Upcoming Event: Football versus Idaho on September 3, 2026
Football
vs Idaho
.png&width=31&height=31&type=webp)
The University of Utah Athletics
Photo by: Brooke Frederickson
Quotes From Kyle Whittingham's Signing Day Press Conference
2/5/2020 4:06 PM | Football
Opening statement…
"We were able to finish off our class today. We are still waiting on a couple that we expect that we can't talk about until we physically get them in our hands, but for all intended purposes, we are done recruiting for this cycle. We feel really good about the class. We have a great crop of in-state athletes this year. We signed five of the top six athletes in the state and when you combine that with four returned missionaries from in-state, nine of the 25 allocated scholarships will be going to Utah players. You aren't going to keep every single one of them home, that is not realistic, but we feel we did a really good this year of keeping a lot of them in-state. Second was Texas with five and then Hawaii and California with three each, and then one from New Mexico, Alabama, Arizona and Oregon. The class is freshmen heavy, we only took one junior college player, so we are building up the freshmen numbers. We will have 35 freshmen on scholarships for this fall, which is the most by far since I have been here at Utah."
"There is a lot of young talent in the program, and then we have 16 or 17 sophomores, so 53 or 54 of the scholarships will be freshmen and sophomores, so a lot of new faces you are going to see this year. We lost a lot of good players. We have nine going to the NFL Combine, our highest number ever, and eight of those are on defense. It is not hard to figure out why we were formidable on defense this past year and why we had statistically one of the best defenses we have ever had at Utah. It is going to be a big challenge replacing those guys, but like I said, we've got a lot of young talent that will be looking for opportunities. We are defensive heavy in this class with 16 defensive players and nine on offense. The reason being, we had far more departures on defense than we did on offense. Offense has very few new faces, but will be in those key areas like quarterback, tailback and left tackle. Key spots, but not a lot of departure. We are ready to gear up and get going on spring ball which will start on March 2. We will go three days that week, break for spring break, and then come back and get after it and we finish on April 11 for what we believe is going to be our spring game. If our numbers get a little bit low, then it might be a modified version of a spring game, but that is the plan going forward."
On if they wanted to sign a quarterback based on what the quarterback room was looking like…
"The quarterback position is unique and it has become more unique in the last three years with the addition of the portal. A lot of teams pick up their quarterback out of the portal now and it is a one and done type of deal, so yes we wanted to recruit a quarterback and try to balance it out. We will have four quarterbacks in the room in Cam Rising, Jake Bentley, Drew Lisk and now Cooper Justice. We feel we are in a good spot and then next year we will have to re-tool the room again. That quarterback room turns over quite often and I don't think that is unique to us, I think it is common around the country with the portal."
On what positions on both sides of the ball are the easiest for a freshman to come in and contribute right away…
"On defense, the learning curve is the least steep up front on defensive line and at corner. It can get quite complex at linebacker and safety and it takes a little more time to learn things in that respect, but physically to get inside on the interior line and bang around in there as a freshman is not easy to do either. Offensively I would say the perimeter is probably the fastest place you can plug in, the wide receiver spot."
On the members of the 2020 class that are already on campus…
"We have seen great things and are excited to work with them. We have Jake Bentley here, Ben Renfro is here, obviously the returned missionaries in Hunter, Taniela, Tennessee and Aliki, and then Clark Phillips III our talented corner is here. We also anticipate getting Caine Savage before too much longer. The big guys are all athletic and can move really well, Clark is quick as a cat, Ben looks like he is going to make that move from wide receiver to safety, and Jake is a proven commodity at quarterback."
On the improvement in recruiting the last five years and possibly signing one of the best classes in program history…
"Our net has been cast fairly wide now. We have guys from all over the country, but more than anything else, we are able to stand toe-to-toe and win some of these battles with high profile schools. If you look at our recruits and their offers, we are beating some really good schools – schools we couldn't even be in the conversation with six or seven years ago."
