utah football 1975 - of College Football Games

1975 OUTLOOK
Better Athletes Hold Hope For Utes' Future
"We will have a young club in need of
experience, but the quality of the athletes is
better than we have had in recent years,"
says Utah Head Football Coach Tom Lovat,
describing the prospects for his second season
at Uteville.
Lovat will be trying to rebound after a
1-10 inaugural season and the prospects for
improvement look good. Defensively the
Utes look strong with eight starters, led by
All-American linebacker candidate John
"Monk" Huddleston, returning. The offense
will be the question mark this season with
only three starters returning and a lot of
youngsters in some key positions. Overall
29 lettermen return this fall.
THE OFFENSE
The big change in the offense this fall,
besides a lot of new faces, will be a shift from
the pro set type offense used last season to
hopefully a more productive Power "I"
formation. Lovat feels that shifting to the
"I" formation will help the Utes utilize more
deception and take advantage of some of the
excellent speed available in the year's backfield
corps. "We have good athletes in the
backfield," explained Lovat, "and we had to
do something to get the ball to them more
often."
One of the better athletes in the backfield
is senior Roosevelt Hutchins.whoshould
be the number one man at tailback if a knee
operation he underwent in the spring is
successful. Other candidates include sophomores
Steve Peake, who saw action last year
as a freshman and is predicted to be a good
one, and Vinson Cotton who also has plenty
of talent if he can shake a broken leg
suffered last fall. Juniors Bob Whitman and
Mark Hoard will do battle for fullback
playing time along with redshirt Bob Sweeney.
Whitman showd plenty of talent at tailback
in the spring but will try fullback to help
shore up the position.
One of the big offensive problems for the
Utes last season was at quarterback where
no less than four signal callers saw starting
duty last fall. Junior Homer Warner (15-30
for 166 yards and 1 TD) is the only one of
the quartet returning this year but redshirt
Pat Degnan, a transfer from the Air Force
Academy where he saw heavy action two
years ago, is expected to be the number one
signal caller by opening game. Juco transfer
Dan Hagemann is also in line, but could be
moved to another position.
A good receiving corps returns with
Frank Collins (16 for 251 yards), John Mc-
Intyre, Mike Cordy and Randy Griffin all
veterans at wide receiver. Walk-on Dick
Graham had a super spring and should also
play plenty. Senior Fred Hobbs should be
one of the best tight ends in the conference
this season.
The offensive line will be led by tackles
Mike Schiszler (6-4, 240), Steve Lamb and
J.C. transfer David Cerbin (6-5, 265), and
guards Bryon Hustad and Dave Kasper.
Schiszler and Hustad saw starting duty last
season. Harlan Weise, a linebacker last fall,
has been moved over to fill in at center.
The kicking game is solid with letterman
Mike Brown back to handle both punting and
place kicking.
THE DEFENSE
Huddleston (6-2, 235) an All-WAC first
teamer with 1 57 tackles last season leads a
veteran defense that wasn't bad last season
and should be better this season. Joining
"The Monk" at linebacker will be letterman
Dave O'Bagy who should be almost as tough
as his running mate if a knee injury that
slowed him down last season is better.
A bevy of athletes return in the secondary
led by starters Mike Spencer, Grant Gertsch
and Lyle Lavarias. Junior college transfer
Ron Small and sophomore Roland Solomon
will also push for playing time in what should
be a strong area of the defense.
Tackle Ron Cherkas (6-3, 230) was a
second team All-WAC performer last season
and should be even better this season. Kevin
Harrison (6-2, 255) saw starting duty at the
other tackle spot last season but will play
at middle guard. Defensive end will feature
four lettermen in Pete Hristou, Jeff Lindsey,
Scott Reed, and Larry Wall.
Overall Lovat feels that the quality of
the personnel is much improved but lack of
experience will be a factor. "We will have to
depend on the frosh corps for depth and
some of our good quality junior college
transfers for immediate help," he said.