Upcoming Event: Track & Field versus NCAA First Round on May 28, 2026
Track & Field
vs NCAA First Round
The University of Utah Athletics
Quotes from Coach Whittingham's NLI Press Conference
Head Coach Kyle Whittingham
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Opening Statement
Like everyone else in America, we feel like we really helped ourselves with this class. The two real focal points or main objects were to rebuild the secondary-we lost 90 percent of our secondary with the four corners and Marcus Williams coming out so that was obviously a point of emphasis-both sides of the line of scrimmage were the next focus and concentration. We feel like we really helped ourselves there. To get a solid class across the board, in addition to that, we feel like we really got some difference makers in this class. We are really excited to get the opportunity to get to work with them. We’re pretty well represented in a lot of different states. It was really great to get back in to Hawaii. We made an impact in Hawaii this year, which we hadn’t done in a few years. It was great to be able to pull the athletes out of Hawaii that we did. I feel really good about the in-state guys. In-state is a little bit misleading. To me the best barometer to measure in-state production is how many of the 25 initials you use on in-state players in any given year. Rather than talking about them when they go on a mission, we’ll talking about them when they get back. The best way to determine how you did in-state is how many of your 25 initials you use on in-state players and this year we had six. We feel like that’s good representation. Six in-state players out of the 25 initials, we feel is a solid group of guys. There weren’t as many prospects in-state this year as there were last year. We feel like we came away with guys who are really going to help us. It was the usual blend of high school and junior college. It was high school heavy with four or five JC guys sprinkled in there. The majority of the numbers went upfront and in the secondary, but we feel really good about everybody we signed this year. We were a lot more patient this year going in, that was our objective – to be more meticulous, more methodical in our approach instead of worrying about early commits. We wanted to make sure we came away with the exact guys we wanted to. You never get everyone you want to get, nobody does. We feel like we came away with a really good class doing it this way. There’s risk involved because if you lose some guys at the end you can end up short handed. We felt like this approach we took this year was the right approach for us and something we’re going to subscribe to going forward.
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On secondary’s characteristics
Speed and athleticism. We got some real high-caliber athletes in the secondary. I’m not going to talk about anybody today by name because there’s three or four guys who either haven’t quite got their letter here or want to save the announcement for their individual home announcement parties. That’s been the trend since we joined the Pac-12, is to get better and better athletically in the backend. We feel like we definitely did that this year. We took a step forward and beat some really good schools on some of the players we got.
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On difficulty of in-state recruiting
No harder at all. First of all, it’s our first priority. We want to make sure we do everything right in-state with our evaluations. I wouldn’t say it’s gotten harder, if anything I would say it’s gotten easier because there’s far more prospects here now than when I got here 27 years ago. When I got here I think there was five or six players in-state that signed Division I, now I think we’re upwards of 30.
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On having a shot at the same guys eight years ago
10 percent, maybe a quarter tops. Just look at the list of schools we beat on some of these guys. That would be unheard of before Pac-12 days.
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On singing in-state vs. how other Pac-12 schools did in-state
I think we did a good job. You’re never going to get everyone, nobody does. USC doesn’t get everyone in Southern California. Arizona State doesn’t get everyone in Arizona. That’s just the way it goes. The players we targeted, we got most of them – you’re never going to get all of them. We feel like we came away with a good group and guys who will help us.
Â
On recruit rankings
The most important aspect we’re concerned with is our internal evaluation. That being said, I can tell you the star system and evaluations being done on the outside are dramatically better than they were five or 10 years ago. They’re much more accurate. There’s much more fluidity to them. To say we never pay attention to any of that is false because you do take a look at what other people think. What you think is going to be the final decision. I can tell you that systems and the way the players are ranked, and how they’re evaluated is light-years ahead of where it was just a few years ago. Whoever is doing that out there is doing a good job.
Â
On Troy Taylor’s hire as offensive coordinator effecting the recruiting process
We got a lot more interest from receivers and offensive personnel with his background and what he’s accomplished at other places and particularly, with receivers. Last year there were three guys at Eastern Washington who went for over 1,000 yards and that’s a selling point for receivers. We feel like moving forward it’s going to be an even bigger deal if he’s able to do the same thing here and get the same results. It will then be a snowball effect. Â
Â
On having junior college players
That’s always been a piece of our recruiting puzzle. We have had tremendous success with our JC players. Look at the players we’ve put in the NFL-a great number of them came though JCs. That’s something that unless the rules change or the Pac-12 changes requirements on recruiting we’re going to continue with about the same formula, which is about 18-20 high school kids and the rest junior college guys. There’s always a place for those guys in our program, at least how things are structured right now.
