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It's official, Ratliff named starter

By JazzyUte

Senior Brett Ratliff has been named the starting quarterback for the University of Utah. He beat out Oklahoma transfer Tommy Grady for the job and will lead the Utes into Pasadena for their season opening game against UCLA. Ratliff, who was a JC transfer out of Butte College (California), took over for the injured Brian Johnson and led the Utes to a 2-0 record with wins over BYU on the road and Georgia Tech in the 2005 Emerald Bowl. Coach Whittingham said the following to reporters:

"It was obviously a very competitive situation and not an easy decision to make. Both Brett and Tommy performed well all during camp and both are certainly worthy of the starting position. What it ultimately came down to was Brett's performance in the two games he started at the end of last season, combined with the excellent job he did during fall camp of not turning the ball over, moving the first team offense, and getting us into the end zone."

The Utes now look to UCLA, where they open the season against the Bruins on September 2nd. Yesterday UCLA officially selected Ben Olson as their starting quarterback for the 2006 season. Olson, who originally was a BYU recruit but decided to transfer to UCLA after the Cougars' subsequent tank after 2001, has had limited playing time since going on his mission a few years ago.

Now let's just hope Utah doesn't face what Arizona State faced this weekend with their two quarterbacks. Of course it seems Whittingham has more control over his team than Sun Devil's head coach Dick Koetter.

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