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It's not like they knew Norm Chow's play calls. They're not psychics. But when Dres Anderson first started playing for the Utes as a redshirt freshman, his father and uncle knew when he was about to get the ball.
His body language gave it away.
Flipper Anderson and Paco Craig — two highly trained eyes who as Anderson's father and uncle, respectively, have long been in his corner — say he no longer alters his stance ahead of running plays, and whether or not he's expecting a pass, he swings his arms and breaks lustily off the snap.
"Even when he's not getting the ball now, he participates in the play," Flipper said. "He's not just looking."
Flipper, a 10-year NFL wideout who holds the NFL record for most receiving yards in a game (336), once regularly watched his son run 20 yards backward and juke everyone to score in youth flag football. He's long known Dres could make big plays. Now, he sees him making the small ones.
Although Dres was a lightly recruited receiver at Riverside, California's John W. North High, where the offense catered to then-future Texas Tech running back SaDale Foster, his ability to get open is innate.
Craig first realized this fact when he worked out Anderson as a ninth-grader.
"He breaks people's cushions," said Craig, a four-year UCLA wideout who was drafted by Detroit. Corners play off Anderson and misjudge his 4.4 speed until, before they know it, he's past them.
"His stride is so nice and smooth and long that I think you kind of underestimate how fast he is."
At Utah, Anderson's gotten bigger and stronger. He's learned to run hard — not only against ideal coverages, but against worst-case, trump-card coverages — and he's learned to wait patiently for his opportunity.
Anderson was held to two catches for 14 yards in the first half against Michigan, but he broke free after catching a slant from Travis Wilson to score a 28-yard touchdown that would prove a back-breaker for the Wolverines.
The senior captain has also answered the call from Ute receivers coach Taylor Stubblefield: Don't just lead by example, be another coach on the field for the rest of the receivers.
"Everybody's one play away from being in there," Anderson said. "I want to make sure that they're doing just good as us, and that they're intelligent and being able to read defenses like me and [junior Kenneth Scott] do."
An NFL scout told The Salt Lake Tribune that Anderson is on his team's radar, but to move up the board further, "he has to get stronger." Craig said his nephew has been a late bloomer physically and still has room to add bulk to his 6-foot-2 frame, but that "I think for his size and his stature, he's stronger than you would think."
Craig also believes Anderson's stock will improve at workouts, when scouts realize that he's capable of doing more than the quick slants, deep flies and drag routes that earned him 1,002 yards and seven touchdowns as a junior.
He and Anderson have worked to perfect his hooks, digs, post corners and comebacks.
"I think everybody's going to be surprised," he said.
Of course, Anderson is still a college student. His foremost goal right now is to lead Utah to its first bowl appearance since the 2011 season. With his trademark enthusiasm, he's still soaking it all in.
"I've been through Utah, when they had the old facility and Mountain West and all that stuff," he said. "We've just been a grinder program from the get-go. So I'm happy with where we've come and how we're doing this season, and I just hope that we can end it off strong"
After practice Tuesday, long after most of his teammates had disappeared into the facility, he answered reporters' questions before signing autographs for a crowd of children.
Reminded that he had a radio appearance in a few minutes, miles away at the Desert Edge Brewery, he asked for just a few more seconds to snap a photo with some of the kids.
Anderson may have earned the spotlight, but for a little bit, it can wait.
Dres Anderson file
Measurables • 6-foot-2, 190 pounds
High school • Lettered three years at John W. North in Riverside, California, totaling 607 yards and six touchdowns as a junior, but making just 11 grabs for 112 yards as a senior in a run-heavy offense. Had no Pac-12 offers despite being the son of UCLA great Flipper Anderson and the nephew of Bruins wideout Paco Craig.
At Utah • Led the team in receiving yards as a sophomore (365) and as a junior (1,002), and earned honorable mention All-Pac-12 honors last season. Needs just 26 yards to become the fifth receiver in school history with 2,000. —
Washington State at Utah
O Saturday, 6 p.m.
Pac-12 Network