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February 12, 2020 13 mins
On the Utah edition of the 2020 Inside Pac-12 Football Signing Day Special, Pac-12 Networks’ Mike Yam & Yogi Roth interview Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham on the highlights of the Utes recruiting class.
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(00:10):
Oh, they've been one of thebest stories in the conference the last couple
of seasons. To focus Utah,Welcome to Sounder of San Francisco Studio's National
Sidney Day. Mike Am and YogiRoth with you. Well, we're talking
about your football team at the endof the season. It's usually a good
thing. Back to back years,Utah has made its way into the Pac
twelve Championship game, trying to getover the hub. This class, though,
might actually help best class in thehistory of Kyle Whittingham's reign, not

(00:34):
only just in the Pac twelve,but I think anywhere in obviously previous conferences.
And I think the way they've doneit it's consistent to how they've done
it before in terms of being creative. But they continue to go into homes
or a couple of years ago whenthey got Jalen Johnson, that was a
big deal. This year Clark Phillips, it's a big deal, but it's
not a surprise to anybody who's followingthe program. So I love it.

(00:56):
They get guys coming off of amission, they get maybe year players,
they get junior college. I getguys from the state of Utah, which
is a huge storyline like look outlike they're not surprising people anymore. Back
to back packed off South Champs.There you know what you're facing when you
go up against this Utah squad.For more on this class, Sammy outlook
for this program. Kyle Winningham joinsus right now. Coach, I feel

(01:17):
like we just did this a coupleof weeks ago. We were talking with
you a ton at the end ofthe season college football playoff rankings. You
guys were in the mix. Notto mention getting ready for that championship game,
but before we talk about this class, which is a studs class.
Your super Bowl weekend pretty awesome.Your son Alex on the Kansas City Chief
staff, what was it like foryou to be down in Miami and sort
of celebrate a Super Bowl away withhim? It was awesome, And uh,

(01:41):
you know, for my son Alexand my good friend Andy Reid,
who you know, we've been friendsfor a lot of years and teammates way
back in the day. It wasjust you know, memories for a lifetime
and we're able to bring all that. You know, the entire family went
down and took part and just tosee the Chiefs, you know, just
a gritty performance to come back again. I mean that's three postseason games in

(02:02):
a row, double digit deficits they'veovercome, and just just a great experience
and so happy for Andy and myson Alex. What'd you tell your son
when you saw him after the gameafter the win, said, soak this
in and you better enjoy this becausebecause this is not an every year thing,
and and it's only a second yearin the profession, and to have

(02:25):
that experience and be able to reachthat pinnacle is very special. Coach,
I hope you're soaking in the successthat you're having in Salt Lake City.
And I know the goal is towin a Pack twelve championship, and you
guys have been knocking on the door. But take me through this class and
why you feel like you guys couldget back to that title game. Well,

(02:47):
we feel like we have as gooda freshman class as we've ever had,
maybe the best, and we're startingto stockpile that young talent. We've
got thirty six scholarship freshman on theroster. They'll be freshman this fall.
And I've been here twenty five years. We've never had anywhere near that number.
And you add another sixteen or seventeensophomore scholarships, you know, fifty

(03:07):
two fifty three of our eighty two. I believe we got overall his freshman
or sophomore, So a lot ofyoung talent the program with the players that
we lost, a lot of greatopportunity for these young players to step up
and show what they can do.So, speaking of we didn't get to
talk to you about some of theguys that signed after our show in December,

(03:28):
Clark Phillips being one of them.Coach, how did you get this
young man to ultimately sign with yourinstitution? Well, first of all,
Clark's a tremendous kids. He's thewhole package. He's he's high character,
extremely talented, great student. AndShariff Shaw, our Corners coach. First

(03:49):
of all, Freddie Whittingham identified himearly on, offered him his sophomore year.
Shariff Shaw took over, was recruitingClark all throughout the recruiting cycle.
Uh. You know, he hadcommitted to Ohio State and Sharif stayed right
with him, didn't give up onit. And as things worked out,

(04:09):
Clark had to change your heart latein the game, and Sharif was right
there to to uh, you know, continue to recruit him and get him
up on a visit here at Utah. Loved it, had a great official
visit, parents loved it. Andhe's here now. He's in school right
now and and doing a great job. Wow. Another difference maker. You
guys signed earlier today in Fabian marksanother guy in the back. And we

