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Utah announced the results of its vote for team captains Thursday: a sixth-year wideout, a soft-spoken all-conference running back, an incumbent place-kicker and two senior linebackers.
No quarterback, some will note, but Kyle Whittingham said Friday that's not really any great surprise.
"It's such a tight race, and such a battle" between seniors Travis Wilson and Kendal Thompson and redshirt freshman Chase Hansen, he said. "Typically, if you have a clear-cut situation, you're more likely to be voted as captain, but it kind of dilutes their votes, I think, when they're all three doing such a nice job."
Senior wideout Kenneth Scott — who arrived in 2010 and missed two seasons due to injury — may be this year's leader among leaders, Whittingham said.
Scott, meanwhile, said he was surprised he got the votes. He'd bet fellow captain Devontae Booker that he wouldn't.
"It's weird, because some people try to do that, and it's just me being myself. I'm just out there having fun, and I guess that's what attracts people, is my passion, energy and emotion."
Scott finished with 48 catches for 506 yards and four touchdowns last season despite the coaching staff's admitted failing to give him enough opportunities downfield.
He said he'll try to emulate the leadership style of former Ute and current Hawaii receivers coach Luke Matthews, who "may not have been the best player on the team, but he was a great leader and led by example."
Booker, meanwhile, hopes to be more vocal this season. Whittingham said that whether it's on the field — where Booker rushed for 1,512 yards and 10 touchdowns — or in the classroom — where he earned first-team all-conference academic honors after failing to qualify out of high school — his actions speak loudly enough.
Junior Andy Phillips becomes a second-time captain after last year petitioning for a fifth spot for special teams, "because Coach Whittingham says it's the most important phase of the game," and Phillips found the group's leadership lacking in his first year on campus.
Utah's specialists made a good case for continuing the practice last year, among the best in the nation in virtually every category, and Phillips said senior Ray Guy Award winner Tom Hackett would've made a great captain, too.
Senior Jared Norris pointed out that he and fellow senior Gionni Paul are the first pair of linebacker captains since his redshirt year, when Matt Martinez and Chaz Walker got the honor. He and Paul feed off each other in the same way, Norris said.
He hopes to draw inspiration from Cleveland Browns outside linebacker and 2014 sack master Nate Orchard.
"He would get angry at times, just like I would get angry, but it was at times when it was appropriate. For the most part, he would keep the team calm and keep everyone level-headed."
Camps these days • When Whittingham played, fall camp was two or three straight weeks of two-a-days with pads on both practices, he said Friday.
Coaches have eased up recently due to regulations on contact at the NCAA and conference level, he said, but the difference between now and 20 years ago is dramatic.
"The key for us is to get to the first game healthy with enough physical contact and enough live work to be sharp," he said. "There's a point of diminishing returns and when you expose yourself to unnecessary risk and injury."
With his Utes relatively healthy as they begin game-week style preparation next week, Whittingham was asked if the players ever get the old "in my day ..." speech.
"On occasion. We don't harp on it. They don't really give a darn what happened 50 years ago."
Tidbits • With Tim Patrick still out — his return hoped for in the season opener — Whittingham said that if Utah played today, it'd likely rotate Tyrone Smith, Caleb Repp, Delshawn McClellon and Siaosi Wilson at the outside receiver position opposite Scott. ... No surprise, but at corner, the top two outside spots currently belong to Reginald Porter and newcomer Cory Butler-Byrd, with junior Brian Allen next up, and then the trio of Tavaris Williams, Casey Hughes and Boobie Hobbs fighting for reps behind Allen.
Twitter: @matthew_piper