They’re off and running.
The University of Utah began its fall camp Wednesday in preparation for its Aug. 30 opener in Los Angeles against UCLA, but thanks to an NCAA rule change a year ago, it was more of a continuation of player-led practices held this summer.
“In that regard, you expect to be further ahead and it’s a good thing they changed those rules because with the influx of new players that everybody has, it helps those guys make that transition. So I thought today was a really good start,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said.
One the first day of fall camp, the change most evident from the spring to fall for Whittingham was how clean the offense operated, thanks mostly in part to those player-ran summer sessions.
“As far as just subbing the groups in and out, getting plays underway, just the operation itself was much cleaner. Very evident, very obvious that these guys have worked a lot on their own this summer,” Whittingham said.
Utah’s head man, who opened his 21st fall camp Wednesday, was impressed with the lack of substitution penalties, false starts and delays of games on the first day of practices.
While new offensive coordinator Jason Beck’s offense has been digested by players in spring practices, for the approximately 30 players that were not in Salt Lake City in the spring, it was their first chance to run it.
Beck is bringing his offense, which ranked No. 4 nationally at New Mexico with 484.2 yards per game, to Salt Lake City — and a fanbase that is starved for production on that side of the ball.
Expect to see Beck’s offense be a spread scheme that utilizes the run-pass option and quarterback run often and creatively uses its personnel.
Whittingham noted on Wednesday that the Utes won’t huddle, and that the offense will be a little bit more uptempo from last season, but “not ridiculously fast.”
What’s Whittingham most excited about from Beck’s offense?
“Probably the big-play capability at quarterback. Devon Dampier is a big-play guy and this offense suits him to a T. He’s a true dual threat, and this offense features a lot of QB run game and RPO and really is going to take advantage of his skill set,” Whittingham said.
As has been the case all offseason, Whittingham raved about his new QB1, calling his leadership “as good as any we’ve had.”
“He’s a terrific leader. He’s made a great bond with the entire football team, not just the offense. He’s one of those guys that’s got that ‘it’ factor, the charisma that you look for in a quarterback,” Whittingham said.
Last year, Dampier threw for 2,768 yards and 12 touchdowns (with 12 interceptions) and rushed for 1,166 yards and 19 scores.
“I keep going back to last year, but those numbers that he put up last year were pretty impressive and if he can duplicate that this year, then we’re going to be in good shape,” Whittingham said.
Battling for the spot behind Dampier are freshman Byrd Ficklin and sophomore Isaac Wilson. Beck said he’d like to have that spot settled by the end of the second scrimmage.
“Just as a complete quarterback, judging it on every single thing they do and accuracy, taking care of the football, command of the offense, just everything execution-wise and cadence, it all is factored in,” Whittingham said. “Whichever guy is doing to do the best job of getting in the end zone and keeping the defense out of bad situations is the guy.”
While it’s just the first day of camp, and the players are not in pads as of now — the real evaluations will happen once the pads go on — Dampier said new transfer Tobias Merriweather stood out on Wednesday.
Merriweather (6-foot-5, 195 pounds) transferred in from Cal after spring practices, and has unique size in the receiver room. Last year he caught 11 passes for 125 yards while only playing in five games due to injury, and previously played at Notre Dame before his time in Berkeley.
Receivers coach Micah Simon noted that Merriweather and Larry Simmons (Southern Miss transfer) were both working on the field at 8:30 p.m. when Simon dropped some stuff off to his office on Sunday night.
That summer work with Dampier did a lot to get Merriweather and Simmons up to speed with Beck’s offense, and it showed on Wednesday.
“Tobias is the guy. He came out here and obviously he stood out today, so huge kudos to him, but he’s going to be ready at UCLA for sure,” Dampier said.
As fall camp rolls along, there’s going to be plenty of decisions to make in terms of the offensive and defensive depth chart — especially at wide receiver, defensive tackle and cornerback — but on Wednesday, the energy and excitement from the whole team was high.
Football is finally back.
“It was fun. Glad to be with the boys. I mean, this is what you dream for. So getting closer to the season, we got high expectations during these practices and I think we made a good impression first day,” Dampier said.
