Utah is just one week away from its home opener, and the team is excited to kickoff the season. But with only one week to go, the team will need to make sure there are no holes in either its offense or defense moving forward.
Quarterback Travis Wilson is liking the offense a lot this year, as he is able to work better with both coaches and receivers. The plays are more suitable to his style, something he hopes to tighten up before the first whistle sounds.
“Just make sure we solidify everything and just get everything fine-tuned,” Wilson said.
Doing this will require focusing on every single detail, even the little ones. They need to execute all their plays, and although Wilson has received a decent amount of criticism throwing the ball deep, he hopes he can do that more efficiently this season.
Part of completing more of these long balls will depend on his wide receivers. The receiving core has a lot of young players, but Wilson is confident he can make do with what options will be on the field.
“They’re stepping up and doing the best they can,” Wilson said.
Starters will come ready to play
The starting line-up has not been finalized/released, but head coach Kyle Whittingham already has an idea of who to count on because of their behavior during practice. One position he remains adamant about is Wilson at quarterback.
While some of the back-ups may also be deserving of starting roles as well, Whittingham primarily picked the second team based off of who will give it their best shot. He has been able to distinguish the confident players from the ones lagging behind.
“Bottom line [will be] who’s ready to play and who’s ready to contribute and who is not ready,” Whittingham said.
Whittingham is not sure of when exactly he will put the substitutes in because he will need to make sure any sort of flow is not disrupted. The only thing he is sure of is who will come ready to play, and players can tell if they are in good standing.
“If you’re not on the Travis squad, then you’re not going to be dressing,” Whittingham said.
Cupcake controversy
Though Michigan has yet to pull out a win against Utah, having lost to them in the previous two meetings, the revenge factor may be there come Thursday night.
A Detroit-based magazine, Popular Mechanics, pegged the Michigan game against Utah a “cupcake” game, implying the Wolverines would easily slide by the Utes. Some did not take kindly to this, but it motivates players like Kenneth Scott to prove all the non-believers wrong.
“Our team is always juiced, so with that little thing they put in the locker room about us being a cupcake game, it definitely puts more intensity into the game,” he said.
However, Travis Wilson is not paying much attention to what’s going on in the media. Instead, he is directing all his attention to the task at hand, which is to beat Michigan.
The upcoming game has held most of the players’ attention since the bowl game last season, and although Wilson does not let trash talk bother him, Whittingham knows this will only add fuel to his team.
“Whoever it is, let’s go,” Whittingham said.
k.brenneisen@dailyutahchronicle.com
@kbrenneisen