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On assistant coaches’ ties in recruiting
That certainly has a big impact. That’s why you don’t want to shuffle the recruiting areas year after year. You want to let them get in an area and get to know that area inside and out, and build a reputation in that area. Lewis Powell has a great reputation in Hawaii and Coach Guy Holliday in Texas, and Sharrieff Shah is making a big impact in California. Morgan Scalley is everywhere. A big thank you to our assistant coaches. They’re the ones who go out there on the front lines and determine which of these guys we’re going to target. They do the vast majority of the work in the recruiting process.  I think our assistants do a great job. I think we have a proven track record of getting the right guys in our program, developing them, and coming away with a pretty good product.
Â
On newest assistants process in recruiting
We got them on the road virtually the same day they were hired. As soon as we got them in the program we got them out on the road. Troy Taylor made numerous home visits, particularly to the offensive recruits. Kiel McDonald was in homes of running backs we were on. We’re really excited about our running back that we got too. He’s a terrific player. As soon as we got them on board, they were involved. Â
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On recruits serving missions
Off the top of my head there’s three, two or three-one’s kind of up in the air. I would say two for certain will go on missions first. We’re also getting some missionaries back. In this class, just Chayden Johnston our place kicker is the one coming back from a mission. Next year going forward there’s going to be an influx of more return missionaries. I think we’re going to have four in the ’18 Class and four or five in the ’19 Class.
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On receivers signed
With this offense, obviously receivers become a bigger focal point. We feel like the three guys we’ve come away with – I can’t mention them by name because one doesn’t have the paper right now or something – rather than having the NCAA call me and ask why I talked about that guy, I’ll just say, as a whole we think we’ve really helped ourselves. Tyquez (Hampton) I can talk about because he’s already here in class and working out with us. We’re just elated at the three guys we got. There’s a chance that we’ll get another. There’s four year transfers, there’s graduators, there’s all kind of players who pop up or end up becoming available. By design, we save one to take advantage of that situation going forward. The last few years there’s always been a guy or two who was over looked or graduates and is looking for a new place to go. There’s a good chance you’ll see one more added to that mix.
Â
On not signing a specific defensive end
I feel great about the guys we signed, We have five that we signed and at least one will probably go on a mission, but we feel like we came away with an outstanding class of defensive linemen and we have an outstanding group of defensive linemen returning. That’s been a strong suit for us for many years and we feel like we added to that this year. We’ll be just as formidable as ever going forward.
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Opening Statement
Like everyone else in America, we feel like we really helped ourselves with this class. The two real focal points or main objects were to rebuild the secondary-we lost 90 percent of our secondary with the four corners and Marcus Williams coming out so that was obviously a point of emphasis-both sides of the line of scrimmage were the next focus and concentration. We feel like we really helped ourselves there. To get a solid class across the board, in addition to that, we feel like we really got some difference makers in this class. We are really excited to get the opportunity to get to work with them. We’re pretty well represented in a lot of different states. It was really great to get back in to Hawaii. We made an impact in Hawaii this year, which we hadn’t done in a few years. It was great to be able to pull the athletes out of Hawaii that we did. I feel really good about the in-state guys. In-state is a little bit misleading. To me the best barometer to measure in-state production is how many of the 25 initials you use on in-state players in any given year. Rather than talking about them when they go on a mission, we’ll talking about them when they get back. The best way to determine how you did in-state is how many of your 25 initials you use on in-state players and this year we had six. We feel like that’s good representation. Six in-state players out of the 25 initials, we feel is a solid group of guys. There weren’t as many prospects in-state this year as there were last year. We feel like we came away with guys who are really going to help us. It was the usual blend of high school and junior college. It was high school heavy with four or five JC guys sprinkled in there. The majority of the numbers went upfront and in the secondary, but we feel really good about everybody we signed this year. We were a lot more patient this year going in, that was our objective – to be more meticulous, more methodical in our approach instead of worrying about early commits. We wanted to make sure we came away with the exact guys we wanted to. You never get everyone you want to get, nobody does. We feel like we came away with a really good class doing it this way. There’s risk involved because if you lose some guys at the end you can end up short handed. We felt like this approach we took this year was the right approach for us and something we’re going to subscribe to going forward.
Â
On secondary’s characteristics
Speed and athleticism. We got some real high-caliber athletes in the secondary. I’m not going to talk about anybody today by name because there’s three or four guys who either haven’t quite got their letter here or want to save the announcement for their individual home announcement parties. That’s been the trend since we joined the Pac-12, is to get better and better athletically in the backend. We feel like we definitely did that this year. We took a step forward and beat some really good schools on some of the players we got.
