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The search for offensive playmakers continues in Utah's spring football camp, and figures to intensify Saturday when the Utes don pads for the first time.
But throughout two practices, some players have stood out, and several of them have been in the program for a few years but haven't gotten much of an opportunity.
After injuring his knee last spring, junior running back Troy McCormick has looked fleet-footed early in spring, ripping off several big plays on runs and catches out of the backfield in the first two practices. While he's wearing a brace on his left leg for now, coach Kyle Whittingham said he's had no physical restrictions through winter conditioning, and he might play without the brace this fall.
"Even with the brace on, he's been really fast and explosive," Whittingham said. "He may evolve into a little more of an expanded role as a slot receiver, but he's a running back right now."
Some of Utah's most intriguing playmakers are in that slot position as the team hunts for a replacement for leading receiver Britain Covey. Senior Cory Butler-Byrd is certainly a candidate, and his shiftiness has shown up early, but so is junior Kyle Fulks, who also transferred in last year from junior college.
Fulks didn't catch a pass last year, and Whittingham acknowledged that he was probably "underutilized." But the Texas native has always been blazing fast, and he's shown some burst after the catch in Utah's practices so far — something the passing attack was lacking outside of Covey last year.
"He's really made a lot of progress as far as his knowledge of the scheme and not dropping the football," Whittingham said. "Too many drops is what kept him off the field last year."
Taumoepenu takes a step up
In the stacked defensive line, another returner Whittingham is excited about is senior Pita Taumoepenu, who has 12.5 sacks in his career but could fit into Utah's scheme in a more well-rounded way this season.
At 6-foot-1, Taumoepenu has been a tweener for much of his career, but he has the quickest first step and explosion off the line. More than 40 percent of his tackles as a Ute have been for a loss. Whittingham sees signs that Taumoepenu has grown from his underclassman mentality of "just go get the ball."
"Things are slowing down for him: He's understanding the scheme completely," he said. "He didn't have a lot of football under his belt when he came here. He came in pretty raw, but he's made great strides."
For now, Taumoepenu is a backup end to Hunter Dimick and Kylie Fitts, but Whittingham said he sees Taumoepenu's role potentially being critical this fall.
Briefly
Whittingham announced Thursday that redshirt freshman running back Marcel Brooks-Brown is changing his name to Marcel Manalo. … The Utes struggled in Thursday's practice with the QB-center exchange, particularly down the depth chart after Hiva Lutui. Typical backup center Nick Nowakowski is out this spring, and Utah has been rotating different linemen at the center spot. … The Utes also are working on making sophomore punter Mitch Wishnowsky a better holder on field goals. Whittingham said Tom Hackett's replacement is still being "broken in."
Twitter: @kylegoon