Kyle Whittingham started his post-practice media session Saturday with a familiar declaration.
“Nothing on injuries today,” Utah’s football coach said inside Rice-Eccles Stadium. “Zero to talk about injury-wise.”
Asked again if there were any season-ending injuries to discuss — part of program policy to divulge if a player has suffered an injury that will keep him sidelined for the year — Whittingham said there were no season-ending injuries for the Utes.
“Which is good,” he said.
In Utah’s first availability since starting center Lo Falemaka suffered an apparent leg injury Thursday afternoon, Whittingham said sophomore offensive linemen Johnny Capra and Paul Toala are getting accustomed to the position.
“Some errant snaps here or there, but for the most part, it was pretty good,” Whittingham said. “It’s just a work in progress. Some of those guys don’t have a lot of reps and a lot of experience snapping the ball, so we expect them to get better as time goes on.”
Capra, a sophomore lineman from Auburn Calif., said becoming acquainted with the center position is an adjustment. He credited offensive line coach Jim Harding for prepping his linemen to step into various positions on the offensive line.
“In the film room,” Capra said, “coach Harding does a really good job of having everyone know the individual responsibilities of every single play on the line, especially if you’re playing on right tackle, you have to know what the left tackle, left guard, right guard, center, what they’re doing. That’s made the transition a lot easier, and I had a better understanding of the offense coming into it.”
As for balancing snapping the ball, reading defenses and still bursting off the blocks, Capra said he’s watched the likes of Falemaka and former Utes JJ Dielman and Hiva Lutui as examples.
“I’m just up for the ability to help my team in any way I can,” he said. “Doing whatever I’m told.”
“It’s a very demanding position,” Whittingham said. “You’ve got to have a great deal of knowledge of skill to identify fronts and get us into right protections and identify the right guys as far as the block schemes on the defense. There’s a lot to that position. There’s more on that guy than any other offensive linemen mentally.”
Time for captains
When do the polls open? Within the next one to two weeks, Whittingham said.
Utah players soon will vote for which players will represent the team as captains during the 2017 season.
“We want to have a chance for all the new guys to get to know everybody and get a feel for everybody and make sure we vote intelligently and not just without enough body of work to judge from,” Whittingham said.
WR rotation
As the Utah staff tries to sort out its receiver depth chart, offensive coordinator Troy Taylor said the young wideouts are getting more looks. Whittingham singled out after practice freshman Samson Nacua and sophomore Demari Simpkins as those who stood out toward the tail end of this week of practice.
Taylor said Utah is limiting the reps of Darren Carrington II to see how the youngsters look. He added receivers Raelon Singleton and Siaosi Wilson were out of practice Saturday. Whittingham said Thursday that he expected Singleton, who has been limited at the start of camp, to be ready to practice fully soon.
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