Ute Football Team Opens Spring Drills On March 23

March 18, 2004

SALT LAKE CITY -

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UTES OPEN SPRING TRAINING MARCH 23

Utah head football coach Urban Meyer opens his second year of spring drills at the U. on Tuesday, March 23 starting at 3 p.m. Meyer and his staff will run the Utes through 15 practices over a four-week period. Spring training will conclude with the second annual Red-White game in Rice-Eccles Stadium on Saturday, April 17 from noon-2 p.m. Practices, scrimmages and the Red-White game are free and open to the public.

FIRST WEEK

The Utes will start their 2004 spring drills with two days of no-pads practice, Tuesday and Thursday, March 23 and 25. Both practices are scheduled for 3-5 p.m. at the McCarthey Practice Fields, weather permitting. Friday will be a no-tackle practice from 4:15-6:05 p.m., also at the practice fields. The tackling starts on Saturday in a 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. practice. A decision will be reached later on whether Saturday's practice will be held on the practice fields or in Rice-Eccles Stadium.

LOCATION, LOCATION

Most weekday practices will be held at the McCarthey Practice Fields. Saturday scrimmages are tentatively planned for Rice-Eccles Stadium. Please check with the sports information office at 581-3511 for daily updates.

SPRING SCRIMMAGES

The Utes will scrimmage on Saturday, April 3 and 10 in Rice-Eccles Stadium. Both scrimmages are scheduled for 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

A RED-WHITE MUSS

The second annual Utah Red-White Game will be played on Saturday, April 17 in Rice-Eccles Stadium. The public is invited to attend free of charge. Preceding the spring game will be a flag football game featuring the "Muss," Utah's student fan club. The Muss game will start at 11 a.m. The Red-White game, which concludes Utah's spring drills, will start at noon.

INTERVIEW POLICIES

All interviews with Head Coach Urban Meyer, his staff and players must be arranged through Assistant Athletics Director Liz Abel (801-581-3511). Interviews are conducted at the conclusion of practice unless otherwise arranged through Abel. During spring drills only, television cameras are welcome the entire practice.

PRESEASON PRAISE

ESPN.com senior writer Ivan Maisel, in his preseason poll issued on March 11, has ranked the Utes No. 10 in the nation. Maisel's latest top 25: 1. USC, 2. LSU, 3. Georgia, 4. Oklahoma, 5. Miami, 6. Texas, 7. Florida State, 8. Michigan, 9. Maryland, 10. Utah, 11. California, 12. West Virginia, 13. Ohio State, 14. Tennessee, 15. Iowa, 16. Auburn, 17. Missouri, 18. Clemson, 19. Florida, 20. Virginia, 21. Purdue, 22. Kansas State, 23. Minnesota, 24. Oregon State, 25. Toledo.

HEAD COACH

Urban Meyer Urban Meyer is 10-2 in one season at Utah and 27-8 in three years as a head coach. He was named the 2003 National Coach of the Year by The Sporting News and was also elected the 2003 Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year. Meyer capped his first season at Utah with a win over Southern Mississippi in the Liberty Bowl. He led Utah to a No. 21 final ranking in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today polls. Meyer became the first Ute coach to go to a bowl game in his first year. Ditto for his 10 wins, which also tied the school record. Against BCS teams, Meyer has an impressive 7-1 career mark, with the only blemish a 28-26 setback to Texas A&M in 2003. Meyer, 39, was hired by Utah on Dec. 12, 2002 after leading Bowling Green to a two-year record of 17-6. Under Meyer, BGSU cracked the AP Top 20 after starting the 2002 season with eight straight wins. Named the Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year as a first-year head coach in 2001, Meyer went 8-3 and 9-3 in his two years at BG. His previous coaching stops included assistantships at Ohio State (graduate assistant), Illinois State, Colorado State and Notre Dame.

