Kyle Whittingham shares key to avoiding complacency

Kyle Whittingham and the Utah Utes ran the Pac-12 over the last two seasons and want to do so again. No team ever won three straight conference titles in the history of the Pac-12.

So can Utah be the first school to do so? The Utes have the talent but it’s easy to rest on your laurels.

Whittingham discussed the trap of complacency.

“Yeah, I think it’s very easy,” Whittingham said at Pac-12 Media Days. “Nobody has ever three-peated in the Pac-12. That’s one thing right there that we can accomplish that has not been done. Still not made it to the College Football Playoff.

“That’s something else we’re looking at. There’s a lot of things that we have yet to accomplish at Utah and are excited about getting another opportunity this year to try to raise the bar even higher.”

Whittingham acknowledged during spring practice that his Utah team already thought about the notion of three-peating in the Pac-12.

“Oh it sure does,” Whittingham told On3 in April. “And we talked about that. That’s not anything we hide from. We’re back to back champs nobody, since the (beginning) of the Pac-12 has ever won three in a row, so that would be something. That would be awesome if we can accomplish that and that certainly is one of our goals and given the personnel that we got coming back, it should be very realistic.”

For Kyle Whittingham’s exclusive spring practice conversation with On3 from April, click HERE.

Getting healthy is the biggest concern for Whittingham and Utah. Most notably, quarterback Cam Rising staying healthy is the biggest key.

“First of all, you’re right, we had some very serious injuries last season,” Whittingham said Friday. “Cam and Brant (Kuithe) are right on track with their rehab. Brant is obviously a couple months ahead. He had the surgery a few months prior to Cam.

We fully expect Brant to be ready for the season. Cam is going to come right down to the wire. Will he be ready for the opener? We’ll have to find out. We still got, what, a month and a half before that happens, I guess less than that, a month and a week.”

Whittingham mentioned others that’ll be key to a potential three-peat.

“Ja’Quinden (Jackson) was a great asset to us as a running back,” Whittingham said. “We made that move last year, that really seemed to give us a little bit of an infusion of energy. He really did a great job of taking to that position. He embraced it.

“It’s one thing to change positions, but if you embrace it, don’t do it reluctantly, your odds of success are much better. That’s exactly how he handled it. It was a huge part of our success the second half of the season.”