Two programs, one on the rise, the other trying to regain its footing. The basketball and football teams go into next year with concerns, even if they are on the opposite ends of the spectrum.
The concerns in football are all focused on depth and health at key positions. Defensively there is a lot of concern at linebacker. With the injuries to Jacoby Hale and Gionni Paul, the Utes are down two of their major contributing pieces. Jason Whittingham also had to sit out spring. What will his condition be going into the fall? With health questions around those three, the linebacking corps is a major concern on the defensive side of the ball heading into fall camp. Will Brian Blechen have to move closer to the line? What about the switch for Harvey Langi and Brian Allen? How will those pan out now? And there's still the major question yet to be answered at the quarterback position, not to mention wide receiving corps and offensive line.
As for basketball, the concern going into next season is how the team will deal with the highest expectations of the Larry Krystkowiak era. With the change and turmoil at programs like Oregon, Cal, Colorado, UCLA, and ASU, Utah should be a lock for the top third of the Pac-12 next season. Add on top of that, with the additions of Kyle Kuzma, Brekkott Chapman, Chris Reyes, and Isiah Wright, and the returning starters coming off a great season, Utah has a lot of positive momentum heading into next season. For a program that was in shambles just three seasons ago, positive expectations are definite improvements, and it will be interesting to see if this team can embrace them and thrive, or whether they'll shrivel up and crumble.
Those are some of the concerns that are discuss in this episode of The U Fan Cast, listen/watch for more!
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