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The University of Utah Athletics
Ute Football Opens Fall Camp
8/2/1999 12:00 AM | Football
August 9, 1999
SALT LAKE CITY -
QUICKLY
The Ute football team officially opens practice this week ... Newcomers report on Tue., Aug. 10 and will spend two days getting oriented with the program before the veterans join them ... Practices begin on Fri., Aug. 13 at the Thomas Kearns McCarthey Practice Fields ... From August 13-23, the team will hold two practices a day with the exception of Sundays, when it will practice just once. Single practice days are also slated for Aug. 24-28 ... Morning practices will begin at 9:30 a.m. in most cases and the afternoon practice will normally start at 4:30 p.m. The practice sessions will run approximately an hour and a half each (more on the schedule below) ... It's the start of year No. 10 for Head Coach Ron McBride, who is 62-43 in his first nine years.
COMING SOON
Utah opens its 1999 schedule on September 4 in Pullman, Wash., against Washington State. The Utes will have the next Saturday off and then kick off their home slate on September 18 against Utah State. The first-ever Mountain West Conference game for Utah falls on September 25 at UNLV.
PRACTICE NOTES
A complete practice schedule can be found on page 2 of this release ... There will be 25 total practices during preseason camp ... Special teams will practice each morning prior to the 9:30 a.m. offensive and defensive practice ... Practice times may vary. Please contact the sports information office at 581-3511 for daily practice updates ... Sports Information Director Liz Abel will staff every practice.
INTERVIEW POLICIES
The best time to interview players during the preseason camp is at the conclusion of the evening practice. Interviews can often be arranged between 12:30-2:30 p.m. as well. Please contact Liz Abel at 581-3511 with interview requests.
DATES OF NOTE
August 10 Newcomers report August 12 Veterans report August 13 Practice begins Aug. 25 School starts Aug. 28 TV head shots (noon in Rice-Eccles Stadium)
PICTURE/MEDIA DAY
The media is welcome to attend Utah's picture day, which is Sat., Aug. 28 from noon-3 p.m. at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
UTES PICKED TO FINISH FOURTH IN MWC
At the Mountain West Conference Football Preview, held in Colorado Springs on July 25-26, Utah was picked to finish fourth in the league by both the coaches and media. In both polls, Utah finished behind Brigham Young, Air Force and San Diego State.
ANDERSON WINS PRESEASON ACCLAIM
Senior running back Mike Anderson, who led the Western Athletic Conference in rushing last year averaging 106.6 yards per game, was voted the Mountain West Conference preseason Offensive Player of the Year by the media. Anderson was joined on the all-MWC preseason first team by three other Utes: Junior offensive lineman Sam White, senior tight end Andy Kassotis and senior defensive end John Frank. Anderson and Frank were both first-team all-WAC last year, while White made the second team and Kassotis was honorable mention.
THE SLANT
Ute defensive end John Frank will be featured on Fox Sports Network's "The Slant," a highly rated weekly show, at a date to be determined. The show will be titled "Swingin' at Utah." Frank and his parents are part of a local jazz and swing band, The Beverly Brothers. They were taped last Saturday at Club Manhattan in downtown Salt Lake City, where the band has a contract. John plays the tenor sax and sings. An interview with John and his parents, Alan and Beverly (for whom the band is named), will also be featured, as will game clips of John.
SUMMER OF 99
Sixty players stayed on campus this summer and worked out under the guidance of new Ute strength and conditioning coach Joe Kenn. Kenn implemented a five-day a week strength and conditioning program, replacing the three day program of past years. "At first the players were unsure of the five day program and complained," said Ute head coach Ron McBride. "But as they go into it, they really liked it." Kenn and McBride said that most of the players attended 90 percent of the voluntary workouts.
TRAINER'S TABLE
Starting quarterback Darnell Arceneaux (6-1, 200, Jr.), who was able to participate in all of Utah's off-season training drills, is cleared to go 100 percent in practice. Sophomore running back Thomas Fortune (6-3, 235) potentially could miss the entire season with a herniated disk. Freshman linebacker Sheldon Deckart (6-1, 252) will be limited early with a hamstring strain.
NEW YEAR, NEW LEAGUE
The Utes will play in a new conference this year after 36 years as a member of the Western Athletic Conference. Utah, along with Air Force, Brigham Young, Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State, UNLV and Wyoming, announced last May 26 that they were leaving the WAC to form a new conference, which was later named the Mountain West Conference. The MWC, which officially commenced operation on July 1, 1999, has secured a lucrative television contract with ESPN and two guaranteed bowl games: The Liberty Bowl will take the Mountain West champion, while the Las Vegas Bowl gets second choice.
