injuries that are season ending and he's not saying anything so I'm hopeful Lo will be back. If he can't go Salesei Uhatafi moves from RG to C which puts a freshman at RG.
QB
The biggest head scratcher of the camp. Troy Williams started all 13 games last year IIRC and is listed as #1 on the depth chart but hasn't been named the starter. Coach Whitt says it's still an open competition among Williams, So. Tyler Huntley and Sr. transfer Cooper Bateman. Two different reports say that Bateman is definitely the best passer but has penchant for scrambling rivaled only by guys like Marino & Brady. Three steps for Bateman is a scramble. Huntly, on the other hand, can keep plays alive with his feet and isn't afraid to tuck it when a blitz comes or when he sees a hole. Williams is kind of a combination of the two, best described as good and a lot of things but not great at anything.
WR/TE
Ironically enough what has been the weak spot of the offense from day 1 of Whitt's tenure seems to be the strong point this year. Darren Carrington, the transfer from Oregon, is being called the #1 target and returning players are playing at a high enough level that highly touted WR Josh Nurse made the move from WR to Safety this week. The question is if the QB play will be at a high enough level to get the balls to this crew. Both TEs projected to see significant time were injured last year. Both Siale Fakailoatonga and Harrison Handley have shown great talent at times but both have been injury prone during their time at Utah. What will be interesting to see is if new OC Troy Taylor (yes, our 9th coordinator/coordinator combo in 13 years) will use both TEs at the same time as Utah has in the past.
RB
RB took a really bad hit when Armand Shyne injured himself in what Whitt is calling a "fluke" in practice. Whitt says the injury isn't season ending but he did say Shyne is "on the shelf for a long time." One of the players in a post-practice interview did make the remark that he feels sorry for Shyne because, "last year the knee, now the broken arm" but no one will confirm it. The good news is that Zack Moss is back to 100% after missing three games and being obviously hampered in extremely limited action last year. Moss is a sophomore and is speed, speed and more speed. He's listed at 210 on the roster but if he played at 190 last year I'll be surprised. He's not the guy that can go up the middle and push the pile. Hopefully he's done a lot of video study this summer also. Playing as a true freshman last year he notoriously mis-read the gaps a number of times, most notably on the last play of the game against your friends across the bay when he tried to hit the B gap when there was a double team opening up the left A gap to where he could have walked in. After Moss it's Troy McCormick making yet another position change. McCormick began his career as a backup RB, then moved to slot receiver where he was expected to start. Yesterday Coach Whitt announced that Troy is now the #2 RB.
There's my $0.02 as far as the offense goes. More on the defense later. Can't wait for the game. I love playing Stanford because I enjoy how our strengths line up against each other so well. It's going to be fun.
Practices are now totally closed to the public so I'm relying on what I hear second hand. Also, Utah isn't releasing depth charts during fall camp which I'm thinking could mean that some injuries may be more serious than they were represented. The key injury without question is starting Strong Safety Chase Hansen. The team issued a press release saying that Hansen would not practice with the team and when asked if Hansen would be ready for the opener Whitt only said that it would be "nice" to have him back, not that he expected him back. Completely unconfirmed rumors are either a sports hernia or a groin injury requiring surgery. But both of these come from the wife's friend who cuts the hair of the wife of an equipment manager who allegedly saw a website about (insert injury here) on one of the trainer's phone... You get the idea.
What is extremely disturbing is that Urban instigated and Whitt continued "The Pit". If an injured player is in the pit, the strength and conditioning personnel have them working parts of their bodies that aren't injured like a guy with a broken arm riding a bike, etc. Chase Hansen hasn't been spotted at practice at all from what I've heard. So with that said, here's the 61_Shasta probably way too long opinion on what you'll see in Salt Lake City in October. And hopefully you'll join us tailgating as well.
O-Line
As has been noted Utah put 4 guys into the league last year. That kind of talent is definitely hard to replace but one thing that I think benefits Utah is that Whitt believes strongly in an almost constant rotation of linemen so a lot of the 2's from last year have considerable experience in games. Garrett Bolles, last year's starting left tackle, will be starting as a rookie for the Broncos but some reports say his replacement has solidly locked down the spot. Major concern is projected starting C Lo Falemaka who missed most of last year and is not practicing at this time. Coach Whitt's policy is that he will only comment on injuries that are season ending and he's not saying anything so I'm hopeful Lo will be back. If he can't go Salesei Uhatafi moves from RG to C which puts a freshman at RG.
QB
The biggest head scratcher of the camp. Troy Williams started all 13 games last year IIRC and is listed as #1 on the depth chart but hasn't been named the starter. Coach Whitt says it's still an open competition among Williams, So. Tyler Huntley and Sr. transfer Cooper Bateman. Two different reports say that Bateman is definitely the best passer but has penchant for scrambling rivaled only by guys like Marino & Brady. Three steps for Bateman is a scramble. Huntly, on the other hand, can keep plays alive with his feet and isn't afraid to tuck it when a blitz comes or when he sees a hole. Williams is kind of a combination of the two, best described as good and a lot of things but not great at anything.
WR/TE
Ironically enough what has been the weak spot of the offense from day 1 of Whitt's tenure seems to be the strong point this year. Darren Carrington, the transfer from Oregon, is being called the #1 target and returning players are playing at a high enough level that highly touted WR Josh Nurse made the move from WR to Safety this week. The question is if the QB play will be at a high enough level to get the balls to this crew. Both TEs projected to see significant time were injured last year. Both Siale Fakailoatonga and Harrison Handley have shown great talent at times but both have been injury prone during their time at Utah. What will be interesting to see is if new OC Troy Taylor (yes, our 9th coordinator/coordinator combo in 13 years) will use both TEs at the same time as Utah has in the past.
RB
RB took a really bad hit when Armand Shyne injured himself in what Whitt is calling a "fluke" in practice. Whitt says the injury isn't season ending but he did say Shyne is "on the shelf for a long time." One of the players in a post-practice interview did make the remark that he feels sorry for Shyne because, "last year the knee, now the broken arm" but no one will confirm it. The good news is that Zack Moss is back to 100% after missing three games and being obviously hampered in extremely limited action last year. Moss is a sophomore and is speed, speed and more speed. He's listed at 210 on the roster but if he played at 190 last year I'll be surprised. He's not the guy that can go up the middle and push the pile. Hopefully he's done a lot of video study this summer also. Playing as a true freshman last year he notoriously mis-read the gaps a number of times, most notably on the last play of the game against your friends across the bay when he tried to hit the B gap when there was a double team opening up the left A gap to where he could have walked in. After Moss it's Troy McCormick making yet another position change. McCormick began his career as a backup RB, then moved to slot receiver where he was expected to start. Yesterday Coach Whitt announced that Troy is now the #2 RB.
There's my $0.02 as far as the offense goes. More on the defense later. Can't wait for the game. I love playing Stanford because I enjoy how our strengths line up against each other so well. It's going to be fun.
<p>