A View From The Booth – February 13th Edition

“It’s not about the money, it’s about coaching, and I’m a coach. It’s all I’ve done all my life. Making me sit out last year made it appreciate it even more.” – Dennis Erickson

For the fifth time in as many years, Utah Head Football Coach Kyle Whittingham has named a new offensive coordinator. For the second time in his tenure he will have Co-Offensive Coordinators. The latest appointee, Dennis Erickson, will wear the label as Co-Coordinator with Brian Johnson, but having spent the last 30 years as a head coach and bringing an impressive offensive resume to Utah, I would expect he’s more than just a Co-Coordinator.

So just what should Utah Football fans expect from the Dennis Erickson offense next season? When he joined me on the radio this week, he talked like a man that knew his personnel and knew exactly what he wanted to do offensively. Erickson told me he wants to run a “spread” offense: three receivers, one back, a little tight end and most importantly moving the quarterback around. This should come as music to the ears of Ute fans that have pined for the days of spreading the field the way Mike Sanford and Andy Ludwig did for Utah over the last decade, when Alex Smith and Brian Johnson led high powered offensive attacks for the Utes.

There’s no denying Erickson’s pedigree with offensive football, simply look to his squads at Washington State, Miami, Oregon State and most recently at Arizona State. The only question is: Does Utah has the personnel right now to run effectively what Erickson wants? He believes he does, but won’t know for sure until he sees his guys on the field in spring football practice. Erickson was extremely complimentary of quarterback Travis Wilson in our conversation Monday afternoon, comparing him in some ways to his last quarterback at Arizona State, Brock Osweiler, who’s now with the Denver Broncos. At the very least, he will have options at a number of positions:

At Quarterback: Travis Wilson will come into the spring with the most experience on the roster having played in 12 games, staring the last seven. Freshman Brandon Cox, a dual threat QB, from Pasadena, California is enrolled and will participate in spring ball. This summer Connor Manning, a pro style QB, from Orange County, California will join the quarterback crew. Expect both Cox and Manning to push Wilson for playing time.

At Wide Receiver: The depth here for Dennis Erickson is immense. Kenneth Scott, Dres Anderson, Anthony Denham, Quinton Pedroza are all returners, plus the addition of JC All American Andre Lewis should give Erickson/Johnson and the Utah offense a fair number of play making options down the field.

At Running Back: This is where Erickson will likely have the most question marks coming into the season. Utah doesn’t have a clear cut playmaker in this group with the departure of John White. Kelvin York, Lucky Radley, JC Transfer Devontae Booker and freshmen Marcus Williams and Dre’Vian Young will all compete for playing time, but this is clearly one of the big question marks heading into spring football.

Dennis Erickson told me that he believes the talent is there to compete and challenge next season in the PAC 12 South. Now comes the interesting part..Watching him and Brian Johnson mold that talent to fit their new philosophy.

A View From The Booth – February 6th Edition

“Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” – Andy Dufresne

Today is the much anticipated National Letter of Intent signing day for college football. All over the country the fate of college football coaches and programs are placed in the hands of 17 and 18 year old kids. How would you sleep at night knowing that your job security is tied to the decision of a teenager that may or may not have told you the truth when you visited his home? But that’s the game that College Football Coaches all play.

Kyle Whittingham and his staff are no exception to this game. Today Whittingham and Utah Football will get commitments from somewhere in the neighborhood of 20-25 high school and junior college football players. We’ll be told that Utah is pleased with their recruiting class and that it will have filled the needs they had this offseason. Needs that included help along the defensive line and depth at the quarterback spot. Fans will get excited when they hear about the stars that go along with each recruit and how Utah continues to make progress heading into its third year in the Pac 12 Conference. But this is all conjecture and hyperbole right now. We really don’t have a clue how any of these kids will fare in the college game. Today Coaches around the country and right here in Utah are selling hope and as Andy told Red in Shawshank, hope is a good thing.

However, what is discussed today and the rankings that are passed out by Rivals, Scout and ESPN have no bearing whatsoever on how good these kids will actually be. Utah will not have a single 5 star and probably only one 4 star recruit in this class. But those stars are not very predictive on next level talent. Just take three of the best players in recent Utah Football History: Alex Smith, Eric Weddle and Star Lotulelei. None of the three were considered elite talent out of high school, yet all three developed into All American talent in their time at Utah. That’s not to say signing a few so-called four or five star talents would be such a bad thing, because to eventually compete in the upper echelon of the Pac 12 the Utes will have to grab some of those elite players at some point.

My point to all this is that fans should enjoy NLI Day for what it is: A chance for a glimpse into the potential future of your football program and gain some hope. Just keep in mind that you are betting on potential, which much like hope is never a sure thing.