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The University of Utah Athletics
Photo by: Maddie Hansen
Kyle Whittingham Weekly Press Conference (Oct. 12)
10/12/2021 12:29 PM | Football
Utes are back at Rice-Eccles Stadium this Saturday for an ESPN-televised kick vs. No. 18 Arizona State
SALT LAKE CITY - University of Utah head football coach Kyle Whittingham met with members of the media on Tuesday morning inside the Spence and Cleone Eccles Football Center. The full press conference can be viewed here, and selected quotes from Coach Whittingham follow.
A highly-anticipated matchup awaits the Utes (3-2, 2-0 Pac-12) this weekend, as the squad welcomes No. 18 Arizona State (5-1, 3-0 Pac-12) to Rice-Eccles Stadium. It'll be an 8 p.m. kickoff and televised on ESPN.
Opening Statement
"We were able to attend the memorial services of Aaron Lowe yesterday. It was a great service, and thanks go out to our administration for making [our travel] possible and for essentially taking the entire team and all the staff to Dallas for the service. It was good to be able to be there and support that. It was a great service and it was good to have our whole team there.
"As far as our last game, we played exceptionally well on Saturday night. Really it was a breakout game, I guess you could say, for our offense. That was really the difference in the game, the way our offense played. That's what we're capable of, and it was good to see us play up to our potential. Cameron Rising had an outstanding night and put up great numbers, nearly 80% completion percentage, nearly 11 yards per attempt, which is an outstanding figure. He didn't turn the ball over. That was really good to see the offense have the success they did, threw for over 300, rushed for 180-ish. Close to 500 yards of total offense, 42 points, zero turnovers, you're not going to lose many games doing that. Defensively, we didn't play quite as sharp as we have been. Kind of the same problem we've had with USC over the years, an inability to make enough plays on the ball up the field. That's not just on our secondary. We've got to do a better job disrupting the quarterback with our defensive line, getting him knocked off of his spot, not letting him sit back there and get comfortable. Then the undercoverage by the backers, it all ties together. So when I say not making enough plays up the field, it's not just one issue with that.
"Arizona State this week, good football team, first place in the Pac-12 South, 3-0. They're solid across the board. Their quarterback is dynamic, very balanced on offense, good running back, good receiving corps, offensive line is playing well. Defensively, they're playing well. There really is not any weakness that you can pick apart. We've got to play exceptional football this weekend and it should hopefully be a great matchup."
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On whether Monday's memorial service brought any closure…
"There was. That was another positive thing about it, the closure aspect of it and being able to have a service that could accomplish that."
Â
On schedule adjustments this week…
"We brought the players in Sunday late afternoon and evening. Their day off was [Monday]. The short version is it was a matter of flip-flopping Monday's routine to Sunday and Sunday to Monday. We're hopefully back on track now, maybe still a couple hours behind. But we backed up practice about an hour today and meetings so we can catch up a little bit in that respect."
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On Tavion Thomas' performance at USC…
"I thought his performance was outstanding. That's the second time he's gone over 100 yards this year, of course the opener against Weber State was the first time. Those are the only games he really got extensive carries to be able to do that. But as you mentioned, the ball security was outstanding. That's what we're looking for. That was the primary thing that Tavion needed to work on, and at least for [the USC game] he seemed to get that corrected. If that continues, he'll continue to get the ball. If we can continue to get that production out of him, he's a big help to our offense."
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On Arizona State QB Jayden Daniels…
"He's two more years experienced, that's probably the biggest thing. His style of play has not changed, he's very dynamic as I said earlier, and able to make plays with his legs. He can extend the play as good as any quarterback in the country. He's a good thrower as well; he's a true dual-threat. In two years of maturation and experience in their system, he's tightened up his entire game. An outstanding player and we have to try and have an answer for him."
Â
On the growth of Devaughn Vele…
"He has practiced exceptionally well and made plays in practice. It was great to see that translate into a game and target him a few more times than we have been. He responded and made the plays. That's who we believe he can be week in and week out. Hopefully that's what'll happen."
Â
On the speeches provided by members of the team at Aaron Lowe's memorial service…
"It was very emotional. I thought they all did a great job. Coach Shah was exceptional, as were our players. It was good to see them get up and be able to express themselves. That's not an easy thing. It's tough emotionally. I thought they all handled it well and did a good job."
