Whitt’s presser

[ProudUte]

I am not sure I believe much of what he says anymore, but here are his responses:

We are coming up on the halfway point of the season. Both teams coming off losses to OSU.

Cal is much improved on offense. They are balanced between the run and pass.

He likes the daytime games.

Will be shocked if any team goes undefeated in conference play.

This year is very similar to the John Hayes season.

Would he have changed things if he knew at the beginning of the season what he knows now? Would not answer the question.

They will make the decision on QB today. The snaps will go to the other guys who will play on Saturday. He said Cam will still be involved. (They will know today who will play QB, but they will not share that info.)

They are trying to figure out if Barnes and/or Rose can play. He pointed out that Rose has missed so much practice that it would be difficult for him to catch up.

They expect to see the redshirt freshman playing for Cal this weekend. They have two good running backs.

There is always room for improvement on defense. We could do better on turnovers and pressure on the QB.

We hope to get some guys back this week, but he did not seem too optimistic about it.

There has been no finger-pointing from the defense. The players remain united.

Cal plays very sound football.

How do you better prepare for a backup QB to take over? He said that it is hard to keep QBs because of the portal. (He completely avoided the real answer. Terrible response.)

The Utes did not go to the portal for a QB. He said no one would have come here because of Cam.

The O line will probably be shuffled around this week because of injuries in the last game.

Jonah Ellis will be starting but is banged up himself.

The feedback he has on the Trucks to players deal has been positive. The NIL deals are different for each player.

The running game is not even close to where we wanted it to be. The running game is a big concern.

What has he learned this year? They have looked at everything as to why we have had so many injuries. But, they have not found anything specific. It’s probably just bad luck.

He is impressed with what Jed Fish is doing at Arizona. Outside of that game, he was not too surprised with the other PAC12 games.

This may have been one of the most worthless pressers from Whitt. Anything the media and the fans want to know – he would not address.

[SorryWife]

Welp that gives me zero confidence on the rest of the season lmao. Just going to have to really lower expectations and enjoy what I can.

[Anfernee]

On Cam “We’ll find out today. No update, and if sharing availability today would benefit us in anyway I’d love to hear it.”
Sigh. It would have benefited your quarterback (and tight end) not having to deal with rumors and everyone drawing their own inclusions for the last 10 months. And also benefited Nate Johnson for confidence aka all 1st team reps. His modus operandi on injuries has really done a disservice. Especially this season.

[kmc165]

Sounds like we aren’t really going to get anyone back from being injured

[Yergensen]

Love the NIL deal. It was innovative, got national attention and credit and the players loved it. There will be copycats, but should undoubtedly help retention and recruiting. I’m done talking about the rest. Hope we can find a spark offensively, players and/or scheme, to get us some dubs.

[UtMtBiker]

Couldn’t disagree more. Others are laughing at it. Players aren’t impressed by the lease and actually feel misled by it.. according to one booster In close with.

[ProudUte]

canLet me make it clear that I am still glad that Whitt is our head coach. However, I am so sick and tired of his games, secrecy, and avoiding any serious questions.

You can disagree with a coach and still like him overall.

[pedro]

Honestly, what do you expect him to say or do? Just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean what he is doing is wrong or the wrong approach. So what would you have him do? Again, people are making a lot of assumptions on what he knows or ‘supposed’ to know. Doesn’t sound like Cam even knows and his his GD knee.

It’s easy to sit on the side and critique every decision yet provide no realistic solution. I’m sure Whit would love to have one.

[pedro]

Lots of thumbs down, but no dialogue. Nice! So easy to spew complaints but obviously not so easy to back them up with options or facts.

[22Ute22]

So looks like the BYE didn’t help us get healthy…

[ProudUte]

Whitt did not sound positive about the injuries. But, you cannot take anything he says about injuries seriously. Not a word was said about the potential of Jackson playing this week. His biggest statement about injuries related to the need to shuffle around our offensive line this weekend. However, he then went on to say that we will know more today. So, who knows.

