Pac-12 After Spring: Utah coach Kyle Whittingham

Spring football is over. Real football is still far, far away.

To help bridge the gap, we’re checking in on Arizona’s competition in the Pac-12 – running some of the best comments from the league’s coaches after their recent participation in a conference call to wrap up spring ball.

Today’s Q&A is with Utah coach Kyle Whittingham, who, like so many of his brethren, heads into fall camp not knowing the identity of his starting quarterback.

We’ll wrap up the series this week with Washington’s Chris Petersen and Washington State’s Mike Leach. But first, here’s Whittingham:

(on the competition at linebacker, where Utah must replace all three starters)

“It’s a complete rebuild at that spot. We got a good start on that in spring. Sunia Tauteoli came out of spring as the clear-cut No. 1 linebacker. Cody Barton is probably No. 2 right now. And probably Christian Drews … came out No. 3.

“What we’re looking for is five. We need a pair and a spare. We used to call ourselves a 4-3 defense. But last year we were in 4-3 16 percent of the time. That’s almost become a dinosaur. It’s almost all 4-2 nickel. We’ve got to come away with five ’backers – a two-deep at each spot and a spare who can play either spot.

"Between those three guys and the guys we’ve got coming in in the summer, the recruits – we’ve got a couple JC guys and a couple high school kids coming in – we think we’ll be able to get that solidified. But it won’t be until fall camp is probably a couple weeks in before we identify who those five guys are going to be."

(on what has impressed him about freshman quarterback Tyler Huntley)

“Everything. The way the guy came in. First of all, his ability to assimilate the offense and absorb it. He’s a very quick learner, a highly intelligent kid. It was very impressive the way he was able to grasp the concepts and what we’re doing. His athleticism is incredible. His quickness in the pocket and his escapability – he can throw on the run. He makes some throws that … you just don’t see a freshman make. We’re excited about him.

“He was impressive enough in spring that when we get to fall camp, it’s going to be a three-way battle. We’ve got three guys competing for the job, in no particular order (Huntley, Troy Williams and Brandon Cox). He’s right there on equal footing with the other two guys. If he continues to make progress, he’s going to be a guy that may end up starting for us. We’ll see.”

(on QB Troy Williams, who suffered an undisclosed injury about halfway through spring camp)

“He was very good as well. He was exactly what we hoped he would be. He was very polished. His throwing mechanics, footwork (were) exceptional. He’s got Division I experience – Pac-12 experience at that. (Williams transferred from Washington, via Santa Monica College.) He’s taken Pac-12 snaps. That’s why we recruited him.

“Unfortunately, it was right at practice (No.) 8 that he went down with the injury. He wasn’t able to finish, and that’s too bad. His trajectory was definitely going up. He was doing some really good things and probably in the lead at the time that he did go down.

“But he’ll get his chance in fall. We’re going to start from square one with those guys. He will get his opportunity. Even though it’s unfortunate – and (missing) those last seven practices certainly is to his disadvantage – he can certainly make that up in the summer and in fall camp.”