Show What ales Lies I Ahead ea for or Utah a Football 00 a Eric Larson Sports Editor If the University of Utah football team is coming of their greatest season ever why are so many Utah fans bracing for next year With all the changes that have happened since Utah played its last regular regular regular regu regu- lar season game fans are forced to wonder wonder wonder won won- der if Utah will return to mediocrity Dont Don't bet on it Head Coach Urban Meyer rode the Utes Ute's undefeated season to become college college college col col- lege footballs most sought after coach Powerhouses such as Notre Dame and Florida pursued Meyer with Florida eventually making Meyer a 14 million dollar offer that he just couldn't refuse Adding to the sting of losing Meyer four of his top assistants from Utah are following him to Florida including popular popular popular pop pop- ular quarterback coach Dan Mullen In addition to Meyer and Mullen Utah is losing offensive coordinator Mike Sanford Sanford who helped run Utah's potent offense is leaving to coach Utah's rival Sanford also raided Utah's coaching cupboard taking two more Utah coaches with him to Las Vegas Its It's not just coaches that are leaving Utah either Quarterback and Heisman Trophy candidate Alex Smith has already announced he will forgo his last year of eligibility to enter the NFL draft In addition to Smith Utah looses their top running back Marty Johnson top offensive lineman Chris and top receiver Paris Warren from one of the most dominant offenses in the country country country coun coun- try last season Utah's offense isn't the only side of the ball loosing key players Their defense will be forced to replace the co- co defensive player of the year Morgan Along with Utah looses defensive lineman Sione defensive defensive defensive sive back Bo and linebacker Tommy Hackenbruck from a defense that set a Fiesta Bowl record with nine sacks Despite all these loses Utah fans still i 4 1 th U y iF 4 d do o Annual Bowl hosts Urban Meyers Meyer's Utes and Dave Panthers Utes win the 35 have plenty to look forward to After Meyer announced he was leaving Utah Athletic Director Chris Hill quickly promoted promoted promoted pro pro- last years year's defensive coordinator Kyle Whittingham to head coach After receiving offers from both Utah and BYU Whittingham elected to stay at Utah and try to build on last years year's suc suc- cess Whittingham acted quickly to form his staff for next season The biggest hire being offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig from Oregon Getting Ludwig to leave a school of Oregon's stature was the first step in the right direction for Whittingham Ludwig has worked with top NFL draft picks David Carr and Joey Harrington helping him develop a reputation reputation reputation tation that will help Utah lure top recruits While Whittingham and Ludwig will certainly work hard to find the next Alex Smith and Morgan the cupboard of talent isn't completely empty On offense Ludwig will be counted on to help develop a quarterback quickly Brian Johnson drew praise in this position position position tion from his coaches last season Physically he is more gifted than Smith The question about Johnson who will only be 18 at the start of next season is will he be ready to take over after only one season of learning If he isn't Utah is expected to search for a junior college transfer to play until Johnson is ready Whoever ends up playing quarterback Ludwig has plenty to work with The duo of Quinton Ganther and Mike Liti should keep Utah's running game strong and help keep the pressure of the With the loss of only one starter on the offensive line Utah's quarterback sand md running backs should have plenty of pf room oom to operate to keep the offense ing mg The biggest question for Utah i is i probably probably probably ably at wide receiver Steve Savoy who formed r a great one- one two punch with Warren warren 11 has nas p interest in Smith o NFL draft drafts M t rm fn on mf If Savoy leaves Utah will vill be e without their top three receivers from last season Utah still had ha experienced receivers on their ros ros- ter Since Utah ran a spread offense that used four and sometimes five receivers many of their younger receivers got valuable experience to help them step in and help the offense next season Like the offense Utah's defense has plenty of players returning Defensive backs back's Ryan Smith and andEric andEric Eric Weddle will keep the secondary secondary secondary sec sec- going and lineman Steve Fifita will keep the line steady This should give Whittingham the power to propel his defense the way it did last season While Utah certainly wont won't have havethe havethe havethe the talent they had last season they are still loaded with And with and average margin of victory of almost 26 points Utah can slip a little and still be domi domi- nant |