HOUR 3: Kyle Whittingham discusses depth chart up week 1 | NFL teams cutting some local players +...

your home for the best college football coverage in Utah is on the KSL Sports s the cougar kick off the 2024 season with a home battle against Southern Illinois your home for the best coverage of cougar football is right here on 975 the kosl Sports Zone this is H sson and Scotty CH presented by Mountain Land Supply on 975 the KSL Sports Z [Music] in my H and Scotty 975 the KSL Sport Zone final hour of the program it is Monday it is game week we will have college football at the end of this week have you watched any of those Untold on Netflix have you watched some of the The Untold documentaries like the girlfriend that didn't exist for mantio or uh I have not I mean obviously I know that story but there's uh I think one that's called swamp Kings it's a tells on the the Florida trouble with the Gators they do a pretty good job with with with some of those you haven't watched those no I have not okay so if you if I was going to kind of give you the suggestion I would say number one watch the Mante tail one okay it was phenomenal tremendous it it got the person that played the r Raya tuopu and yeah and the fake girlfriend and then watch that Aaron Hernandez won it it's absolutely mind bending and the people that they get for these interviews is just so good but they just released one on the Steve McNair murder oh really that oh that was a that was a rough one I watched yesterday yeah and they went and got his best friend that was a college teammate that was the second person to find him dead and everybody has tried to pin it on him tried to pin the death on him because there was a Business Partnership that went bad and there was a $133,000 check that went missing and then there was a big fight between him and Steve and so everybody was pined on him they went and got him to be the voice of the documentary and they also got the investigator that was trying to pin it on that guy so they're both voices on this documentary saying this is why we thought it might be him this but you know they ended up leaving it as kind of a open-ended it was a mistress yeah that shot and killed him and then they think shot and killed herself but they believe that there's more to it I had not heard that it's those Untold and lloy Lloyd they're good aren't they they are they do a nice job with them they're worth the time all right Hansen Scotty it is time to hear from the head coach of the University of Utah here he is Kyle Whittingham feel like uh we had a chance to to be uh competitive but we'll find out you know not all all that matters is what happens on the uh the game field and and so we'll find out this Thursday night get a good idea where we where we stand right now questions Kyle uh during your ten year you've had a excellent track record in season openers of of gting one g off on the right foot as the team what's been kind of the secret to that consistency regarding of opponent that you've been able to be that successful in the opening game I think it's the the mindset of our players you know we've got a team that uh most every year works very hard and prepares the right way and this year is no exception um and that's really the you know the biggest key is good players that are that are ready to play on the you know in the opener and and every subsequent week week thereafter but but I would say that is the the biggest factor is the way our guys work in the uh in the in the uh fall camp and uh focus and concentrate and get themselves ready to compete right frame of mind you're right oh there we go Justin sorry go ahead okay ever since 1994 the university has historically kicked off on a Thursday night with the exception of last year against Florida it was on a Saturday thank do you feel like that helps with the exposure of the program good question I don't know what the uh you know what the ratings would say or or whatever but but I just know that uh it's been uh a habit of ours to especially when we open at home is to is to play on Thursday night I guess a lot of that has to do the with the holiday you know that following Monday but but uh it also is an advantage of sorts where we have the couple extra days to prepare for the second opponent so that that plays into it as much as anything else but uh that's just been something that's been uh in place for a lot of years and and it's worked for us and and uh far more years than than not we have open on a Thursday so Kyle at Mig 12 media day you said uh the biggest concern was the running back room uh how has that transpired during camp and how do you feel about it now yeah I feel good about it uh even though we don't have uh a clear-cut rb1 that's not uh it's not the end of the world that we don't have that but we have uh the two tiers of running backs like I mentioned uh towards the end of of fall camp where maai Bernard Jaylen Glover and uh Mitchell Mike Mitchell yeah I know I'm getting old Mike Mitchell have uh been in that first group and then we'll see the vast majority of the playing time you'll also see dejon Stanley get some touches uh during the game and then Hunter Andrews has been a really good addition to the running back group and and uh we'll we'll add value and then Charlie Vincent Mr reliable that is such a weapon for us on special teams he's one of the the