2004 UTAH STAFF

Urban Meyer, Head Coach (2nd year)Kyle Whittingham, Defensive Coordinator/Safeties (11th year)Mike Sanford, Offensive Coordinator/Running Backs (2nd year)Gary Andersen, Defensive Line (1st year)Kurt Barber, Linebackers (2nd year)Billy Gonzales, Wide Receivers (2nd year)Chuck Heater, Cornerbacks (1st year)John Hevesy, Offensive Line (2nd year)Dan Mullen, Quarterbacks (2nd year)Keith Uperesa, Tight Ends (1st year)
Matt Balis, Strength CoachSonnie Aloia, Director of Football OperationsJon Clark, Administrative AssistantHiram DeFries, Community Liaison

CAPSULE OUTLOOK

Thirty-seven lettermen and 15 full or part-time starters return from Utah's record-setting 2003 team that went 10-2, won its first outright Mountain West Conference championship, beat Southern Mississippi in the Liberty Bowl and finished the season ranked No. 21 in both major polls. Among the offensive starters returning are second-team all-MWC quarterback Alex Smith and first-team all-MWC receiver Paris Warren. Defensive starters returning include second-team all-MWC free safety Morgan Scalley and freshman All-America cornerback Eric Weddle. Kicker Bryan Borreson and punter Matt Kovacevich also return.

CHASIN' JASON

The playing status of two-time first-team all-conference defensive end Jason Kaufusi remains uncertain going into spring drills. Kaufusi, who is still recovering from a shoulder injury that sidelined him all of last year, hopes to return to the team in August.

ODDS & ENDS

Ute senior wide receiver Travis LaTendresse will be unable to participate in contact drills in spring ball due to a shoulder injury. He will be the starter at Z receiver when he returns in the fall. Until then, senior Jerome Wright is the leading candidate ... senior Kawika Casco, who missed last season after preseason knee surgery, is listed as the starter at strong safety but will be limited in the spring ... Defensive back Stephen Gordon, a JC transfer who redshirted last year, had knee surgery on Mar. 1 and will miss spring ball. He is questionable for fall ... Safety Fano Tagovailoa and receiver Justin Walker are two JC signees from the latest recruiting class who are already on campus and expected to make an impact in spring ball.

DEFENSIVE MOVEMENT

Kurt Barber will coach the linebackers this year after overseeing the defensive ends last year. Kyle Whittingham will coach the safeties, new assistant Chuck Heater, who came from Washington, will coach the cornerbacks and second-time around assistant Gary Andersen will coach the defensive line. Andersen was the head coach at Southern Utah last year after assisting with the Utes from 1997-2002.

MEYER SAYS

"Last year we spent the first day of spring ball trying to learn how to break the huddle. There are a lot of inherent issues with the shotgun offense and I don't think we started to figure them out until the last week of camp. We didn't have a long snapper or a punter. Now we have both. We had very few returning starters on defense, although we had some good players.

"This spring, I'll be very disappointed offensively if we can't put in darn near everything in the first week. I'll put a lot of pressure on the coaches to get that done. I think we have a terrific thrower in Alex Smith. He is the best pure-thrower I've ever been associated with. We need to experiment with throwing the ball in some ways we maybe haven't done yet.

"Defensively, we lost only four starters, but they were terrific players and leaders. My concern and Kyle Whittingham's concern is evaluating who can step up and play. The defensive system has been intact for a long time here, but people may not know that (Whittingham) does change things every year. Teams that don't change get stale and develop problems.

"We went on to have a good season last year. We were a good team, but we are not a good program yet. Good programs have depth. Guys fit right in where another guy graduated. We don't have that kind of depth and continuity yet. We have no one at quarterback after Alex Smith; who is going to replace Brandon Warfield; can Jonathan Fanene step right in for Josh Savage? Those are the kinds of questions we must address on our way to becoming a good program.

"The top priority on this team will be the offensive line. That is our worst area. Somehow we won last year with an offensive line that was simply not physical enough. That will be the No. 1 emphasis of Urban Meyer, Mike Sanford and John Hevesy this spring."

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