Camp Kyle 2020: First Scrimmage In The Books
SALT LAKE CITY – As construction on the Ken Garff Performance Zone continued in the background, the University of Utah football team took the field at Rice-Eccles Stadium for the first time since November of 2019, completing its first scrimmage of fall camp.
Scrimmage 1 is in the books!
One step closer. #UBoyz pic.twitter.com/GWskY5McHq
— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) October 17, 2020
Despite there being no fans in the stadium, the student-athletes' excitement brought an atmosphere to the table that gave a sense of normalcy to an October afternoon, confirming one thing – football is back at RES.
The Utes took to the field to get in extensive live work along with working on punt and kick return teams.
One scrimmage down! ?? One step closer to the season ?? #goutes pic.twitter.com/iy1McEVvm4
— Utah Athletics (@utahathletics) October 17, 2020
U Voices: Head Coach Kyle Whittingham
On how the scrimmage went today…
"It was an outstanding scrimmage as far as getting a lot of work done, situational work, as always during this time in camp looking to get situational work. All three quarterbacks played well, but I will reserve judgement until I can look at the tape. Running backs ran hard. Jordan Wilmore and Ty Jordan stood out, along with Devin Brumfield and Micah Bernard, so got some good production there with the running backs. The wide receivers are solid, really the offense overall had a good day. They probably had the better day of the two units. The defense struggled a little bit, gave some things up, and we've got to get better in open field tackling, gave up some gaps in the run game. But there were a lot of good things on both sides of the ball today, but a lot of work to do still in the next three weeks."
On naming the team captains in Jake Bentley, Orlando Umana, Devin Lloyd and Mika Tafua…
"I thought the players did a nice job electing the captains. As always, it is totally up to the players. The first thing I'll say is don't read into Jake Bentley being named captain as him winning the job, but that is just what his peers think of him right now, which is a positive. Jake was elected along with Orlando and Orlando was one of our captains in the offseason as well, so he has been a captain for us for about 10 months now. Defensively for us is Devin and Mika, two outstanding leaders and outstanding players. I thought the team did a good job with that. We also have 10 more guys in addition to the captains that will comprise the 14-member leadership council, which was another good job by our players putting that group together."
On if he feels someone solidified any starting spots today…
"I think generally speaking we established who our running backs are and who will be traveling with us and being in the mix. Wide receivers, with the departure of Jaylen Dixon and losing Tyrone Young-Smith for the season, who has had a hard time here and has worked so hard, my heart goes out to him, but the wide receiver crew is getting a little bit thin. The guys we are counting on though played outstanding, like Solomon Enis, Bryan Thompson, Britain Covey along with the tight ends. Money Parks did some nice things at wide receiver. And then Samson Nacua is having an outstanding camp and is doing some really good things. Then Devaughn Vele as well. So, those six guys are doing really well, with Money being the seventh."
On what he saw from the cornerbacks today…
"I thought they played solid. I thought JaTravis Broughton played the best without doing an intensive evaluation. Malone Mataele played well, Clark Phillips III showed up, Bronson Boyd did a nice job. So that corner pool is starting to develop a hierarchy and we need six. That would be ideal. If you have a two-deep in your nickel scheme with three corners on the field if we have six quality guys that we feel are ready to help us out, then that is where we want to be."
On the safeties…
"Nate Ritchie continues to impress. Vonte Davis did some good things today as well as our freshman Kamo'i Latu. He is starting to show up."
On what it says about Jake Bentley getting voted as a team captain…
"It says a lot. It shows they respect his work ethic, his character, how he conducts himself, the rapport he has with those guys, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. It is a rarity for someone to be in the program in that short of a period of time to be elected a team captain, and again not even knowing if he will be named a starter. So, that speaks to the level of respect his team has for Jake. He is a mature guy that handles himself exactly how you want a quarterback to handle himself, as far as just his demeanor and how he conducts his business."