main stays on special teams but that that is the room that we're working with those six guys and like I said that first tier has separated itself from the second tier with the exception of Dijon having a a package of plays that uh that he'll execute Kyle you've been pretty outspoken about you know entering a new conference has provided you a lot of energy heading into this season but when you look back at last season losing the blll game having as much injuries as you guys had how much has it I guess sort of given you a a burst of energy heading into this season uh and and so forth yeah everybody was disappointed last year and uh we uh use that as motivation during the offseason to you get bigger stronger more durable uh you know which comes with that and and uh looking forward to being the team that we know we can be last year was uh we were off the pace and had some things to overcome but that's not that uncommon in college football I mean you know you go through years where you're not as fortunate injury wise as other and there something you got to deal with but but right now we're in a good place and and uh if we can continue continue to keep the quarterback upright for the course of the Season then that uh is going to be a big plus for us when Camp breaks you always hear coaches say it's hard for the third teamers to get a lot of reps and practice I was looking at your depth chart I think you have eight ores between second and third guys on there I'm wondering how do you balance those reps to make sure those or guys get enough when it comes time for practice yeah good question and we uh did more this fall Camp of running simultaneous drills so like for example we have the team period that's maybe 12 minutes 15 minutes long instead of just one group going against uh the other group we have two sets two complete sets going on simultaneously and that is really been enhanced by the rule change where everybody can coach now before you ran out of coaches and you didn't have enough supervision and enough eyeballs on the drills as they were happening to uh to make them as effective as they needed to be but with with uh analysts and everybody else being able to pitch in and Coach that has opened up a lot of opportunity for for getting a lot more done during practice because we have more sets of eyes on people and more people to to help facilitate the drills and Coach the drills so that was uh what we did this year uh you you had a couple uh position changes Jonathan Hall and uh John Randall Jr what was the reasoning behind moving those guys John oal start with him he is more of he came to us as a safet he played Safety in high school but we projected that he would eventually get you know outgrow that position and and he has done so and and uh we feel like his ceiling His Highest ceiling is without a doubt at the uh linebacker spot we think he's going to be a really good one that combined with uh little bit of a a lack of depth at linebacker I wouldn't say it's a problematic position but it's a position that wasn't maybe as deep as some of the others uh and So based on his ceiling where he's going to ultimately be the best player and where he could F uh factor in sooner would be at the linebacker spot uh John Randall same thing Corner Spot was maybe our thinnest position on the football team and you know we lost couple guys that back in Spring that that and won during the summer Player Development that we weren't uh uh obviously counting on that happening but but he gives us he he was first of all he wasn't figuring into the the rotation in the running back room but he's a tremendous athlete you look at his testing scores and his vertical jump his 40- yard dash shuttles are all among the best on the team and so uh that led us to the to the uh place where we said hey let's move you over to the defensive side and see how you do there and he responded he he's he's got all the tools you need to play a corner doesn't have the experience yet you're not going to see much of him early on at least but he is making a nice transition and and providing more depth and and a good you know six foot body and Corners you try to get all six-footers in the room you can't do that because there's just not enough of them go around but but when you get some length in the corner position that uh that definitely helps you especially matching up against the bigger receivers and then uh Hunter Andrews we had him uh to help you know we didn't have Mike Mitchells as close as we have to a big back he's about 215 220 but Hunters 225 and and uh was in a situation where we when we it was almost like a domino effect knowing jonno was going to move forward allowed us to take Hunter and give him give us a chance to get a big back over on offense at least for for now that change is not necessarily permanent uh it will be for this season but down the road you know whether we switch him back to linebacker remains to be seen but he's a proven commodity at running back in high school he gained uh 1,200 plus yards as a senior almost 10 yards a carry so so it's not like it's new to him he's a very accomplished running back from his high school days Kyle in Spring we saw a lot of good stuff from cam Cal obviously much in Fall where is his progress right now and where do you think he can maybe contribute this year he's uh going to be big uh Factor at