On what intrigued them about Cooper Justice…
"He is 6-6, 240 pounds, and was injured in high school and really had limited experience. His senior year was the only time he had extensive playing time. He is a tremendous baseball player and will probably get drafted, but he wants to be a football player. He looks a lot like Justin Herbert with his stature. You can't compare him to Justin Herbert for what he is doing at quarterback yet, but as far as how he looks, he is just like him. He is a leftie. We think he is an intriguing guy, but also he is big enough and thick enough to if for some reason it didn't work out at quarterback, he is the kind of guy that we could try at two or three other spots. But he is a quarterback first and foremost, make no mistake about it."
On if it helps in recruiting having continuity on the staff…
"It helps a bunch. It is something that I should have mentioned. Right now, the entire staff is intact. There is still time for movement, but most of the movement in the country has already occurred. But you saw what happened at Michigan State. Ideally, everyone will stay on board – no guarantee in that – but right now the odds are in our favor. The continuity of that helped with recruiting. We didn't have to do any midstream handoffs from one coach to another, or a guy that really liked his position coach and then that coach changes."
On if he will look to add any transfers this summer…
"There is three limits that you are up against. The amount of national letters you can sign, the 25 initial count year-to-year, and the 85 overall. So we will have room in the 85 and if a kid decides to join in and you don't recruit him, you can count him towards next year. That would be the circumstance that we might be able to add a player or two."
On if any players currently in the program has changed positions and how many preferred walk-ons do they anticipate having…
"Jason Shelley moved to safety and will stay there – that is a change that happened at the end of the season. Right now, there is nobody else that finished the season at their spot that has been moved, but that can change in spring ball. In spring ball and if we see a deficiency somewhere or see a guy that could fit somewhere else, that could happen."
On who will take the first snap at quarterback in spring ball…
"Good question, I guess we will find out. I couldn't tell you right now. I can tell you it will be Cam, Drew or Jake. We can narrow it down to those three."
Â
"We were able to finish off our class today. We are still waiting on a couple that we expect that we can't talk about until we physically get them in our hands, but for all intended purposes, we are done recruiting for this cycle. We feel really good about the class. We have a great crop of in-state athletes this year. We signed five of the top six athletes in the state and when you combine that with four returned missionaries from in-state, nine of the 25 allocated scholarships will be going to Utah players. You aren't going to keep every single one of them home, that is not realistic, but we feel we did a really good this year of keeping a lot of them in-state. Second was Texas with five and then Hawaii and California with three each, and then one from New Mexico, Alabama, Arizona and Oregon. The class is freshmen heavy, we only took one junior college player, so we are building up the freshmen numbers. We will have 35 freshmen on scholarships for this fall, which is the most by far since I have been here at Utah."
"There is a lot of young talent in the program, and then we have 16 or 17 sophomores, so 53 or 54 of the scholarships will be freshmen and sophomores, so a lot of new faces you are going to see this year. We lost a lot of good players. We have nine going to the NFL Combine, our highest number ever, and eight of those are on defense. It is not hard to figure out why we were formidable on defense this past year and why we had statistically one of the best defenses we have ever had at Utah. It is going to be a big challenge replacing those guys, but like I said, we've got a lot of young talent that will be looking for opportunities. We are defensive heavy in this class with 16 defensive players and nine on offense. The reason being, we had far more departures on defense than we did on offense. Offense has very few new faces, but will be in those key areas like quarterback, tailback and left tackle. Key spots, but not a lot of departure. We are ready to gear up and get going on spring ball which will start on March 2. We will go three days that week, break for spring break, and then come back and get after it and we finish on April 11 for what we believe is going to be our spring game. If our numbers get a little bit low, then it might be a modified version of a spring game, but that is the plan going forward."
On if they wanted to sign a quarterback based on what the quarterback room was looking like…
"The quarterback position is unique and it has become more unique in the last three years with the addition of the portal. A lot of teams pick up their quarterback out of the portal now and it is a one and done type of deal, so yes we wanted to recruit a quarterback and try to balance it out. We will have four quarterbacks in the room in Cam Rising, Jake Bentley, Drew Lisk and now Cooper Justice. We feel we are in a good spot and then next year we will have to re-tool the room again. That quarterback room turns over quite often and I don't think that is unique to us, I think it is common around the country with the portal."
