Utah's Fab Four — Experienced, interchangeable receivers caught 27 TDs

Utah's receivers have been under scrutiny throughout the Urban Meyer era. The coach's spread offense, he notes, requires depth and experience at the position.

After Meyer's first spring with the Utes, he didn't hedge his thoughts on the topic.

"Without question, receiver is the biggest concern on our team," Meyer said in the team's 2003 media guide.

"When we first arrived at Utah we felt we were inadequate at receiver," he recalled.

Led by Oregon transfer Paris Warren, who earned first-team all-Mountain West Conference recognition after hauling in a school-record 76 receptions, Utah's receivers alleviated many of Meyer's concerns that season. The development of Steve Savoy, Travis LaTendresse and John Madsen provided quarterback Alex Smith with some solid targets.

"Receiver has gone from a weakness to one of our anticipated strengths," Meyer said in the 2004 preview.

The prediction proved accurate.

Utah followed a 10-2 season with an 11-0 campaign. Smith completed 185-of-280 passes for 2,624 yards en route to finishing fourth in the Heisman Trophy balloting. He was intercepted just four times while throwing for 28 scores — all but two were caught by either Warren, Savoy, LaTendresse or Madsen.

"They're huge. When we got out to Utah there wasn't a whole lot of experience," quarterback coach Dan Mullen said. "One of the reasons for Alex's success this year is that all those guys came back with that experience."

Utah's top four receivers each upped their yardage this season. Savoy had the biggest increase — going from 663 receiving yards to a team-high 891. Warren went from 809 to 878, while LaTendresse improved to 402 from 366. Madsen increased his contributions by 20 catches as his receiving yardage swelled to 350 from 97.

"If you have one good receiver you can eliminate him," Meyer said. "If you have two good receivers you can almost eliminate them. But, if you have three or four, you can't."

The foursome combined to catch 27 touchdown passes (Madsen teamed with backup quarterback Brian Johnson for a score). Savoy, a first-team all-conference honoree, topped the team with 11. Warren, a second-team selection, had 10. Madsen and LaTendresse scored four and two times, respectively.

"In this offense, the good guys catch it," Meyer said. "Guys that aren't so good are decoys, and there's ways to do that. Those four guys are all very good receivers."