corner I believe before the season's over he had a setback during the uh the summer conditioning he's the player I was talking about during summer Player Development but uh he's scheduled to join us uh in practice very shortly as the next week and start to get uh back into the mix and so that's uh that's something that uh we're looking forward to because he's a good player Kyle Dorian singer obviously had great stats at Arizona not so much at USC you've been very complimentary of him here can you spell out for the fans what it is you've seen and why you've given those compliments and what their expectations should be for him this season well first of all he is a exceptional football player I mean he he does things out on the practice field that that you just go wow you just look at each other as coaches and say yeah that's that's why we brought him here and so he's got uh maybe the certainly one of the best sets of hands that we've had ever in our program I mean he catches everything he's he's just as short-handed as they come uh his body control on the contested ball up the field is second to none uh his route running you know he's he's got exceptional ability to bend and and sink his hips and get in and out of breakes and uh right now he is our wide receiver one there's no doubt about it and the throw game goes through him at this point in time and and has from uh way back in Spring and uh we're hoping that uh and he is he's a proven commodity it's not like well we hope he shows up on game they he has shown up you know a thousand yard receiver as you mentioned Arizona uh got a little bit lost in the crowd last year at SC with their unbelievable talent that they have across the board but but uh he is going to be a big factor for us and and uh him and cam have really developed a great chemistry together yeah we're all excited to see that play out Cam's obviously the leader on this team but we haven't seen him play for a long time with rose bille 2023 what's he look like and what we expect this Thursday well physically about the same guy 220 lbs he's he's what he's been for the last several years um he is uh going to be very judicious in his running and we've we've had you know ad nauseum talks about that and and uh he's he's uh going to be a guy that really picks his spots and and uh and is going to be you know not trying to fight for that extra yard when you know you know there are situ situations where you know end of game or whatever where he's going to need to go ahead and throw it in there but preservation is is the key with him as far as when he decides to tuck the ball and run it uh very little QB Run game you're not going to see a whole lot of of QB Run game but uh he's he's right now functioning as well as he ever has his arm strength is back uh the leg feels great and uh just no limitations I mean he's ready to roll Southern Utah put a scare into Arizona State the season over last year is that get your guys attention and then also BR Whistler walked on it you dingham high as one of their big weapons uh what's your history with him yeah well he was a great uh teammate for us and a hard worker and and was a scout team guy and and busted his butt every single day and he was a a guy that you know I'm elated to see him having the success he is and and being able to contribute and be their their lead back um so so good for him uh we don't overlook anybody I mean every year uh onea beats division one and usually multip couple times you already saw it this past weekend Montana State got a win even though they were the favorite team it still you know it still happens and so uh we are very aware that uh we've got to play good football and our focus is on us completely this week and playing our our game and playing up to our potential and and uh making sure that we uh you know like I said don't get complacent and don't think that uh we don't need to show up CU we do we're going to have to come out and play well do you have a third team quarterback we do uh right now it'd be Brandon Rose and uh it's uh you know Sam Huard has been uh really making progress but again it's you know this we're established at one and two right now but Sam is pressing for that number three spot and if something happened where we got to that spot it would probably be a competition between Brandon and Sam to see who ultimately is the guy Kyle inh helmet communication has been something that's been newly adopted into college football I'm curious as somebody that's been coaching for such a long time how are you guys sort of navigating that this season on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball yeah we've been using it from day one of fall camp and I think it's a a very positive thing it should have been implemented years ago in my opinion uh as should have the two-minute warning and everything else were behind on in college football with the NFL eventually if the NFL is doing it eventually we'll do it and I don't know why there's such a lag period but there is but uh we see it as a big positive and again we've been doing it not only in scrimmages but every practice uh we've got the the communication going both offensively and defensively and it's much more uh advantageous offensively for us it's not as big a deal defensively because we signal in the whole you know we don't huddle on defense so everyone's got to look