I do not blame the coaching or training staff for any of our injuries. I think it is just terrible luck. There are some things I do not understand, the biggest of which is why aren’t we seeing any of our freshmen running backs?

[PebbleStar]

My guess is because one of the toughest things for running backs transitioning levels of competition is protection/blitz pickup.

[2008 National Champ]

That might be sound reasoning in an air raid offense, it’s an excuse for not playing them yet this year. Ty Jordan didn’t play because he was an exceptional pass blocker.

Utah has played freshmen every year at RB since 2016. Hard to believe Ganther isn’t able to get them to do what he needs, especially considering what’s left in the room.

[Tednab]

Lol preseason hype .. deepest Running back room ever , highest recruiting class .. blah blah blah wtf ever .. can’t believe anything that comes outa whits mouth lately worse than a politician .. whit shouldn’t get a pass on how horrible the offense has been, especially how much he gets paid a year , fans deserve better .. end of the day it’s about the wins no matter how ugly it gets and these games are about as ugly as I’ve seen . Saturday should be a real barn burner

[Utah]

If practices were open, we’d have known to temper expectations before the season started…

[DataUte]

If practices were open, we would have seen a healthy Jackson, Bernard, and Rose until they all got injured at various points.

[pedro]

Yes, since Utah fans are well known for tempering their OWN expectations. Of course if my car could float, I’d have a boat.

[prestitute]

We are 4-1 with at best our #3 QB and #3 RB. That is an indication of a lot of depth. You can be upset by how Kyle has done stuff, but the results are 4-1, which is as good or better than moat predicted us to be at this point. Do you expect us to be a killer team on the road against a very good OSU when we are this beat up? It is silly the expectations that people have for our 3rd-4th string players.

[UtMtBiker]

“Very good OSU”…You sure about that?

[//r00t4Utes]

Well, i would say that the recruiting rankings being the highest is based on the recruiting websites, no speculation on that part. But having those recruits be ready as freshmen or even pan out overall is another thing all together.

So not sure why you’d be mad at Whitt about that, but whatever, people can do what they want.

[pedro]

So which part did he lie about or was he wrong on? Deepest RB room was correct. Then Bernard get’s hurt, JJ get’s hurt and two redshirt. He thought Cam would be back by now based on what he was told. Please share your wisdom and the ‘truth’ since we ‘can’t trust’ Whit anymore.

[CityCreekUte]

someone have a link?

[highlandute7]

[RoboUte]

“The snaps will go to the other guys who will play on Saturday”

You know we’re firing on all cylinders when these sorts of high level strategies enter the protocol. Only the best of the absolute best have such extreme commitment to excellence and are willing to sacrifice everything for it. This is the bleeding edge of athletic technology. Proud day to be a Ute football fan.

[The Miami Ute]

I’m just tired of all the secrecy which allows innuendos and rumours to build. When things don’t go as planned, they really put the coaching staff, team, and university in a bad light. And if the Cam injury wasn’t enough, now there are YouTube videos popping up blaming Utah for the PAC implosion.

[Central Coast Ute]

Which is ridiculous. The fault for the PAC implosion lies squarely with Folt and USC

[Tony (admin)]

Angst sensor overload.

[Charlie]

Are we in a loop? Can angst timeout? Contention between processors? Database is out of space and has reached maximum numbers of extension? Ambiguous or inconsistent inputs?

[AZUTE]

Injuries have completely destroyed the offense.
When you get to QB4 in the depth chart you have to rethink your expectations.

Not to mention multiple RB and OL out. TE1 out and unproductive WR group

This is a recipe for disaster.

Whit didn’t go after a transfer portal QB because i honestly believe he thought Cam would be back by UCLA at the latest and his love affair with Barnes. Who he thinks can hold down the fort until Cam returned.

The expectations going forward have to be no Cam and get to 7 wins and then a bowl game.

[2008 National Champ]

In truth, going into the season with Barnes should have been enough. If Rose and/or Johnson beats him out, even better. Barnes is in his 3rd year in the program and they know exactly what he can and can’t do. It might not have looked pretty, but it should never have been bottom 6 offense in the nation bad.

