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The University of Utah Athletics
Coaches’ Corner: Chad Bumphis and Sharrieff Shah
9/7/2022 1:59 PM | Football
Take a look inside the wide receiver and cornerback rooms as the Utes prep for Southern Utah
SALT LAKE CITY – It's another installment of Coaches' Corner with time ticking down to kickoff inside Rice-Eccles Stadium for No. 13 Utah. The Utes welcome Southern Utah on Saturday, Sept. 10 for an 11:30 a.m. MT tilt airing on Pac-12 Networks.Â
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Coming off a tough Week 1 setback at Florida, the Utes have had a chance to study film from the game in The Swamp and turn the focus fully to the battle with SUU.
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"They have to [move on]," head coach Kyle Whittingham said Tuesday afternoon. "They have no choice. Nobody feels sorry for us. Nobody cares. You have to move forward and play the next game. Win or lose, you have to move forward and play the next game. There's no difference in your approach in practice, your work week, your work habits. You've just got to continue to forge ahead. It's a long season, it's one 12-game season. You've got to be able to [play] every single week."
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In addition to Coach Whittingham's comments, wide receivers coach Chad Bumphis plus cornerbacks coach and special teams coordinator Sharrieff Shah visited with UtahUtes.com for this week's edition of Coaches' Corner.
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Wide Receivers Coach Chad Bumphis
On the final drive of the Florida game…
"I think we played very well in two-minute. We do it a lot, and [the players] know exactly what to do from all spots. I thought it went well up until the last play. I thought they handled it well, they responded well and they were ready for it. On the sideline, you could hear them. They had the right attitude, even to the point where…we may [score and] give them the ball back with time left, in which it could've gone their way. I thought they were ready for it and executed well up and down the field."
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On opportunities to take shots down the field…
"I thought they would've played us a little different…Cam does a great job at the line of scrimmage…he gets us in the right plays. That's a credit to him. He's a coordinator on the field. He gets us in the right plays. And we all know, quarterbacks want to take shots down the field, receivers want to catch balls. But if the defense doesn't present the look, we gotta get into the right play. And they did a good job of getting us in the correct situation."
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On assessing the wide receivers as a whole during the Florida game…
"Very physical. I was pleased with how they were in the run game. Obviously you want them to do more in the throw game. But no drops, just competed all night. Dominated. I challenged them to be physical, specifically Solomon Enis. I saw a side of him that I hadn't seen yet. And it was really good to see. He played with an edge. He played ticked off. And that was good to see."
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On one area of improvement heading into Southern Utah…
"Obviously you want them to be more productive in the throw game. And my thing is…whether you're open or not, demand the ball. With your separation, with your mentality, the way you play the game, you are way too good to not demand the ball. Cam should look for you every single play. We have unbelievable weapons all over the field. But I think Devaughn Vele is one of those guys too, along with Solomon Enis. We've got guys that can do it. But that's been our conversation: demand the football with how you create separation and your body language, your mentality. Go out and dominate people. Embarrass them in the throw game, dominate them in the run game."
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On playing an SEC team early and going into the rest of the season…
"It puts everything into perspective. We have the team that we need to go do exactly what we want to do. We just need to finish drives and we gotta compete. Understand that we're guys that can make plays and when you get that opportunity, make it. Coach [Whittingham] said it, there's no such thing as moral victories. We expect to win every game. But we competed. We went down there, we weren't shook. Nothing got to us. The elements didn't bother us. It was loud, didn't matter. I thought we played well, we just didn't finish the game."
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Cornerbacks Coach and Special Teams Coordinator Sharrieff Shah
On assessing the defense in the Florida game…
"Exactly what Coach Whitt said. We didn't make plays that we should have, we were unreasonably soft. We should have played tougher, made more tackles. The plays were there to be made, and we didn't make them. So I agree with exactly what Coach Whitt said."
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On potentially being one play away from a win…
"It reaffirms a few things. One, at least you know you're putting your boys in the right position. You're being put in the most critical plays that require somebody to just stand up and make a play. So that's good. Now, we just want somebody to make the play…that's probably equally frustrating, to be in those particular junctures time and time again in that game, and not have enough people stand up and make plays. It felt like the worst dream ever that I couldn't wake up from. It was very frustrating."