over and see the signals because you can only have the one guy with the with the uh earpiece but but on offense it's been a real Plus for us uh I'm not going to say it's a game changer or anything like that cuz we've uh we're we're not a no huddle team and and so we'll we'll uh you know we've had good communication in the past with our signals and we don't feel like we've had been compromised with signal stealing but it just makes it a cleaner process and and uh better for the quarterback to be able to hear exactly what the offensive coordinator's thinking Kyle back here I know that we've spoken about it at fall camp or spoken about him but the return of a healthy Brent keithy I know also cam Rising as well but how are you feeling going into week one of your season knowing that you've got these guys healthy on your offensive side yeah well it's a he's a weapon for us and he's looked great in practice uh we've been trying to be uh not trying to be we have been intelligent with how we've used him we have given him a few practices off here and there just to make sure that we don't overdo it but uh he is arguably you know one of the top two or three receiving tight ends in the nation and uh he's a a hard a tough matchup for defenses and when you look at that position that position room is is loaded we got six guys that could maybe start anywhere in the Big 12 right now that's how how deep that is the two deepest positions on our football team defensive end and tight end and uh between uh and the Caleb loner kid has really done some exceptional things in Fall camp now we got to you know see how he'll react in a game and and uh you know what what uh what he can do there but but between brand uh Caleb uh Carson Ryan Darren Bentley uh Landon king um miss one I believe hey we got a we got a whole full of guys that are very talented and and uh you're going to see a bunch of multiple tight end formations in our in our schemes this year there's Kyle Whittingham uh just a uh part of that press conference if you want to hear the whole thing we'll have it posted for you at KSL sports.com and uh you get all the Utah Insight you want right there uh again at KSL sports.com um Brandon Rose your third quarterback Sam Huer running fourth that's kind of surprising because for a minute Huard felt like he could be argued as the second yeah and now Isaac Wilson is the defined second and Brandon rose sounds to be the defined third even though he did say that they would kind of open it up if they needed to and have a competition between the two to figure out exactly which direction they wanted to go but this is a it's a really deep team at every position and this is one of the best quarterback situations that they've been in in a long time oh yeah now we don't know a lot about Isaac Wilson in terms of being a big 12 quarterback we don't know a lot of about him being a college football quarterback but when Kyle Whittingham goes out on a on a live mic and says that's our number two and it's defined and it's ready when you've got Brandon Rose who's sitting there and Sam hu who came in as a transfer and then that tells you he has a lot of faith in him so feels like it's a pretty decent situation yep all right Hansen Scotty 975 the ekl Sports Zone it's game week for the cougars cougars and the zone is getting you ready for kickoff the Cougars open the season at B Edward Stadium as they welcome in Southern Illinois listen all week long for the best coverage of cougar football and your chance to win tickets to the gay then catch the cougar pregame show this Saturday at 5: with a postgame show immediately following the game your home for the best coverage of cougar football is live on air online and on the KSL Sports s yeah boy this is 975 the KSL Sports Zone the wheel is loaded and it's time to talk some sports this is sports roulette with Hansen Scotty on 975 the KSL Sports [Music] Z 240 Hansen Scotty on a Monday the week the college football makes its official return here in the state of Utah we had games over the weekend week zero now in the rearview mirror now we look ahead to week number one Utah will take on Southern Utah Utah State against Robert Morris and BYU will take on Southern Illinois also looking forward to later in the week um what do we uh we we got to come up with and I'll have the big voice guy produc and open for it but we've got to uh what do we name our segment where we kind of make each other give each other phrases did we come up with like an official name for that segment that we have to work into our broadcast I don't remember if we named it or not I don't think we did cuz I think we just started into it having a littleit fun the phrase the pays and then we got rolling pretty deep in it yeah then it got a little out of hand and it got a little crazy but we did have some fun fun we did play the whole compilation yeah the Montage maybe I'll bring that you like what are you doing um no I don't think you ever did not one time because I'm I'm already kind of a little bit Yeah off the wall and I say weird things anyways so I I will admit I had a lot of people look at me weird when I did bring up toana oranda Towanda yeah yeah yeah if I think if anything would have been a little bit strange it would have been um we're going to need a bigger boat yeah even when I had you work in alfredo sauce you made it seamless yeah