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Hollywood, Calif. • On Wednesday night, Kyle Whittingham walked the red carpet at the ESPY awards show. On Thursday, he sat just a short ways from the brass stars along the Walk of Fame.
And as the University of Utah head coach prepares for his 12th season at the helm, he sure could use a star of his own to emerge from his team's quarterback competition.
"We've got to get our quarterback situation solved," Whittingham said with the Pac-12's two-day media blitz kicking off in Southern California. "It's going to be key, obviously, to our season is how that position battle turns out."
You hear that, Troy Williams?
What about you guys, Tyler Huntley and Brandon Cox?
If one of the Utes' three quarterback contenders can emerge as the passer the team so desperately needs, Whittingham and company would feel even better about their chances of taking their show from Rice-Eccles to Levi's Stadium this year.
Even with their offensive question marks, the Utes — coming off a 10-3 season in which they finished ranked among the top 20 teams in the nation — were picked to finish third in their own division in the conference's preseason media poll released Thursday.
Stanford, for the first time in more than 50 years, was picked as the preseason favorite to win the conference. The Cardinal received 24 first-place votes in the poll. The UCLA Bruins, meanwhile, were picked to with the South division, tabbing 19-first place votes. USC (12), Washington (8), Utah (2) and Oregon (1) also received first-place votes.
"Don't care. Don't put a lot of stock into it," Whittingham said. Still, he noted, that after three straight years of being picked to finish fifth in the Pac-12 South, a bump to third could be seen as "somewhat of a sign of respect."
Five seasons into their Pac-12 existence, the Utes have shown they can hang with the conference's powers.
Royce Freeman knows what the Utes can do at their best. The Oregon running back saw it firsthand at Autzen last fall, when Utah ran off with a 62-20 victory that had people across the nation taking notice.
"Especially in the manner they beat us in, it was definitely eye opening," Freeman said. "They deserve all the respect they get."
Whittingham pointed out that his team has now beaten every team in the conference at least once, overcoming what he characterized as a "psychological hump" for the program.
"Our program right now is light years ahead of where it was five years ago," he said.
Still, the Utes won't truly arrive until they get over the bigger hump and make it to the conference's title game. They shared a piece of the Pac-12 South title with USC last season thanks to a 6-3 conference record, but watched the title game from home because their head-to-head loss with the Trojans cost them a tiebreaker.
This season, Utah senior J.J. Dielman said, it's Santa Clara or bust.
"That's been our goal since I started playing here," the offensive lineman said. "We've come up short twice now and we've been a few plays away, but I think we're all pretty determined and set on that's where we're going. That's not an option. That's it."
Sitting on the opposite corner of a Hollywood conference room, senior defensive back Justin Thomas nodded in agreement.
"It's going to be a big disappointment if we don't," he said. "That's the standard."
The Utes will get the benefit of facing USC, Washington and Oregon all at Rice-Eccles Stadium this season. And Utah won't have to take on upstart Washington State or Heisman-hopeful Christian McCaffrey and the Stanford Cardinal — unless they're fortunate enough to make the title game.
There's no doubt the Utes' defense will be stout.
"Utah's defensive line was the best we went against last year," USC's all-confernce tackle Zach Banner said. Added Cal's star offensive lineman Steven Moore, "They're an intimidating group for sure."
And Utah will once again rely on the strength of its defense as it looks to exceed expectations and challenge for a spot in the conference title game. (The Utes actually picked up one vote to win the championship contest.)
Gone are tackling machines Gionni Paul, Jared Norris and Jason Fanaika. But the Utes' defense remains loaded with talent, especially on the defensive line, where Kylie Fitts, Hunter Dimick, Filipo Mokofisi and Outland Trophy watch-lister Lowell Lotulelei should be able to match up with any team in the conference.
The Utes return their all-conference kicker Andy Philips and replace their Ray Guy award-winning punter Tom Hackett with another Aussie-style kicker, Mitch Wishnowsky.
"That's a name you'll want to remember," Whittingham said. "He's got a big leg."
But it's the "throw game" that has troubled the Utes over the years that must improve for them to take the next step.
A season ago, the Utes finished 11th in the conference in offense — ahead of only lowly Oregon State — amassing 363 yards per game.
"We didn't throw the ball nearly as well as we needed to last year," Whittingham said. "We need to have a big step forward in production at that position."
Last year's offensive struggles came with four-year starter Travis Wilson at quarterback, all-conference running back Devontae Booker bruising defenses and wideout Britain Covey emerging as the team's top receiving threat. With Wilson graduated, Booker in camp with the Denver Broncos and Covey knocking on doors as a Mormon missionary, will the Utes really be able to put more points up on the scoreboard?
So far, there hasn't been much separation among Utah's QBs.
Williams, a Washington transfer who put up big numbers at the junior college level last season, was "trending upward and starting to play some really good football" before he suffered an arm injury midway through spring camp, Whittingham said.
That left the door open for Huntley, a freshman standout from Florida and Cox, a dual-threat junior.
The Utes coaching staff will have to balance short-term returns with long-term benefits as they make their choice.
"Who's going to give us the best chance to win immediately and who is going to give us the best chance to win ultimately?" Whittingham said. "… Because who gives you the best chance to win Game 1 may not be the same guy who gives you the best chance to have the best season you could possibly have."
To start camp, all three quarterbacks will get equal reps.
Whittingham said he hopes to have his quarterback battle "sorted out as quickly as we can" and hopes to name a starter before a "drop dead date" of the week before the season opener against Southern Utah University on Sept. 1.
"The question marks for us is quarterback, just because it's unsolved," Whittingham said. "Not that we're worried about that position, it's just there's no pecking order established yet."
Twitter: @aaronfalk —
Pac-12 media poll
SOUTH
Team Pts.
1. UCLA (19) 180
2. USC (12) 173
3. Utah (2) 127
4. Arizona 87
5. Arizona St. 85
6. Colorado 63
NORTH
Team Pts.
1. Stanford (24) 186
2. Washington (8) 163
3. Oregon (1) 132
4. Washington St. 112
5. California 67
6. Oregon St. 33
First-place votes in parentheses