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Where do you go from here?
"Work. Work. Just come back and do exactly what we did today—have a hard practice, tackle better. Practice live tackling, have better man coverage. Work on the things that we saw were glaring negatives, especially from my room. I thought we didn't fit properly in blocks on the edge. We allowed runs, that should've been minimized, to have huge gains because receivers were blocking us…You come in, you correct those things and you get ready for the next opponent. Because the next opponent could care less about how close you were to Florida. They're ready to come in here and try to kick you in the face. You come back and you just work."
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On picking out one thing he liked from the cornerbacks at Florida…
"Our response a few times to the screen game was really good. JaTravis Broughton, Clark Phillips III. I thought JT and Clark did a good job of responding. The screen game is just 'how bad do you want to make a play on the ball, and beat one man?' It's one-on-one, and it's just a physical play. I loved our response on that play. That was really good."
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On the Bloody Tuesday practice…
"Bloody Tuesday has been the moniker of this practice forever. Coach Whitt makes certain that everybody feels it. From warm-up, from the time that we come out and don't stretch but you're running wind sprints. To the live tackling sessions, to the repeated long special teams, to extended periods. You feel it, you feel exactly what Bloody Tuesday feels like. After you walk off the field, and if you've committed yourself to this practice day, you feel good. You feel like 'OK, I can begin to exercise some of the demons that plagued me on Saturday' and begin to get ready to put an absolutely wonderful performance on film on Saturday. But it takes this level of work and grinding in order to get the results that you want on Saturday."
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NEXT UP
Utah opens its home slate on Saturday, Sept. 10, when they host Southern Utah for its annual Hall of Fame game. The Utes and Southern Utah will kick off at 11:30 a.m. MT on Pac-12 Networks.
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FOLLOW ALONG!
To get an inside look at the Utah Football program, follow the Utes on social media (Twitter: @Utah_Football | Instagram: @UtahFootball | Facebook: Search Utah Football), along with visiting www.UtahUtes.com for news, schedule and roster updates throughout the season.
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ÂGame 2?? @UtesEquipment pic.twitter.com/mrGpmbgqVm
— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) September 7, 2022
Coming off a tough Week 1 setback at Florida, the Utes have had a chance to study film from the game in The Swamp and turn the focus fully to the battle with SUU.
Â
"They have to [move on]," head coach Kyle Whittingham said Tuesday afternoon. "They have no choice. Nobody feels sorry for us. Nobody cares. You have to move forward and play the next game. Win or lose, you have to move forward and play the next game. There's no difference in your approach in practice, your work week, your work habits. You've just got to continue to forge ahead. It's a long season, it's one 12-game season. You've got to be able to [play] every single week."
Â
In addition to Coach Whittingham's comments, wide receivers coach Chad Bumphis plus cornerbacks coach and special teams coordinator Sharrieff Shah visited with UtahUtes.com for this week's edition of Coaches' Corner.
Â
Wide Receivers Coach Chad Bumphis
On the final drive of the Florida game…
"I think we played very well in two-minute. We do it a lot, and [the players] know exactly what to do from all spots. I thought it went well up until the last play. I thought they handled it well, they responded well and they were ready for it. On the sideline, you could hear them. They had the right attitude, even to the point where…we may [score and] give them the ball back with time left, in which it could've gone their way. I thought they were ready for it and executed well up and down the field."
Â
On opportunities to take shots down the field…
"I thought they would've played us a little different…Cam does a great job at the line of scrimmage…he gets us in the right plays. That's a credit to him. He's a coordinator on the field. He gets us in the right plays. And we all know, quarterbacks want to take shots down the field, receivers want to catch balls. But if the defense doesn't present the look, we gotta get into the right play. And they did a good job of getting us in the correct situation."