On what positions on both sides of the ball are the easiest for a freshman to come in and contribute right away…
"On defense, the learning curve is the least steep up front on defensive line and at corner. It can get quite complex at linebacker and safety and it takes a little more time to learn things in that respect, but physically to get inside on the interior line and bang around in there as a freshman is not easy to do either. Offensively I would say the perimeter is probably the fastest place you can plug in, the wide receiver spot."
On the members of the 2020 class that are already on campus…
"We have seen great things and are excited to work with them. We have Jake Bentley here, Ben Renfro is here, obviously the returned missionaries in Hunter, Taniela, Tennessee and Aliki, and then Clark Phillips III our talented corner is here. We also anticipate getting Caine Savage before too much longer. The big guys are all athletic and can move really well, Clark is quick as a cat, Ben looks like he is going to make that move from wide receiver to safety, and Jake is a proven commodity at quarterback."
On the improvement in recruiting the last five years and possibly signing one of the best classes in program history…
"Our net has been cast fairly wide now. We have guys from all over the country, but more than anything else, we are able to stand toe-to-toe and win some of these battles with high profile schools. If you look at our recruits and their offers, we are beating some really good schools – schools we couldn't even be in the conversation with six or seven years ago."
On what intrigued them about Cooper Justice…
"He is 6-6, 240 pounds, and was injured in high school and really had limited experience. His senior year was the only time he had extensive playing time. He is a tremendous baseball player and will probably get drafted, but he wants to be a football player. He looks a lot like Justin Herbert with his stature. You can't compare him to Justin Herbert for what he is doing at quarterback yet, but as far as how he looks, he is just like him. He is a leftie. We think he is an intriguing guy, but also he is big enough and thick enough to if for some reason it didn't work out at quarterback, he is the kind of guy that we could try at two or three other spots. But he is a quarterback first and foremost, make no mistake about it."
On if it helps in recruiting having continuity on the staff…
"It helps a bunch. It is something that I should have mentioned. Right now, the entire staff is intact. There is still time for movement, but most of the movement in the country has already occurred. But you saw what happened at Michigan State. Ideally, everyone will stay on board – no guarantee in that – but right now the odds are in our favor. The continuity of that helped with recruiting. We didn't have to do any midstream handoffs from one coach to another, or a guy that really liked his position coach and then that coach changes."
On if he will look to add any transfers this summer…
"There is three limits that you are up against. The amount of national letters you can sign, the 25 initial count year-to-year, and the 85 overall. So we will have room in the 85 and if a kid decides to join in and you don't recruit him, you can count him towards next year. That would be the circumstance that we might be able to add a player or two."
On if any players currently in the program has changed positions and how many preferred walk-ons do they anticipate having…
"Jason Shelley moved to safety and will stay there – that is a change that happened at the end of the season. Right now, there is nobody else that finished the season at their spot that has been moved, but that can change in spring ball. In spring ball and if we see a deficiency somewhere or see a guy that could fit somewhere else, that could happen."
On who will take the first snap at quarterback in spring ball…
"Good question, I guess we will find out. I couldn't tell you right now. I can tell you it will be Cam, Drew or Jake. We can narrow it down to those three."
Â
Players Mentioned
QB
/ Football
QB
/ Football
CB
/ Football
S
/ Football
QB
/ FootballCrimson Corner with Bill Riley - Utah Football legend Brian Johnson
Friday, February 20
Utah Football Head Coach Morgan Scalley Introductory Press Conference | 1.06.25
Tuesday, January 06
Utah Football Head Coach Morgan Scalley Introductory Press Conference
Tuesday, January 06
Utah: 44 vs. Nebraska | POST GAME PRESS CONFERENCE | SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl
Thursday, January 01