Utah Football Camp Opens Aug. 4

8/1/2016 9:32 AM | Football

#CampKyle16 Starts Thursday
The Utah football team kicks off its 12th preseason camp under the direction of head coach Kyle Whittingham on Thursday, Aug. 4. The Utes will hold 20 practices (including two scrimmages) during #CampKyle16 from Aug. 4-20. Practices and scrimmages are closed to the public throughout fall camp and the competitive season.

Two-Minute Drill
The fall camp roster is capped at 105 players with dozen or so additional members anticipated to join the squad on the first day of school. Expected to report on Aug. 4 are 84 scholarship players and 21 walk-ons. The 105 roster will be finalized by Wednesday … The first two days of camp will be helmets only, the second two will be helmets and shoulder pads and the team will be in full gear starting with practice No. 5 … There are five two-a-days on the camp schedule: Aug. 10, 12, 15, 17 and 19 … Scrimmages (closed to the public; media last 20 minutes only) will be held on Aug. 11 and 16 … Single-game tickets for all six home games will go on sale to the public on Monday, Aug. 15 at Utahtickets.com, 801-581-UTIX, the Rice-Eccles Stadium ticket office and all 39 Smith's Tix locations (with no additional fees). Fans may also buy and sell tickets through vividseats.com.

Who's Back, Who's Not
The Utes return 14 starters (6 offense, 7 defense, 1 kicker) from their 2015 Pac-12 Conference South Division co-champion team … Three first-team All-Pac-12 players return in junior defensive tackle Lowell Lotulelei, junior free safety Marcus Williams and senior placekicker Andy Phillips (2014) … Utah must replace All-Pac-12 players at running back (Devontae Booker), linebacker (Gionni Paul and Jared Norris) and punter (two-time Ray Guy Award winner and two-time consensus All-American Tom Hackett).

Inside the Huddle
There is a three-man race at quarterback with the graduation of four-year starter Travis Wilson. Entering fall camp as "co-starters" are junior Brandon Cox, junior transfer Troy Williams and true freshman Tyler Huntley … Three senior starters were awarded an additional season by the NCAA for injuries that caused them to miss all or most of last season: Tight ends Siale Fakailoatonga and Evan Moeai, and receiver Tim Patrick … 2016 signee David Luafatasaga now prefers his birth name, Kavika Luafatasaga (pronounced kah-veek-ka loo-uh-fah-ta-songa).

This 'n That
Five seniors are on track to become four-year starters: kicker Andy Phillips, defensive end Hunter Dimick, cornerback Justin Thomas, offensive lineman Isaac Asiata and snapper Chase Dominguez … Utah's fastest returnees and their 40-yard dash times: Joe Williams (4.35), Kyle Fulks (4.44), Troy McCormick (4.46), Kenric Young (4.46) and Casey Hughes (4.47) … Utes on preseason watch lists include Phillips (Lou Groza Award), Dimick (Bronko Nagurski Trophy), Lotulelei (Nagurski, Outland Trophy, Bednarik Award, Polynesian College Football Player of the Year Award), Marcus Williams (Nagurski, Jim Thorpe Award), senior defensive end Kylie Fitts (Nagurski, Bednarik), senior offensive lineman J.J. Dielman (Outland), senior offensive lineman Isaac Asiata (Polynesian) and senior defensive end Pita Taumoepenu (Polynesian).

FanUp!
Utah has implemented a FanUp campaign to encourage good sportsmanship from Ute fans and their athletic teams. The 20-person committee that formulated the sportsmanship initiative was represented by the Board of Trustees, administrators, faculty, staff, students, student-athletes, alumni and fans. The FanUp campaign rolled out on the first day of August and will include a broad range of marketing tactics and messaging, such as branding at Utah's athletic venues, banners and posters throughout campus, public address announcements, FanUp t-shirts, buttons and more. For more information, please visit http://fanup.utah.edu/.

Grand Opening
Facility improvements made in the offseason include the construction of an artificial turf practice field, a massive high-definition video board and a new sound system in Rice-Eccles Stadium. The new practice field is adjacent to both the current natural grass field located behind the Spence and Cleone Football Center and the turf field inside the Spence Eccles Field House. The new Rice-Eccles Stadium video board rises 137 feet above the plaza behind the south stands. The overall LED display size of the board currently ranks among the largest in the country at 122 feet wide by 64 feet tall. The high definition display has a 16:9 aspect ratio, allowing video to be shown fully without cropping or stretching. Another feature of the $13.5 million project (funded by the Department of Athletics and Auxiliary Services) is a distributed sound system that uses a series of speakers mounted around the top of the stadium and directs the sound downward, rather than outward, to improve the sound quality for those inside the stadium and reduce noise for the surrounding community.

