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The University of Utah Athletics
Spring Camp to Open for Football
6/21/1999 12:00 AM | Football
March 22, 1999
UTES SET TO OPEN SPRING CAMP
The Utah football team will open its spring drills this Thurs., March 25 at
the Thomas Kearns McCarthey Practice Fields, located behind the Dee Glen
Smith Center. The spring session, which begins a week earlier than usual
this year due to Utah's conversion to the semester system, will run through
April 22. The Utes will have 15 total days of training. There are three
scrimmages scheduled, with the last one signaling the close to spring camp
on Thurs., April 22. The Utes will kick off their spring drills with three
days of "helmets only" training. Over the five-week training period, Utah
will practice every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, as well as one Friday
(March 26) and one Monday (March 29). Weekday practices will run from 3-5
p.m., while Saturday workouts are scheduled for 9-11 a.m. A complete
schedule can be found on page 3 of this release.
WATCH THE WEATHER
The Utes will practice outside under most weather conditions. In the case
of severe rain or snow, practice will move inside the Bubble. The Bubble is
located just south of the Smith Center.
SATURDAY SCRIMMAGES
The Utes will run situational scrimmages on April 10, April 17 and April
22. The two Saturday practices (April 10 and 17) are scheduled to start at
9 a.m. The final scrimmage will start at 3 p.m. on April 22. Scrimmages
will be held at the Thomas Kearns McCarthey Practice Field.
CHECK THE TIME Practice times often vary from the attached schedule. Call the sports information office (581-3511/3510) for daily practice time updates.
BY THE NUMBERS
Utah returns 45 lettermen and 16 starters from last year's 7-4 team. Eight
starters are back on offense, six on defense and both the punter and field
goal kicker return. Utah lost 20 lettermen to graduation, including 11 full
or part-time starters (four on offense, seven on defense). Among those were
three first-team all-WAC losses: wide receiver Daniel Jones, defensive back
Robert Love and nose guard Pene Talamaivao (1997).
ALL-LEAGUE RETURNEES
In Utah's move to a new league next fallthe Mountain West Conferenceit
will bring along eight all-WAC players. Among those are first-teamers Mike
Anderson (running back), John Frank (defensive end) and Kautai Olevao
(linebacker). Named to the second team were offensive linemen Josh Cochran
and Sam White. Honorable mention all-WAC Utes: Kimball Christianson, DB;
Andy Kassotis, TE; Chris Hunter, P.
HEAD COACH RON MCBRIDE
Head Coach Ron McBride is gearing up for his tenth year at the helm of the
Ute program. He has won the second most games ever by a Ute coach and owns
a 62-43 record. McBride, who has taken Utah to four bowl gamesa record for
a Utah coachwon the WAC Championship in 1995. Last year's 7-4 record was
the sixth-straight winning year for McBride and his eighth consecutive .500
or better season. He has averaged seven wins per season in the last nine
years. In 1994, he led Utah to the best record (10-2) and final national
ranking (No. 9) in school history.
STAFF CHANGES
The only change to this year's coaching staff is linebacker coach Fred
Whittingham is no longer a volunteer. A complete list of Utah's coaches is
below.
1999 UTE COACHING STAFF Head Coach: Ron McBride (San Jose State, 1964) Ass't. Head Coach/Receivers: Fred Graves (Utah, 1971) Defensive Coordinator/Safeties: Kyle Whittingham (Brigham Young, 1984) Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks: Tommy Lee (Williamette, 1963) Running Backs/Special Teams: Sean McNabb (UC-Riverside, 1972) Offensive Line: Don Eck (Utah, 1983) Cornerbacks: Jugi Hogue (San Jose State, 1973) Linebackers: Fred Whittingham (Cal Poly-SLO, 1963) Defensive Ends: Steve Kaufusi (Brigham Young, 1994) Defensive Tackles: Gary Andersen (Utah, 1986)
PERSONNEL PICTURE
Offensive Starters Returning (8)
Mike Anderson, RB (6-2, 220, Sr.); Darnell Arceneaux*, QB (6-1, 187, Jr.);
Josh Cochran, OL (6-5, 307, Sr.); Andy Kassotis, TE (6-3, 273, Sr.); Doug
Kaufusi, OL (6-7, 300, So.); Luis Park, OL (6-2, 300, Sr.); Donny Utu, WR
(6-1, 196, Sr.); Sam White, OL (6-3, 280, Jr.).
