I would like to personally apologize for the lack of updates over the past week. Being out of town and not having another person taking over the reigns really hampered our efforts at creating the ultimate University of Utah sports source. But now that summer is winding down and the season officially kicks off in less than a month, I promise that updates will continue at an even more feverish pace than before.
I've missed a lot of Utah stories over the past week, so I hope to quickly get you updated on them all. Firstly, and most importantly, Utah has kicked off its fall practice. This practice will basically run us up to the UCLA game and even though I have not been able to attend the practices, word on the street has been completely positive about Utah's progress throughout. In fact, Coach Whittingham says Utah is even further along today than they were a year ago during the same stretch. Pretty damn impressive if you ask me!
Here are some great practice reports by the major media in Salt Lake:
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Evans is coming around to linebacker
-- Salt Lake Tribune - Defense could be getting fresh perspective -- Salt Lake Tribune
- Utah campus notes -- Deseret News
- Finally healthy, Poston takes things day by day -- Deseret News
I should have updates and even photos from the upcoming practices as I plan on attending the remaining few.
For more practice reports check out Ute Fans Message Board and Ute Zone.
Not only did practice kick off this week, the Coaches Poll came out and the Utes were ranked 28th in it. While not a top-25 team, the Utes will most likely move into the top-25 with an opening season win against the Bruins on the road September 2nd (of course, if that happens). The Media Poll has yet to be released, but don't expect Utah to crack their top-25 either.
Also announced this week was the 2006-2007 Men's basketball schedule. Some notable teams on the schedule include Colorado, Washington State, @ Rhode Island, @ Utah State and the preseason San Juan Shootout. The Utes will look to improve on last year's mediocre season and open the preseason against Southern Utah at the Huntsman Center.
Utah also got its 5th recruit, Louis Finner out of Texas. Finner, an offensive guard, verballed to Utah yesterday after looking at Colorado State, Iowa State and Oklahoma State among other programs.
College Football News also predicts that the Utes will meet Texas in the 2006 Fiesta Bowl (PLEASE!), and that they will finish the season with an 11-1 record (their lone loss coming to UCLA in the opener).
Of course it figures the week I leave for vacation is the biggest week in terms of stories of the summer. This is good though, that only means the season is only a few weeks away.