Athlon Sports picks winners of the Pac-12 South

Spring football just ended and people around the country are getting spring football fever, so they have started to look ahead to the coming season and making predicitions. Athlon Sports published an article a few days ago with various writers picking the winner of the Pac-12 South for 2018. Yes, Utah was one of the popular names that came up in the picks, along with, to no surprise, USC. A couple of the writers were interested in Arizona under Kevin Sumlin, but it seemed like Utah was actually a trendy pick.

Local writer, John Coon, was one of the ones going with the Utes, here’s his breakdown:

John Coon (@johncoonsports)

“Utah is the only Pac-12 South team that has not claimed a division title since 2011. Everything lines up perfectly for the Utes to finally break through this season. All other teams in the division are either replacing multiple key playmakers or breaking in new coaching staffs. Utah returns a host of starters on both sides of the ball. The Utes have a dynamic quarterback in Tyler Huntley, a 1,000-yard rusher in Zack Moss, a deep and athletic secondary and the top special teams unit in the league. Utah’s experience and talent across the board will finally translate into its first trip to the Pac-12 Championship Game.”

I think Coon nails it, whereas many of the writers are going with the “well, they have to win it some year, why not this one?” especially with the turnover with coaches and players. I frankly, believe the Utes are the best team in the South, in all three phases, and coaching. We’ll dive more into that as the spring/summer progresses, but I think the Utes are the favorites. Now, there is plenty of talent in the South, but the Utes seem to me to be the complete package, as of now.

Head over to the full article for more details, and see what people are thinking of the Utes and the South.