Â
On maintaining Tavion Thomas' confidence while working to improve his ball security…
"That's a good question. I think Coach McDonald has done an exceptional job of handling that situation. Tavion, rightly so, has been a little frustrated at times. Coach McDonald has done a great job of coaching him and communicating with him and bringing him along. He's been a couple programs prior to here. He's a great kid, and wants to be great on the field. He has a very high ceiling, as you've seen when he gets extensive carries. We just need to continue to bring him along and help him become a complete back—ball security, pass protection pickups, blitz pickups, that type of thing are in that equation as well. He's on the right track right now, we believe. He's made a lot of progress, and hopefully his contribution becomes increasingly more during the course of the last half of the season."
Â
On the offensive line at USC…
"I'm glad you brought that up. It all starts up front and the offensive line had their best game of the season. It was great to see. That's what we know they can be is what you saw on Saturday, and like several other things we talked about, that needs to continue if we're going to have a chance to compete for a South title. That production and that level of play has to continue."
Â
On the offensive line starting to solidify with the top five…
"It's really the best six or seven. Bamidele Olaseni would be in that category, Paul Maile would be in that group. As you mentioned, it seemed to solidify things when Braeden Daniels did move outside and get everyone settled in. Hopefully we can continue to get the production that we got Saturday night."
Â
On the secondary…
"Still a little beat up back there, we don't have all the guys at our disposal. You didn't see Cole Bishop on Saturday, Brandon McKinney was limited. [McKinney] played a decent amount of snaps, but he was not 100%. That group needs to continue to perform and I thought they performed pretty good on Saturday, most of the time. Like I said, there's balls up the field that we feel we should have made plays on. Kamo'i Latu, like you mentioned, he was the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week. In fact, we had four awards. Cameron Rising was the [Pac-12] Offensive Player of the Week as well as a Davey O'Brien Great 8. Devin Lloyd was the Lott IMPACT Trophy Defensive Player of the Week. We had some good recognition Pac-12-wise and nationally for our guys."
Â
On a 2-0 start in Pac-12 play after some difficult results during non-conference play…
"Exceptionally proud. Our goal at the beginning of the year was to win the Pac-12. So far, just barely getting into conference play, we're in good shape at this point. Still have a lot of tough games ahead, a lot of them. We just have to continue to play one week at a time. The biggest thing coming out of that game on Saturday was the was the offense played—the way they showed up and performed up to their capabilities."
Â
On Cameron Rising's personality and leadership starting to spread amongst the rest of the team…
"I think that's a good take and a good observation. He's the kind of guy that is infectious with his leadership and attitude and juice that he brings to the table. That is permeating through the rest of the team."
Â
A highly-anticipated matchup awaits the Utes (3-2, 2-0 Pac-12) this weekend, as the squad welcomes No. 18 Arizona State (5-1, 3-0 Pac-12) to Rice-Eccles Stadium. It'll be an 8 p.m. kickoff and televised on ESPN.
Opening Statement
"We were able to attend the memorial services of Aaron Lowe yesterday. It was a great service, and thanks go out to our administration for making [our travel] possible and for essentially taking the entire team and all the staff to Dallas for the service. It was good to be able to be there and support that. It was a great service and it was good to have our whole team there.
"As far as our last game, we played exceptionally well on Saturday night. Really it was a breakout game, I guess you could say, for our offense. That was really the difference in the game, the way our offense played. That's what we're capable of, and it was good to see us play up to our potential. Cameron Rising had an outstanding night and put up great numbers, nearly 80% completion percentage, nearly 11 yards per attempt, which is an outstanding figure. He didn't turn the ball over. That was really good to see the offense have the success they did, threw for over 300, rushed for 180-ish. Close to 500 yards of total offense, 42 points, zero turnovers, you're not going to lose many games doing that. Defensively, we didn't play quite as sharp as we have been. Kind of the same problem we've had with USC over the years, an inability to make enough plays on the ball up the field. That's not just on our secondary. We've got to do a better job disrupting the quarterback with our defensive line, getting him knocked off of his spot, not letting him sit back there and get comfortable. Then the undercoverage by the backers, it all ties together. So when I say not making enough plays up the field, it's not just one issue with that.
"Arizona State this week, good football team, first place in the Pac-12 South, 3-0. They're solid across the board. Their quarterback is dynamic, very balanced on offense, good running back, good receiving corps, offensive line is playing well. Defensively, they're playing well. There really is not any weakness that you can pick apart. We've got to play exceptional football this weekend and it should hopefully be a great matchup."
Â
On whether Monday's memorial service brought any closure…
"There was. That was another positive thing about it, the closure aspect of it and being able to have a service that could accomplish that."