Â
On difficulty of in-state recruiting
No harder at all. First of all, it’s our first priority. We want to make sure we do everything right in-state with our evaluations. I wouldn’t say it’s gotten harder, if anything I would say it’s gotten easier because there’s far more prospects here now than when I got here 27 years ago. When I got here I think there was five or six players in-state that signed Division I, now I think we’re upwards of 30.
Â
On having a shot at the same guys eight years ago
10 percent, maybe a quarter tops. Just look at the list of schools we beat on some of these guys. That would be unheard of before Pac-12 days.
Â
On singing in-state vs. how other Pac-12 schools did in-state
I think we did a good job. You’re never going to get everyone, nobody does. USC doesn’t get everyone in Southern California. Arizona State doesn’t get everyone in Arizona. That’s just the way it goes. The players we targeted, we got most of them – you’re never going to get all of them. We feel like we came away with a good group and guys who will help us.
Â
On recruit rankings
The most important aspect we’re concerned with is our internal evaluation. That being said, I can tell you the star system and evaluations being done on the outside are dramatically better than they were five or 10 years ago. They’re much more accurate. There’s much more fluidity to them. To say we never pay attention to any of that is false because you do take a look at what other people think. What you think is going to be the final decision. I can tell you that systems and the way the players are ranked, and how they’re evaluated is light-years ahead of where it was just a few years ago. Whoever is doing that out there is doing a good job.
Â
On Troy Taylor’s hire as offensive coordinator effecting the recruiting process
We got a lot more interest from receivers and offensive personnel with his background and what he’s accomplished at other places and particularly, with receivers. Last year there were three guys at Eastern Washington who went for over 1,000 yards and that’s a selling point for receivers. We feel like moving forward it’s going to be an even bigger deal if he’s able to do the same thing here and get the same results. It will then be a snowball effect. Â
Â
On having junior college players
That’s always been a piece of our recruiting puzzle. We have had tremendous success with our JC players. Look at the players we’ve put in the NFL-a great number of them came though JCs. That’s something that unless the rules change or the Pac-12 changes requirements on recruiting we’re going to continue with about the same formula, which is about 18-20 high school kids and the rest junior college guys. There’s always a place for those guys in our program, at least how things are structured right now.
Â
On assistant coaches’ ties in recruiting
That certainly has a big impact. That’s why you don’t want to shuffle the recruiting areas year after year. You want to let them get in an area and get to know that area inside and out, and build a reputation in that area. Lewis Powell has a great reputation in Hawaii and Coach Guy Holliday in Texas, and Sharrieff Shah is making a big impact in California. Morgan Scalley is everywhere. A big thank you to our assistant coaches. They’re the ones who go out there on the front lines and determine which of these guys we’re going to target. They do the vast majority of the work in the recruiting process.  I think our assistants do a great job. I think we have a proven track record of getting the right guys in our program, developing them, and coming away with a pretty good product.
Â
On newest assistants process in recruiting
We got them on the road virtually the same day they were hired. As soon as we got them in the program we got them out on the road. Troy Taylor made numerous home visits, particularly to the offensive recruits. Kiel McDonald was in homes of running backs we were on. We’re really excited about our running back that we got too. He’s a terrific player. As soon as we got them on board, they were involved. Â
Â
On recruits serving missions
Off the top of my head there’s three, two or three-one’s kind of up in the air. I would say two for certain will go on missions first. We’re also getting some missionaries back. In this class, just Chayden Johnston our place kicker is the one coming back from a mission. Next year going forward there’s going to be an influx of more return missionaries. I think we’re going to have four in the ’18 Class and four or five in the ’19 Class.
Â
On receivers signed
With this offense, obviously receivers become a bigger focal point. We feel like the three guys we’ve come away with – I can’t mention them by name because one doesn’t have the paper right now or something – rather than having the NCAA call me and ask why I talked about that guy, I’ll just say, as a whole we think we’ve really helped ourselves. Tyquez (Hampton) I can talk about because he’s already here in class and working out with us. We’re just elated at the three guys we got. There’s a chance that we’ll get another. There’s four year transfers, there’s graduators, there’s all kind of players who pop up or end up becoming available. By design, we save one to take advantage of that situation going forward. The last few years there’s always been a guy or two who was over looked or graduates and is looking for a new place to go. There’s a good chance you’ll see one more added to that mix.
Â
On not signing a specific defensive end
I feel great about the guys we signed, We have five that we signed and at least one will probably go on a mission, but we feel like we came away with an outstanding class of defensive linemen and we have an outstanding group of defensive linemen returning. That’s been a strong suit for us for many years and we feel like we added to that this year. We’ll be just as formidable as ever going forward.
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