Defensive Starters Returning (6)
Kimball Christianson, DB (6-3, 209, Jr.); Andre Dyson, DB (5-10, 184, Jr.);
Teneil Ethridge, DB (5-10, 188, Sr.); John Frank, DE (6-5, 271, Sr.); Jay
Hill, DB (6-1, 186, Sr.); Kautai Olevao, LB (6-2, 240, Jr.).
Kicking Game Starters Returning (2)
Chris Hunter, P (6-4, 232, Sr.); Ryan Kaneshiro, K (5-6, 172, So.).
*split starting duties
SPRING INJURIES
Starting quarterback Darnell Arceneaux (shoulder surgery) will not throw
this spring and he will be limited in contact drills. Tight end Tony
Dickamore has not yet been cleared to practice and when he does, it could
be on a limited basis. Dickamore had complications (adult respiratory
distress) following shoulder surgery on Jan. 12. Players who will be
unable to compete in spring ball are: offensive lineman Michael Richardson
(ACL knee surgery on Mar. 9), offensive lineman Fisi Moleni (knee surgery
on Feb. 17), defensive lineman Justyn Boudreau (ACL knee surgery on Feb.
11). All of the above but Richardson, who is questionable, are expected to
be able to compete in the fall.
REDSHIRTS RETURN
The following is a list of Utes who redshirted last season that will play
this year: Dylan Bird, LB; Brad Burtenshaw, WR; Howard Christianson, LB;
D'Shaun Crockett, RB; Desmond David, DB; Sheldon Deckart, LB; Mike Fuller,
DL; Joel Gines, QB; Ed Johnson, DL; Airabin Justin, DB; Joe McCullum, OL;
Tevita Pela, DL; Jeff Ray, DB; Garrett Smith, DL; Dustin Thome, QB; Tevita
Vakalahi, DL; Philippe Wells, WR; Wayman Westbrooks, WR.
OFF A MISSION
Making their first appearance at Utah's spring football camp after signing
with the Utes back in 1996 are these returned missionaries: Dustin
McQuivey, OL; Lance Rice, QB and Shawn Tidwell, DL. Justyn Boudreau, DL,
has also returned off a mission, but he will miss spring ball after
undergoing knee surgery (ACL) on Feb. 11.
MCBRIDE SAYS
Offensive Overview: "Our primary areas of concentration will be the
receiver position, depth on the offensive line and determining the No. 2
and 3 quarterbacks. We need to continue to have a good run game. One thing
we'll work on there is securing the football a lot better. We need to
improve our passing game 30 percentparticularly in play action."
Offensive Personnel: "We want to come out of spring with three quarterbacks we know can play on Saturday. Obviously, we know what Darnell (Arceneaux) can do, but we need two solid backups. Darnell will be limited to mostly run game stuff in the spring. We're really interested to see how Tony Alvarez, Joel Gines and T.D. Croshaw perform in the next month. At running back we'll take a good look at Thomas Fortune and D'Shaun Crockett. The wide receivers we'll pay close attention to are Philippe Wells and Cliff Russell. We're worried about depth on the offensive line since Michael Richardson and Fisi Moleni are both out. We're moving Rod Talaeai to center. We hope he, Jordan Gross and Joe McCullum show us some good things."
Defensive Overview: "On defense, our players are pretty much intact, we just need to get them in the right positions. We must continue to stop the run and we must work to not give up the big play. We'd like to find three more linebackers who can really play, shore up the safety position and see who surfaces from what should be a very competitive spring on the front line. I'm really excited about the front guys. They have a good mentality for the game, a good personality and they like to play. They have fun at it."
Defensive Personnel: "Free safety will be a critical situation since we're moving Kimball Christianson over to strong safety. We'll see how Patrick Dyson and Cory DeSanti are at free safety. The corners are solid, but we want Desmond Davis to step in there and show us something. At linebacker, Sheldon Deckart and Matt Ward will be the keys among the new guys and we're anxious to have Howard Christianson back. The front guys we have look really good and competitive, but we'll be young there. I see about eight guys competing on the line."
Special Teams: "We're going to work on the techniques and fundamentals of the kicking game much more this spring than in the past. We'll also work on punt blocks, PAT/field goal blocks, punt protection, punt coverage and PAT/field goals under pressure."
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