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Los Angeles • With preseason camps days away, the Pac-12 Conference appears headed for a season which will largely revolve around the performance of high-powered offenses and a group of highly-touted quarterbacks who have already made names for themselves on the national scene.

The Pac-12 Media Days take place here on Wednesday and Thursday at the Hollywood and Highland Entertainment Center. The University of Utah contingent of coach Kyle Whittingham, offensive lineman Salesi Uhatafe and defensive lineman Filipo Mokofisi are scheduled to speak to reporters on Thursday and open camp on Friday.

While the Utes head into camp with a competition for their starting quarterback job, UCLA, USC, Washington and Washington State enter the season with returning starters expected to be among the top passers in the nation and coveted by NFL teams as potential draft picks.

UCLA's Josh Rosen, USC's Sam Darnold, Washington's Jake Browning and Washington State's Luke Falk, a Utah product and Logan High graduate, all garnered selections to the preseason watch lists for the Maxwell Award, Walter Camp Award and Davey O'Brien Award.

All four quarterbacks have previously been semifinalists for the Davey O'Brien Award, and Falk has twice been a semifinalist. Browning and Darnold are both scheduled to be at Pac-12 Media Days as is Oregon sophomore Justin Herbert. Herbert became the first true freshman to start for Oregon since 1983.

Washington's Browning earned Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year honors last season and led his team to the College Football Playoff and posted an eye-popping 43-touchdown season with nine interceptions and 3,430 passing yards.

USC's redshirt sophomore signal-caller Darnold started building momentum for a potential Heisman Trophy run with nine consecutive wins to finish the season, including a win over Penn State in the Rose Bowl. Darnold piled up 473 yards of offense and five touchdown passes (both Rose Bow records), including 453 passing yards.

ESPN Draft analyst projected Rosen as the seventh-best NFL Draft prospect, regardless of position, in 2018. Last year, Falk tallied the third-most passing yards (4,468) in the country as well as the third-most single-season in Washington State history.

Largely because of Darnold's impact last season, USC goes into Media Days among the favorites nationally to make an appearance in the College Football Playoff. Washington, which finished last season ranked fourth in last year's final coaches poll, also figures to be a potential national title contender.

An average of 14.8 starters (out of 24 including punter and kicker) return for each Pac-12 team this season. The Utes return the fewest (10). The top returners in the conference include seven first-team and 14 second-team all-conference selections from last season.

Cal's Justin Wilcox and Oregon's Willie Taggart will enter their first seasons as head coaches with their respective programs. Wilcox came to USC after having most recently served as defensive coordinator at Wisconsin. Taggar came to Oregon after a four-year stint as head coach at South Florida.

Five Pac-12 teams ranked among the Top 25 in the final coaches' poll of 2016, including four top-15 teams (4. Washington, 5. USC, 12. Stanford, 21. Utah).

Twitter: @LWorthySports —

Pac-12 Media Days

When • Wednesday- Thursday

Where • Hollywood and Highland Entertainment Center

TV • Pac-12 Network, 9:30 a.m. both days