Â
On assessing the wide receivers as a whole during the Florida game…
"Very physical. I was pleased with how they were in the run game. Obviously you want them to do more in the throw game. But no drops, just competed all night. Dominated. I challenged them to be physical, specifically Solomon Enis. I saw a side of him that I hadn't seen yet. And it was really good to see. He played with an edge. He played ticked off. And that was good to see."
Â
On one area of improvement heading into Southern Utah…
"Obviously you want them to be more productive in the throw game. And my thing is…whether you're open or not, demand the ball. With your separation, with your mentality, the way you play the game, you are way too good to not demand the ball. Cam should look for you every single play. We have unbelievable weapons all over the field. But I think Devaughn Vele is one of those guys too, along with Solomon Enis. We've got guys that can do it. But that's been our conversation: demand the football with how you create separation and your body language, your mentality. Go out and dominate people. Embarrass them in the throw game, dominate them in the run game."
Â
On playing an SEC team early and going into the rest of the season…
"It puts everything into perspective. We have the team that we need to go do exactly what we want to do. We just need to finish drives and we gotta compete. Understand that we're guys that can make plays and when you get that opportunity, make it. Coach [Whittingham] said it, there's no such thing as moral victories. We expect to win every game. But we competed. We went down there, we weren't shook. Nothing got to us. The elements didn't bother us. It was loud, didn't matter. I thought we played well, we just didn't finish the game."
Â
Cornerbacks Coach and Special Teams Coordinator Sharrieff Shah
On assessing the defense in the Florida game…
"Exactly what Coach Whitt said. We didn't make plays that we should have, we were unreasonably soft. We should have played tougher, made more tackles. The plays were there to be made, and we didn't make them. So I agree with exactly what Coach Whitt said."
Â
On potentially being one play away from a win…
"It reaffirms a few things. One, at least you know you're putting your boys in the right position. You're being put in the most critical plays that require somebody to just stand up and make a play. So that's good. Now, we just want somebody to make the play…that's probably equally frustrating, to be in those particular junctures time and time again in that game, and not have enough people stand up and make plays. It felt like the worst dream ever that I couldn't wake up from. It was very frustrating."
Â
Where do you go from here?
"Work. Work. Just come back and do exactly what we did today—have a hard practice, tackle better. Practice live tackling, have better man coverage. Work on the things that we saw were glaring negatives, especially from my room. I thought we didn't fit properly in blocks on the edge. We allowed runs, that should've been minimized, to have huge gains because receivers were blocking us…You come in, you correct those things and you get ready for the next opponent. Because the next opponent could care less about how close you were to Florida. They're ready to come in here and try to kick you in the face. You come back and you just work."
Â
On picking out one thing he liked from the cornerbacks at Florida…
"Our response a few times to the screen game was really good. JaTravis Broughton, Clark Phillips III. I thought JT and Clark did a good job of responding. The screen game is just 'how bad do you want to make a play on the ball, and beat one man?' It's one-on-one, and it's just a physical play. I loved our response on that play. That was really good."
Â
On the Bloody Tuesday practice…
"Bloody Tuesday has been the moniker of this practice forever. Coach Whitt makes certain that everybody feels it. From warm-up, from the time that we come out and don't stretch but you're running wind sprints. To the live tackling sessions, to the repeated long special teams, to extended periods. You feel it, you feel exactly what Bloody Tuesday feels like. After you walk off the field, and if you've committed yourself to this practice day, you feel good. You feel like 'OK, I can begin to exercise some of the demons that plagued me on Saturday' and begin to get ready to put an absolutely wonderful performance on film on Saturday. But it takes this level of work and grinding in order to get the results that you want on Saturday."
Â
NEXT UP
Utah opens its home slate on Saturday, Sept. 10, when they host Southern Utah for its annual Hall of Fame game. The Utes and Southern Utah will kick off at 11:30 a.m. MT on Pac-12 Networks.
Â
FOLLOW ALONG!
To get an inside look at the Utah Football program, follow the Utes on social media (Twitter: @Utah_Football | Instagram: @UtahFootball | Facebook: Search Utah Football), along with visiting www.UtahUtes.com for news, schedule and roster updates throughout the season.
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Players Mentioned
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