Ute receivers figure to be among MWC's best

Coach Kyle Whittingham learned his lesson a year ago when he said his quarterback situation was as good as any in the country and his wide receiver corps was the best in the Mountain West Conference.

This year he's being a little more careful about making bold statements. When asked earlier this week if his receiving corps was the best in the conference, he said, "We are ONE of the best receiving corps in the league."

Aw, c'mon coach, go ahead and say it. Can you imagine a better receiving group in the Mountain West Conference than the Utes have this year?

The only receivers not back from last year are the graduated Fano Tagovailoa and Sean Smith, who has switched over to the secondary. Each caught just one pass last year, meaning the Utes have 99.1 percent of their receiver production back from last year.

Derrek Richards, Brian Hernandez, Brent Casteel, Bradon Godfrey, Marquis Wilson and Freddie Brown are all back this year after catching 210 of the 212 passes that were thrown to wide receivers last year, including 2,695 of the 2,742 yards.

The six wide receivers are almost interchangeable, with two, Hernandez and Wilson, able to play any of the Utes' four X, Y, Z and H wideout positions and all able to play at least two.

"There is no one guy who you can say is a go-to guy," Whittingham said. "We have a bunch of go-to guys."

Leading the way are Richards and Hernandez. They were the top two receivers a year ago with 60 and 47 catches, respectively, and are the two seniors of the talented group. The other four are juniors and a freshman, Jereme Brooks, is expected to be used in the rotation this year.

"We run four wideouts a lot so we need to have depth," receivers coach Aaron Roderick said. "We like to rotate fresh legs in there and look to be running fast late in the game."

Nobody appreciates the talented Ute receivers more than junior quarterback Brian Johnson.

"I don't think you could ask for a better group of guys to be around," Johnson said. "They all have different talents. That's what makes the group so special is that they all have different things they can do to help exploit defenses."

Johnson says Casteel and Wilson are great with the ball in their hands, while Godfrey is a "tough, hard-nosed player" who makes the tough catch over the middle. Hernandez, Richards and Brown "can stretch the field with their speed and keep defenses honest," Johnson says.

Richards is "probably the fastest guy on the team in a dead sprint," said Roderick. "He's a tough guy who came here as a walk-on and has earned everything he's got."

The former American Fork standout says he and Hernandez welcome the role of leaders this year as seniors.