Utah Fall Camp Sights and Sounds from Tuesday

By Alex Stark@starkaw23 Aug 9, 2017, 10:30am MDT

Fall camp practice Tuesday was largely dominated by special teams work, although there was also some red zone work during the 20-minute media observation period. The battle to replace Andy Phillips at kicker is still going, and head coach Kyle Whittingham said there are still three kickers vying for the job. Ray Guy Award winning punter Mitch Wishnowsky may handle the kickoff duties this year. Whittingham says he has a big leg and has more confidence this year (Whittingham said he did not last year and kicked a kickoff out of bounds).

In the red zone work, Troy Williams had a nice throw to Troy McCormick for a touchdown. Tyler Huntley’s red zone drive was stopped on fourth down when the defense stopped his quarterback keeper. The offensive line was not able to open many holes in the running game for the backs, but I do think Jackson Barton had a nice day at left tackle. Offensive coordinator Troy Taylor said that the team was installing red zone plays. Improved red zone scoring is a focus for the team this offseason. Both Whittingham and Taylor said that there is not a starter yet for quarterback and probably will not be after Saturday’s scrimmage. They each said that Williams and Huntley do certain things well: Williams is better in the pocket distributing the football, while Huntley is more athletic and can extend the play a bit better. They have gone back and forth with one having a better day one day and the other having the better day the next day.

Block U caught up with sophomore defensive tackle Leki Fotu. Fotu said the area whre he has improved the most is his technique, but he also said that is the area where he still wants to improve the most. Players like Lowell Lotulelei, Filipo Mokofisi, and Kylie Fitts have all been mentors to him. He also praised his position coach Lewis Powell. Fotu did not get serious about football until his senior year of high school. The reason he chose Utah over other schools like USC is because Utah was on him first and showed interest for his whole recruitment while others only got interested in him towards then end during the Herriman’s playoff run.