Ute Football Ready to Start Fall Camp

8/3/2010 12:00 AM | Football

Aug. 3, 2010

SALT LAKE CITY

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QUICKLY

The Utah football team opens its annual preseason camp with an afternoon practice on Thursday, Aug. 5. The Utes will wear helmets and shorts the first two days. The first day in full pads is Aug. 10 and two-a-days start on Aug. 11. Scrimmages are scheduled for Aug. 12, 17 and 21. The camp, which concludes on Aug. 21, will consist of 20 practices. There will be 105 players in camp--the maximum allowed by the NCAA. Practices and scrimmages are closed to the public.

INSIDE THE HUDDLE

There was 100-percent participation in voluntary summer conditioning, with scholarship and walk-on players combined ... Named to the preseason all-Mountain West Conference team were running back Eddie Wide, offensive linemen Caleb Schlauderaff and Zane Taylor, and defensive back Brandon Burton ... Burton has been named to the Jim Thorpe Award watch list, while Schlauderaff and Taylor are on the Outland Trophy watch list ... Two recruits will miss the start of camp due to unfinished academic requirements: Martavious Lee and Star Lotulelei. Signee Po'u Palelei needs a full semester of coursework before he joins the Utes. He is expected to enroll in January ... Out indefinitely with a knee injury is defensive tackle Lei Talamaivao.

UTE SCOOP

For the second-straight year, the Utes have sold out their season ticket allotment of 42,000 in 45,017-seat Rice-Eccles Stadium. Some single-game tickets remain for home games against Pittsburgh, UNLV, San Jose Sate, Colorado State and TCU, but the BYU game on Nov. 27 is sold out ... Utah was picked to finish second to defending champ TCU in the annual preseason media poll. The Utes received 242 points to TCU's 279 points. The remainder of the MWC preseason poll had Brigham Young third with 207 points, followed by Air Force (195), Wyoming (147), San Diego State (128), Colorado State (96), UNLV (56) and New Mexico (45).

CHANGE OF VENUE

For the eighth year, the Utes will utilize Ute Baseball Field as one of its practice venues during preseason training. Other locations include the McCarthey Practice Fields and Rice-Eccles Stadium. Opening week will find the Utes on the McCarthey Practice Fields on Aug. 5, 6 and 7. Practices will shift to the baseball field and the football stadium beginning on Aug. 11. All three scrimmages are booked for Rice-Eccles Stadium.

HERE AND GONE

The Utes return 14 starters (8 offense, 4 defense, 2 kickers), while losing 11 (4 offense, 7 defense) from last year's 10-3 Poinsettia Bowl champion team. Among the starters lost--a school-record six NFL draft picks: second-rounders Koa Misi (DL/LB, Miami) and Zane Beadles (OL, Denver); fifth-rounders Robert Johnson (DB, Tennessee), David Reed (WR, Baltimore) and Stevenson Sylvester (LB, Pittsburgh); and seventh-rounder R.J. Stanford (DB, Carolina). Utah's six NFL draft picks last April was the most of the non-BCS schools and tied for fourth overall.

AND THE WINNER IS

The fastest player on the 2010 Utah team is junior redshirt cornerback Conroy Black (4.30-second 40). The strongest player is senior offensive lineman Zane Taylor (benches 440 pounds, 41 reps of 225 pounds and 565-pound squat). Right there with Taylor are fellow offensive linemen Tony Bergstrom (405-pound bench), and Tevita Stevens and Walter Watts, who both squat 555 pounds. Senior corner Kameron Yancy has the best vertical jump (39.5"), while Black and senior safety Justin Taplin-Ross both have 39" vertical leaps.

STAFF MOVES

Former Ute quarterback Brian Johnson, the 2008 MWC Offensive Player of the Year and Sugar Bowl MVP, was hired in January to coach his old position. In other staff news, receivers coach Aaron Roderick was promoted to co-offensive coordinator, sharing the title with Dave Schramm. Schramm, who coached the quarterbacks in 2009, now oversees the tight ends. Returning to his old post as cornerbacks coach is Jay Hill. Hill, who has coached the tight ends for the past three seasons, retains his duties as special teams coordinator.

KYLE STYLE

In five years as Utah's head coach, Kyle Whittingham has been honored as the National Coach of the Year, averaged over nine wins a season, is undefeated in bowl games, led Utah to its best season ever and engineered the biggest win in school history. He is just the second Utah coach--and the first in 100 years--to achieve a winning record in each of his first five seasons, and his 48-17 overall mark includes a 10-4 advantage over BCS schools. His 6-0 bowl record includes the 2005 Fiesta Bowl, when he and Urban Meyer served as co-head coaches. On the staff since 1994, when he coached the defensive line, Whittingham was the team's defensive coordinator from 1995 until his appointment as head coach in 2005. During his 16-year tenure, the Utes have won 70-percent of their games (133-58) and played in 11 bowl games (winning 10). Whittingham has coached four first-team All-Americans--Luther Elliss (1994), Eric Weddle (2006), Louie Sakoda (2008) and Zane Beadles (2009) --and has sent 34 players to the NFL.

STREAK PEAK

Utah's nine-game bowl win streak is the longest active bowl win streak in the nation and is tied for the second-longest of all-time ... Utah's current 17-game home win streak is the second-longest in school history and the longest since the Utes won 26-straight home games from 1928-1934 ... The Utes have won nine or more games in each of the last three seasons, which is a school first ... Entering its final year as a member of a non-automatic qualifying conference, Utah has more wins against BCS schools (19) than any other NAQ team. Since the BCS began in 1998, the Utes are 19-11 against BCS schools.