Utah Football Teetering On The Edge Ahead Of Saturday's Game At UCLA

While Utah may be cautiously optimistic ahead of Saturday's season opener against UCLA down at the Rose Bowl, there are still multiple obstacles the Utes must cross before finally strapping up and hitting someone

After Utah's season opener against Arizona on Saturday was canceled due to numerous positive COVID-19 cases, Utah athletic director Mark Harlan spoke with ESPN 700's Bill Riley on Sunday night to give his thoughts.

During the interview, he said he was encouraged by the back-to-back days of negative test results and that preparations ahead of this Saturday's game against UCLA could begin on Monday.

Then came Monday morning and head coach Kyle Whittingham's press conference — and at best, the mood was cautiously optimistic but teetering on dire. 

He admitted that the Utes are barely hanging on to the minimum number amount of players that would allow them to play. He also specified that it's unknown if he will get back any players who have previously tested positive or are no longer in quarantine. 

"We're right on the borderline," Whittingham admitted. "The difference this week is we do have extra time to try to prepare some guys that really have been getting zero reps because of their status on the depth chart. Whereas when it happened last Friday, we were on the threshold as well, but we also didn't have any time — there's no practice left to try to get some of the walk-ons up to speed; it was just an impossible situation.

He also mentioned that one of his players has been hospitalized due to COVID-19

— Ryan Kostecka (@Ryan_Kostecka) November 9, 2020

It also became known that a player within the program had been hospitalized but has since been released and is recovering. According to the release, the statement said the player in question has not been participating with the team since August.

“One student athlete who has not been participating with the football program since August recently tested positive for COVID-19 and was hospitalized. He has since been released from the hospital, is at home and is doing much better. Throughout this time he has been receiving full care from the medical team," the statement read.

Moving forward and if Utah is going to play this week — and as of right now, that's a pretty substantial 'if' — it appears the Utes are going to be severely strapped when it comes to players. Whittingham alluded to that fact when he mentioned that players who have been running with the scout team will now be relied upon come Saturday night.

“Just for the sure fact our numbers, you have to give guys reps. Somebody’s got to take the reps,” Whittingham added. “So the guys that are available are the guys that are getting reps and it certainly has been a juggling act. Every week, every day, essentially there’s different lineups and getting people back from quarantine or from the virus itself and you’re losing some people. It’s been tough to keep continuity but I’m sure the whole country is having the same issue I would imagine.”

Utah defensive lineman are going through drills during fall camp the past couple of weeks / Courtesy of Utah Athletics

When the Pac-12 announced the return of the 2020 football season, it also released guidelines and protocols when it comes the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the documents released, the conference says there must be a minimum number of scholarship players available for three different position groups.

• Seven offensive linemen
• One quarterback
• Four defensive linemen

According to Whittingham, two of the position groups were impacted by the multiple positive tests results on Friday. And according to sources, one of those happened to be the defensive line group.

“Spread out but there are two position groups that were decimated, more so than any other,” Whittingham said. “That’s why ultimately we couldn’t play because first of all, total number of scholarship players the two position groups we really couldn’t line up and get it done.”

Utah is doing everything possible to play Saturday — but the one thing Whittingham and Harlan aren't willing to do is jeopardy the health and safety of their players. If there is another positive case or two this week, and the contact tracing that comes with it, they will not hesitate to cancel Saturday's game and look ahead to the home opener agains USC. 

“Well, there’s no doubt it’s out there,” Whittingham stated. “It’s affecting literally thousands and thousands of people, depending how old you are. That obviously has a big effect on what kind of impact it actually has as far as you being sick and what you’re able to do or not do. But we’ve had some players that become very sick, one was in the hospital. So it’s there. I’m not a medical expert, I don’t want to try to expound on something that I really don’t know much about other than that it has impacted us and like I said, one player had a tough go of it.”

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Twitter — @UtahUtes_SI and Ryan Kostecka at @Ryan_Kostecka