Utah football: Utes ranked No. 25 in preseason USA Today poll

Sure, Utah might’ve lost a bevy of talent to the NFL last year, but that didn’t make some of the top coaches from around the country believe there will be a significant dropoff in 2017.

The Utes were named No. 25 in the annual preseason USA Today Coaches Poll. The poll, conducted weekly throughout the regular season, is voted on by a panel of coaches at FBS schools nationwide. That panel, according to USA Today, is chosen by random draw, conference by conference plus independents, from a pool of coaches open to voting.

Utah is one of four Pac-12 programs voted into the preseason coaches poll. USC rolls in at No. 4, while the reigning Pac-12 champion Washington Huskies remain in the Top 10 at No. 7. Stanford is No. 14 in the poll.

The Utes, who went 9-4 in 2016, had a school-record eight players selected in April’s 2016 NFL Draft, more than any other Pac-12 school and finished fourth nationally among programs churning out pro prospects. The two positional groups hit hardest by the draft and graduation — the secondary and offensive line — remain two of the biggest question marks for Utah this fall camp.

Four of Utah’s five starting offensive linemen from a year ago were drafted.

But those question marks haven’t scared off the voters.

Utah’s preseason ranking comes a little more than a week after it was ranked No. 2 in the preseason Pac-12 South media poll at the 2017 Pac-12 Media Days.

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham is one of 65 coaches with a weekly vote and one of five Pac-12 coaches.

Alabama is the consensus preseason No. 1, receiving 49 first-place votes. The second-most first-place votes went to defending national champions Clemson, which had seven, but is ranked No. 5 in the USA Today preseason poll.