Â
On schedule adjustments this week…
"We brought the players in Sunday late afternoon and evening. Their day off was [Monday]. The short version is it was a matter of flip-flopping Monday's routine to Sunday and Sunday to Monday. We're hopefully back on track now, maybe still a couple hours behind. But we backed up practice about an hour today and meetings so we can catch up a little bit in that respect."
Â
On Tavion Thomas' performance at USC…
"I thought his performance was outstanding. That's the second time he's gone over 100 yards this year, of course the opener against Weber State was the first time. Those are the only games he really got extensive carries to be able to do that. But as you mentioned, the ball security was outstanding. That's what we're looking for. That was the primary thing that Tavion needed to work on, and at least for [the USC game] he seemed to get that corrected. If that continues, he'll continue to get the ball. If we can continue to get that production out of him, he's a big help to our offense."
Â
On Arizona State QB Jayden Daniels…
"He's two more years experienced, that's probably the biggest thing. His style of play has not changed, he's very dynamic as I said earlier, and able to make plays with his legs. He can extend the play as good as any quarterback in the country. He's a good thrower as well; he's a true dual-threat. In two years of maturation and experience in their system, he's tightened up his entire game. An outstanding player and we have to try and have an answer for him."
Â
On the growth of Devaughn Vele…
"He has practiced exceptionally well and made plays in practice. It was great to see that translate into a game and target him a few more times than we have been. He responded and made the plays. That's who we believe he can be week in and week out. Hopefully that's what'll happen."
Â
On the speeches provided by members of the team at Aaron Lowe's memorial service…
"It was very emotional. I thought they all did a great job. Coach Shah was exceptional, as were our players. It was good to see them get up and be able to express themselves. That's not an easy thing. It's tough emotionally. I thought they all handled it well and did a good job."
Â
On maintaining Tavion Thomas' confidence while working to improve his ball security…
"That's a good question. I think Coach McDonald has done an exceptional job of handling that situation. Tavion, rightly so, has been a little frustrated at times. Coach McDonald has done a great job of coaching him and communicating with him and bringing him along. He's been a couple programs prior to here. He's a great kid, and wants to be great on the field. He has a very high ceiling, as you've seen when he gets extensive carries. We just need to continue to bring him along and help him become a complete back—ball security, pass protection pickups, blitz pickups, that type of thing are in that equation as well. He's on the right track right now, we believe. He's made a lot of progress, and hopefully his contribution becomes increasingly more during the course of the last half of the season."
Â
On the offensive line at USC…
"I'm glad you brought that up. It all starts up front and the offensive line had their best game of the season. It was great to see. That's what we know they can be is what you saw on Saturday, and like several other things we talked about, that needs to continue if we're going to have a chance to compete for a South title. That production and that level of play has to continue."
Â
On the offensive line starting to solidify with the top five…
"It's really the best six or seven. Bamidele Olaseni would be in that category, Paul Maile would be in that group. As you mentioned, it seemed to solidify things when Braeden Daniels did move outside and get everyone settled in. Hopefully we can continue to get the production that we got Saturday night."
Â
On the secondary…
"Still a little beat up back there, we don't have all the guys at our disposal. You didn't see Cole Bishop on Saturday, Brandon McKinney was limited. [McKinney] played a decent amount of snaps, but he was not 100%. That group needs to continue to perform and I thought they performed pretty good on Saturday, most of the time. Like I said, there's balls up the field that we feel we should have made plays on. Kamo'i Latu, like you mentioned, he was the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week. In fact, we had four awards. Cameron Rising was the [Pac-12] Offensive Player of the Week as well as a Davey O'Brien Great 8. Devin Lloyd was the Lott IMPACT Trophy Defensive Player of the Week. We had some good recognition Pac-12-wise and nationally for our guys."
Â
On a 2-0 start in Pac-12 play after some difficult results during non-conference play…
"Exceptionally proud. Our goal at the beginning of the year was to win the Pac-12. So far, just barely getting into conference play, we're in good shape at this point. Still have a lot of tough games ahead, a lot of them. We just have to continue to play one week at a time. The biggest thing coming out of that game on Saturday was the was the offense played—the way they showed up and performed up to their capabilities."
Â
On Cameron Rising's personality and leadership starting to spread amongst the rest of the team…
"I think that's a good take and a good observation. He's the kind of guy that is infectious with his leadership and attitude and juice that he brings to the table. That is permeating through the rest of the team."
Â
Players Mentioned
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