(04:30):
know all the talented players are gonnalose. How will he impact this team
early on? Well, he'll havehis opportunity as well. H we lost,
you know, the entire secondary withJavlon Gidrey and Jalen Johnson coming out
early. The entire secondary has gotto be rebuilt. And so that provides
opportunity for these young players. Andfour of those guys, by the way,

(04:50):
are going to the Combine. Youwe've got nine guys going to the
Combine and that's an all time schoolschool high but and eight of those guys
are on defense. So great opportunitieson defense and particularly in the secondary.
And we've got four young corners thatwe're bringing in the program and they're all
going to get their shot. Coacha season ago because of some of the
experience that you're referencing and the factthat you've got next level dudes that were

(05:14):
on the team last year. I'msure you felt really comfortable about your team's
defense and critical moments. Do youreassess in your head the expectations this upcoming
season, knowing you've got some newerfaces and some guys that don't necessarily have
the experience that you had in thelast two campaigns. Well, we certainly
lost a lot of guys like youtalked about, and but that's a positive.

(05:35):
I mean, if you've got guysin your program that are at that
level, then that means you're recruitingthe right way. And so you know,
we've got some big shoes to fillthis year. But we're never going
to play the young card or makeexcuses. I mean, we're coming to
compete every single year. And youknow with this this group that we've got
coming up, like I said,has got a bunch of talent. We've

(05:57):
got some really good young defensive linemenin this group, and this group was
really defensive heavy. We recruited sixteento the twenty five initials went to defense
and nine went to offense. Becauseof what we lost defensively, offensively,
we didn't lose much as far asquantity, but the quality, and we
lost the quarterback, the tailback,and the left tackle, which are three
pretty critical positions and really good playersat those positions. For speaking of quarterback,

(06:21):
Jake Bentley get a transfer from SouthCarolina, what's he been like as
a part of your program? Everythingyou could ask for so far as far
as how it carries himself. He'sbeen organizing things with the players and taking
charge and just what you'd expect froma fifth year senior who has been a

(06:43):
starter in the SEC and he handleshimself like a professional quarterback coach. I
know you love competition and in thatquarterback room you just mentioned one of those
guys, but generally speaking in termsof the accolades and the expectation, that
group is good as maybe you've hadsince you've been in Salt Lake City,
which is a really long period oftime. Can you just paint the picture
of what the conversation and the dynamicsare among those guys. Yeah, Well,

(07:10):
we do feel great about the roomand the quarterback position. In this
day and age of the portal andthe quarterbacks transferring all over the place,
the room changes pretty dramatically from yearto year, and we feel really good
about the room we got to cominginto this fall with Jake and then Cam
Rising, our transfer from Texas whohad to sit out last year who will
be eligible this year. Drew Liskwho returns. He's a fifth year senior

(07:33):
and has been with us, youknow, for a lot of years.
And then Cooper Justice, a youngkid that we picked up out of Oregon
who is really a Justin Herbert cloneas far as how he looks. I'm
not trying to make a comparison withhow he plays yet, but six foot
six plus and about two hundred andthirty five two hundred and forty pounds and
just a ton of upside in ouropinion. Yeah, you're writing me on

(07:54):
Matt Leiner when I was watching himon tape. Maybe it's just because of
the way you go there you go, Yeah, which will be pretty good
either one. Coach, I wantto talk. I really enjoyed talking about
progression of your program over the courseof the time in the PAC twelve conference.
I feel like the progression is thesame in the state of Utah.
I mean, you guys really putyour arms around this state this year.
Do you feel that now, like, hey, nobody's really going to get

(08:16):
out of the walls within our statewhile we're trying to keep all the talent
home, or as much of itas we can. I don't know if
it's realistic to say you're never gonnalose a guy and you know you're gonna
keep everybody here. And you know, Oregon came in and got a really
good one here in state. Butwe were able to hold on to five
of what we deemed the top sixplayers in the state. Five out of

(08:37):
the top six. You combine thatwith five LDS return missionaries from in state
and ten of our twenty five initialscholarships have gone to in state players,
and that's always our starting point inrecruiting as the state of Utah. We
want to make sure we do agreat job in this state, be thorough
and evaluate the right way. Coach. A season ago, it was an
absolute pleasure to watch your football teamon the field. We love talking about

(09:01):
them, and hopefully this upcoming seasonwe get to track another great run.
We hope, so we'll see.Like I said, we got some guys
that they're going to have their chanceand have their opportunity and we'll see how
they respond. Looking forward to acoach something tells me that they'll always be
a tough squad. Thanks again,Okay, appreciate you having me on.