Coaching Moves
In the offseason, safeties coach Morgan Scalley was promoted to defensive coordinator, veteran coach Guy Holliday was hired to oversee the wide receivers and Freddie Whittingham left his position as Utah's director of player personnel for his first coaching job (tight ends). Second-year Ute assistant coach Lewis Powell moved from the tight ends to the defensive line, where he played as an undergraduate at Utah. Cornerbacks coach Sharrieff Shah and linebackers coach Justin Ena were appointed co-special teams coordinators, with Shah managing the return teams and Ena overseeing the coverage units. Head coach Kyle Whittingham will continue coaching the punters and kickers.

P12N Football Training Camp
The Pac-12 Network will visit Salt Lake City on Saturday, Aug. 20 to shoot the Utah segment of Football Training Camp. The show, which features interviews with Utah players and coaches, analysis and more, will air that night on the Pac-12 Network.

NFL Utes
As the Utes prepare to start fall camp, 29 former Utes are participating in NFL training camps, representing 16 teams. See sidebar on page 4 for the complete list of current NFL Utes.

U Fan Fest Aug. 20
The 16th-annual Fan Fest is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 20 from 6-8 p.m. on the Rice-Eccles Stadium south plaza. Fans have the opportunity to meet Utah's student-athletes and coaches, get autographs and photos and engage in interactive games at the Fan Fest. There is no charge for parking and admission.

2015 in Review
Utah tied for the Pac-12 South Division title with a 6-3 conference mark. The Utes finished 10-3 overall with a Las Vegas Bowl win over BYU to culminate the season. Utah was ranked in the national polls for 15 straight weeks and in all seven College Football Playoff rankings, finishing No. 17 AP, No. 16 Coaches and No. 22 CFP. The Utes won their six five games, rising as high as No. 3 in the AP poll, before their first loss. During that stretch, Utah beat No. 13 Oregon (62-20) and No. 23 California (30-24). The 2015 Utes also earned their first win ever against Washington, 34-23 in Seattle, and beat Arizona State for the first time since 1976. Utah led the Pac-12 and ranked No. 6 nationally in rushing defense and was second in the Pac-12 in total defense and scoring defense.

Red Hot Ticket
For the seventh-consecutive year, more than 98-percent of Utah's football season ticket holders renewed their seats, with more than 33,000 season tickets purchased for the upcoming season. The Utes have sold out their last 38 home games, dating back to the 2010 season opener. Of the sellouts, 35 were played before standing-room only crowds that exceeded Rice-Eccles Stadium's seating capacity (45,017 from 1998-2013 and 45,807 since 2014).

Ute Story Lines
Philip Afia grew up playing soccer and had never even seen a football game before trying out for his high school team as a freshman kicker ... Bradlee Anae enjoys cliff jumping, surfing and hiking … Leki Fotu played on the USA Rugby Boys High School All-American team and trained with the London Wasps' rugby team in 2013 … Wallace Gonzalez spent three years as an outfielder in the Houston Astros' minor league system. Gonzalez was drafted out of high school in the 29th round of the 2011 MLB Draft … Nigel King has traveled the world … Andy Phillips, a former five-year member of the U.S. Ski Team (2007-11), had never played in a football game at any level prior to walking on at Utah … Justin Thomas likes to visit a long-term care facility in his hometown of Orange, Texas, where he interacts with the elderly residents … Alex Whittingham considers himself a trivia expert on the Beatles.

Family Ties
Bradlee Anae's sister Adora Anae plays volleyball at Utah and was a first-team All-Pac-12 selection as a sophomore in 2015 … Isaac Asiata's cousin Matt Asiata is a running back for the Minnesota Vikings … The parents of Jackson Barton and Cody Barton were two-sport athletes at Utah. Mother Mikki Kane-Barton, a member of Utah's Crimson Club Hall of Fame, was an all-conference basketball and volleyball player for the Utes and the 1993 Western Athletic Conference Basketball Player of the Year. Father Paul Barton played football (QB) and baseball (pitcher) for the U … Chase Dominguez' identical twin Reid Dominguez plays volleyball for national power UC Irvine … Austin Lee's grandfather Gordon Lee played football at Utah from 1959-61 and coached the Ute running backs from 1964-65 … Lowell Lotulelei is the younger brother of former Ute All-American and first-round NFL draft pick Star Lotulelei (Carolina Panthers) … Filipo Mokofisi, Sharrieff Shah Jr. and Pita Tonga all share the name of their fathers, who were former Utah football stars. The elder Sharrieff Shah now coaches Utah's cornerbacks and special teams. In addition, Tonga's mother Susana (Tauteoli) Tonga was a first-team all-conference basketball player for the Utes … Tucket Scott's father Lance Scott was a two-time all-WAC center for Utah who went on to play six years in the NFL … head coach Kyle Whittingham's son Alex Whittingham and tight ends coach Freddie Whittingham's son Sam Whittingham both play for the Utes.