smoother than a creamy Alfredo um dancing like I was at the Omni was a tough one Lloyd said we'll bring back the Montage on Friday just to get everybody remind everybody what we were up to we might need to do it Thursday cuz Utah kicks off on Thursday yeah we'll get you ready all right 242 let's get to it Sports roulette Loyd fire up that will the NFL sucks the NFL just sucks man and cuts have been coming down the line and seeing a lot of really good football players from the state get cut Bradley and I has been released from the Atlanta Falcons and now you could always see guys get picked up off waivers you could see guys get resigned to practice squads I mean just because they're cut it doesn't mean their career is over but Bradley and I released from Atlanta yesterday Clayton Isbell was waved from the New York Giants yesterday did Clayton have another year of Eligibility I can't remember I don't remember I don't remember either but Clayton Isbell was so good had a lot of hopes for him at University of Utah Kaden slovis was waved by the Colts yesterday and I don't know if kadon finds another landing spot but way by the Colts today Aiden Robbins former BYU running back way by the Cleveland Browns and Miles battle cornerback out of Utah was waved by the Kansas City Chiefs again they might be picked up might be claimed might be put back on practice squad this doesn't mean it's the end of their career it just means that they're having uproot and yeah figure out what's next for them and I hate that part of it well I mean you talk about that all the time about that moment when Ryan comes out and helps you move and you're thinking what am I doing with my life yeah that sucked that sucked it's such a hard moment then you're like dude okay well most of these guys have a degree nowadays which is good yeah not having a degree didn't help so I I didn't have a degree and I had a I had a 2-year-old and I had a pregnant wife and I didn't know what in the heck I was going to do luckily the AFL gave me a nice buffer yeah the AFL was great it was such a good option still making six figures playing football and instead of a 12month job like the NFL it was a more like a seven-month job so you had good benefits 401K I mean that was when the AFL were paying dudes and you had all the you know bennies that went along with it it was the it was the same health benefits as the NFL the the 40K wasn't quite as good as the NFL but it still matched was like time and a half it's pretty dang decent yeah and I don't know what the options are now I don't know what the XFL or this new not it's the combined yeah it's now it's the UFL the XFL and the usfl combined for the UFL and I don't know what their benefits or their pays I think it's 78,000 or something uh I think it'd be that might be high oh is it might be yeah but they do have buffer leagues so you know you can jump in it and at least get some tape out there get your feet underneath you a little bit but these are tough days and these next week this next week is when The Dominoes really fall and guys are going to have to go through life changes and try to figure out do I want to keep fighting for it do I want to change my my position in life and there are a lot of good football players right now that are looking around all right Lloyd spin it CD gets his money CD lamb held out and finally got his payday we all knew it was going to happen but he officially ended his holdout and agreed to a hands get ready a contract that makes him the second highest paid non-quarterback in NFL history it is a 4-year $136 million contract uh $38 million signing bonus the highest ever given to a wide receiver and 100 out of that $136 million is guaranteed jeez uh he was set to play another first round exit probably yep he was set to be paid about 17 million on a fifth year option but um nope he going to cash in uh he still does not get the same amount of money that Justin Jefferson is getting he is the highest paid uh wide receiver and non-quarterback but uh puts him right there in that ballpark and especially 100 million guaranteed for CD lamb now he can have multiple cell phones that he pulls away from his girlfriend oh my gosh which is one of my favorite Draft Day moments I've ever seen I I think last year Green Bay versus the Dallas Cowboys in the was it that wasn't the wild card that no it wasis no it was wild card it was wild card was yeah in the Wild Card round was one of the most enjoyable games that I've watched in a long time I don't have any skin in the game yeah but it was really fun to see Jordan love go out there and get a postseason win and it was also telling to see the Dallas Cowboys with the first round exit and I don't know how they continue to run it back Dak Prescott threw for 400 yards in that game mhm and they come up short well short and Dak now is playing on a I mean look that dude's going into a contract season yeah so we'll see how that plays out for him he's betting on himself in a big way um so Cowboys are an interesting storyline as they are every year and obviously more often than not they uh they disappoint which is awesome for all you Cowboy fans out there and it's gonna happen again this year talking to you clay but now you're paying CD lamb a lot to do it yes exactly all right 249 we'll wrap this bad boy up get you ready for JJ and Alex snack 975 the KSL Sports Zone