WHAT TIME IS IT
Due to the seven-year, $48 million television contract signed by the Mountain West Conference with ESPN, not all game times for MWC member schools can be determined prior to the season. Either ESPN or ESPN Regional Televison (ERT) has first choice on MWC games. The ERT games will be televised at 1 p.m. on KJZZ, which also serves as Utah's flagship TV station. Utah will make at least one nationally televised appearance this fall-at Colorado State on Oct. 28. The game will be shown live on ESPN beginning at 6 p.m. The only other Ute game times that are set right now are: Sept. 4 at Washington State (2 p.m. Mountain time), Sept. 18 vs. Utah State in Salt Lake at 6 p.m., Sept. 25 at UNLV (8 p.m. MT) and Oct. 9 vs. Northeast Louisiana in Salt Lake City at 6 p.m. The 6 p.m. kickoff times for home night games is a switch from the 7 p.m. start of previous years.
ROAD RAGE
The 1999 Utes face a stiff road schedule, opening at Washington State and playing at three perennial league strongholds (Air Force, Colorado State and BYU). Utah also makes a trip to Boise State, a team that stole a last minute win from the Utes in Rice-Eccles Stadium last year.
TEAM NOTES
Forty-four lettermen return for the Utes from last year's 7-4 squad ... Eight starters are back on offense, six on defense and two kickers ... The returners include first-team all-WAC players Mike Anderson at running back, John Frank at defensive end and Kautai Olevao at linebacker. Anderson and Frank, both seniors, were preseason all-Mountain West Conference picks. Olevao is a junior ... Junior quarterback Darnell Arceneaux, who missed five games last year with injuries (finger and shoulder surgery), is at full strength for fall camp. Arceneaux was limited to run drills in the spring. Tabbed as the starter, Arceneaux is 6-0 in two years as a part-time starter ... Safety Brandon Dart, who has been plagued by injuries his entire career, has been granted two more years by the NCAA. That makes Dart, who came to Utah in 1994, a junior in eligibility. He was honorable mention all-WAC in 1996 ... Scott Styles, Utah's fourth string quarterback last year, is no longer on the team. Styles would have been a junior.MCBRIDE ON THE PRESEASON
"From what I've seen on the charts and heard from (strength coach) Joe Kenn, the players are very prepared from a physical standpoint. Joe implemented a five-day a week conditioning program that started on May 10. Players had the opportunity for 57 workouts. We went to five days of training as a method of preparing to play the fourth quarter. Our goal this year is to keep the players fresh as much as we can ... In the coming weeks, our offensive emphasis is going to be determining the No. 2 and 3 quarterbacks behind Darnell (Arceneaux), and also getting our new receivers to fit into the system. They (Dennis Smith, Johnny Lundy and Stevonne Smith) came here as soon as they were eligible to leave their junior colleges. They've been here the last couple of months (Dennis Smith has been in Salt Lake since the spring). Defensively, we hope to settle on our top five linebackers. One thing we always make our No. 1 priority is stopping the run ... We're going to try and take a little different approach to this fall camp. The kicking game drills will precede practices and the practices will be shorter in duration, in hopes of keeping the team fresh and avoiding the injury problems we've had in the past. We don't want to have any wasted time when guys are just standing around ... We're going to take a really aggressive approach to our first game."
1999 Utah Football Preseason Practice Schedule
Date Time Notes
Aug. 13 9:15 a.m. helmets/shoulder pads
4:15 p.m. helmets/shoulder pads
Aug. 14 9:30 a.m. helmets/shoulder pads
4:30 p.m. helmets/shoulder pads
Aug. 15 4:30 p.m. helmets/shoulder pads
Aug. 16 9:30 a.m. helmets/shoulder pads
4:30 p.m. helmets/shoulder pads
Aug. 17 9:30 a.m. full pads
4:30 p.m. full pads
Aug. 18 9:30 a.m. full pads
4:30 p.m. full pads
Aug. 19 9:30 a.m. helmets/shoulder pads
4:30 p.m. full pads
Aug. 20 9:30 a.m. full pads
4:30 p.m. full pads
Aug. 21 9:30 a.m. full pads
4:30 p.m. helmets/shoulder pads
Aug. 22 4:30 p.m. helmets/shoulder pads
Aug. 23 9:30 a.m. full pads
4:30 p.m. full pads
Aug. 24 4:30 p.m. full pads
Aug. 25 4:30 p.m. helmets/shoulder pads
Aug. 26 3:45 p.m. full pads
Aug. 27 3:45 p.m. full pads
Aug. 28 9:15 a.m. helmets/shoulder pads
12:00 p.m. TV head shots/media day (Rice-Eccles Stadium)
*all practices held at Thomas Kearns McCarthey Fields, times subject to change
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