That’s the bigger issue because you can throw all of the other stuff out. For 10 months, the offensive staff had the opportunity to plan for Barnes and they did everything but. Then when Barnes was the best bad option, they undermined him from the start by giving Johnson his own series(s). When that worked at least as well as they could have hoped, they then decided to double down and have Barnes run two plays, then Johnson run two plays, then Barnes would run two plays with Johnson lined up next to him, then they would both look to the sideline to see who was going to be the QB on the next play.

And those were the two games the offense performed at it peak effectiveness this season. Players, or lack thereof, are not the sole reason the offense is the dumpster fire it is. The offensive side of the ball has been so completely and utterly mismanaged it almost appears deliberate instead of incompetent. As for the Jon Hayes reference in the presser, I’d pretty much give Tony’s left nut for the Norm Chow downhill run game right about now. At least there would be an identity.

[The Miami Ute]

Jon Hays at least had a fully healthy John White IV to take the weight of his shoulders. The Wolfman rushed for almost 2600 yards in his two seasons at Utah. I’m also thinking that those OLs from the 2011 and 2012 season performed better than what we’ve been seeing this season.

[UtMtBiker]

“Unproductive WR group”?! You can’t be serious. Yes, they have had a few drops but every WR grip does. Those “drops” increase a lot when you’re throwing balls at guys shins, a yard behind them, our 3 yards high and outside. Simmon’s had a legit on target drop last week, the rest were terrible throws that they were lucky to get a hand on. This WR group would be putting up numbers with Any other QB in the conference.

[2008 National Champ]

This WR group would be putting up numbers with Any other QBOC in the conference.

Fixed it for you

[belli1976]

My favorite part of all this, is that some of you think Whitt follows or cares about all of the rumors created by fans or the media. He is a phenomenal leader. And leaders don’t give a rat’s a$$ about the noise.

[The Miami Ute]

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that I’m pretty certain no one here thinks that.

[EagleMountainUte]

Trust me. People are really good at reading between the lines here. I mean soon they are going to start saying criticizing Whitt is….”zoobish”. You know because TSPP doesn’t like him. So clearly if you don’t love Whitt you are a Zoob.

[UtMtBiker]

I only agree with about 1% of Eaglemountains post and this is one of them. The criticism is more than fair at this point

[UtMtBiker]

Most coaches don’t and that ego/confidence a signature of all successful coaches. Another signature is that they wait to long to admit mistakes and it ends up being the end of them. Very few leave on their own terms.

[UtMtBiker]

This presser was a coach that know he f**ked up but won’t own it. It was really hard/ annoying to listen to. Never felt so much ego from Whitt until now. Things are a mess.

[Utah]

It’s the pressor of a coach who trusted what a player told him and that player lied to him and is now running around trying to blame the coach for the player’s actions.

[The Miami Ute]

If Cam lied to Whitt regarding such an important issue, why is he still with the team? Wouldn’t Whitt have booted him off the program? What’s your take?

[Charlie]

L listened to the presser and really did not have an issue. Probably because,

A) I know Whitt enough to know he isn’t going to give me heads up on who will be missing and who will be back. Since I know that already my expectation didn’t change when the list grew. Oddly, I am ok with that.

B) The question about the prep for the backup QB was tangled with the questions about last spring portal strategy. Whitt was simply telling us that portal QBs he has talked to are on the move to play immediately and the situation with Cam is not ideal for most candidates. I can understand that. Maybe Oregon and Washington would not have been as successful with portal QBs if they also had a two time champ QB in the mix in any fashion. It is an opinion.

To be fair Spence Checketts feel like he has not been messaged by Ute football guys adequately as well. I agree that coach Prime was very open about his injuries and we would enjoy the same from Whitt. But I saw this years ago and moved on because I valued so many other things from Whitt. I was also fine with Meyer’s, Mac’s, and Fassel’s warts as they also were not able to make every single person happy as well. Does this make me a pushover football fan?