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2022 Spring Football: Utah Pro Day, Week 1 Recap

by Utah Athletics
Mar 24, 2022

SALT LAKE CITY – The University of Utah Football program hosted the team's annual Pro Day on Tuesday at the Spence and Cleone Eccles Football Center. The day's slate began with weight room testing, before moving to field testing for the 40-yard dash, Pro Shuttle, L-Drill and 60-yard shuttle. Players also participated in position-specific drills.
 
Scouts from 29 NFL teams were on hand to watch 16 former Utes throughout the day. The group included Britain Covey, Vonte Davis, Nick Ford, Cole Fotheringham, Theo Howard, Devin Lloyd, Keegan Markgraf, Brandon McKinney, Viane Moala, Ali'i Niumatalolo, Bamidele Olaseni, TJ Pledger, Hauati Pututau, Nephi Sewell, Mika Tafua and Maxs Tupai all looking to earn spots on the NFL stage.
 

 
Thursday also brought to a close the first week of Spring practice. Newly-minted defensive tackles coach Luther Elliss and running backs coach Quinton Ganther spoke with the media to recap their first week on-field with the Utes.
 
Running Backs Coach Quinton Ganther Spring Practice 1

On how it's been on the job since he has been hired…
"It's been challenging but it's been good. I'm starting to get used to it."

On if he's starting to get a feel for the running backs room…
"It's a new season so I have nobody. That's what it is and no one has done anything yet. What you've done last year doesn't count. You'll be judged with the product you put on the field this year."

On how the running backs did on the first day of practice…
"They did pretty good. It was a good first day and it's a large group. It's a lot of guys and it's good to see for myself and do my own assessment of what these guys can bring to the table. Because up until this point all I know is what I've heard they are and what they can do."

On who an influence was on him and his coaching style…
"An influence for me is a guy I love and that's Sherman Smith. Smith has always been a big impact on me and he was also the coach that drafted me. He was the coach that also took me to the Redskins and he also took me to the Seahawks when he was with them. When I got into coaching I actually did an internship with the Seahawks and he was the coach I was underneath."

On how one year in the NFL has helped with coaching in college…
"It helped me see the game from a different standpoint and gain different views of what guys are looking for at the next level. That will help me in college because I've been at that level as a coach and as a player, so now as a coach at the collegiate level I can tell these guys what they're looking for first hand."

On how freshman running back Jaylon Glover looks…
He looks like a freshman and he's done nothing. That's how it looks and we are both swimming. We are learning a lot of new things and he's coming into this situation used to being the guy. He needs to learn and learn how to not put the ball in the ground."
 
Defensive Tackles Coach Luther Elliss Spring Practice 2

On how day two of practice went…
"It was better than day one so that's a good thing as guys are getting better and taking to the coaching and understanding what we are trying to get out of them. We've got a good group of young guys that want to get better and anytime you have a group like that you should get better every day."

On how it's been being back to coach at his alma mater…
"It's a dream come true. I mean it really is and it's one thing to say I get to come back and coach at my alma mater but also another thing to be able to be around my son and coach him a little bit. It's just a huge blessing and I'm grateful for that."

On how the tackles are looking so far this spring…
"Oh fantastic. It's a very talented young group, we have some great players and I expect to get a lot out of them this year. I think they want to be great so again, anytime you have a group that wants to be great, good things are going to happen."

On what he hopes to accomplish with his group this spring…
"What I hope to accomplish is for them to be the best they can possibly be. I want them to be better than they were last year so when they reflect back after the end of this spring they say 'I am a better player than I was before spring.' And then just continue to build on that. I am a big technique guy, fundamentals guy and to me it all starts there. You can't do certain things if you don't have the fundamentals down, so we're hopefully going to continue to build and improve on that."

On his experience as a professional player and how has he tried to instill that mindset into not just his group, but as a team as a whole…
"I'd say probably still a little more influence on my group and with that it's a mindset. It's how you approach the day and how you come here to be apart of what we are about to do. Not wasting a day, not wasting a rep, not wasting a meeting and we all have things happening outside of football but when you get here, you need to decompartmentalize and set things aside and say I'm going to focus here. Not to say we aren't trying to help these players with what they may have going on, but to be a professional you need to be able to separate personal and come in here ready to go."

On how he would describe his coaching style…
"I'm not really a big yeller or screamer, I'm more of a cheerleader if you will. I do demand you be the best and I would say if you make a mistake in a rep we'll redo that rep. Some coaches believe that you need to get a lot of reps in but if you are doing some reps wrong then what we get on gameday is wrong. They aren't going to do the proper techniques so I need them to hone in on this and that's what I love here and is why they are so good at what they do here is they allow the guys to learn the technique. So, the biggest thing about my coaching style is that I'll love you, I'm going to push you, I'm going to demand the best from you and hopefully I'm going to train and teach you how to be a professional."  
 

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