(09:22):
All right, It really is anabsolute blast watching this football team a year
ago. It was. It wastruly awesome. He mentioned some of the
issues that they're going to have interms of replacing talent on the defensive side,
and he's right, quantity don't losea lot on the offensive side.
But we know what Tyler was bringingto the table, Zach as well.
Let's start on defense here, though, because that's this team's identity in terms
of that next wave of players.You've watched the tape on all these guys.

(09:45):
Who stands out to you? Well, I think you talk about the
guys that are returning, right,Devin Lloyd is going to be the anchor
to this defense. They have somedefensive lineman that he referenced that are going
to be returning. But I gottago to the secondary, man. I
mean, Clark Phillips, we sawthe tape. He's a real dude.
He's a dude. Fabian Marks isa real dude, Mike. I mean,
they are no slouches in developing thatposition. When you can recruit a

(10:07):
guy that plays like these two individualsdo that have the natural gifts that they
already have their impressed in any referencesome of the other guys that are in
state. Xavier Carlton defensive end.I mean, he's all six seven,
two hundred and sixty plus pounds.Van Fellinger. These are all guys that
sign like Thursday and Friday of theearly signing period. I mean, they
are impact players. When you lookat this defense, Ben Renfro another guy

(10:30):
on the defensive side, I mean, I just really believe that they identify
Nate Ritchie, another in state playerat the safety position, really great instincts,
incredible change of direction that they've donea phenomenal job of saying, you
know what, this state pumps outa lot of talent. Let's wrap our
arms around it as best we can, and now teams know him. And
my theory is, Mike, thatwhen you win a PacTel South championship,

(10:54):
you don't feel it in the classuntil two classes after that, because recruiting
is pretty much done when you're playingin the first week get a seven,
and that's what I believe. Thisclass reflects the championship game two years ago.
Now you're staying in state, they'retalking about your high school even more.
These guys are a lot of themare going to play early. So
I'm really pumped for the future andfor Kyle Whittingham to hit reset on his
career, saying goodbye to two hundredand twenty nine starts. Yeah, you

(11:16):
had said to me multiple times lastseason on the offensive side, you made
a push. She'll a lot ofpush them. Maybe anyone out there for
Tyler Huntley, and then people atthe end of the season started to hop
on your bandwagon nationally, Well,who's how do they replace a guy like
that? From a leadership standpoint,I think the same could be said for
Zach Moss. Yeah, I don'tknow. I go Jordan Wilmore at the
back. Remember they beat USC onhim a year ago. He played a

(11:37):
little bit as a true freshman.He's a dude for them. I mean,
expect him to get the rock forthis team on the offensive side,
Hey, quarterback, we'll get therein spray. I can't wait to watch
it. I mean, Jason Shelleysounds like he's moving to the defensive side
as a safety now. So herewe go with the quarterbacks. The coach
just reference is that wild? Bythe way wild he went to the back
dold title, but you can Ithink when you look at what they do

(11:58):
offensively and what they've done in termsof scheme wise, it fits Jake Bentley
more, it fits Cam Rising more. Will they have some stuff for a
dual threat. Maybe we'll see Shelleyhave a little package like he did throughout
this season. But this is adownhill running team that's a pro style offense.
They got arguably the best tight endand brand Keithy, she was a
total weapon. Solomoninas next level theyDevon Valley. I mean, they've got

(12:20):
receivers that are coming back, soit'll they won't be the front line team
we talk about a media day,but they'll be a team the year going
to definitely have to pay attention toit too much to ask what all the
losses on the defensive side for thisteam to get back to a championship game,
Well, I don't think so.I don't think there's a dominant team
in the South. I think SCis probably the most talented Arizona State,
really talented, but we know howtough and physical Utah is like they'll be

(12:43):
in every game. Said that onthe Gobataka winning him because it's so darn
true. With this team, theyhave shown that they are the toughest team
in the conference here and year out. Get a first look at them spring
games Saturday, April eleven, tenam Pacific time to catch a pactrol Of
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