Week one of Utah football’s fall camp is a wrap, but offensive coordinator, Andy Ludwig, isn’t quite ready to start handing out gold stars to his group just yet despite feeling very positive about their collective work. For Ludwig it’s still too early to be singing individual praises even though he is very happy about where his side of the ball currently stands after the first four practices.

“It’s been very productive,” Ludwig said. “The players have been working very hard and have done a nice job handling the installation process. We’ll have a good day off tomorrow on Sunday and come back Monday morning ready to roll.”

One of the more consistent themes through the first week of camp has been the coach’s praises of the freshman class that has come in. They have been described as mature beyond their years, prepared, talented, and having a good understanding of Utah’s goals in the 2019 season.

“I think the entire freshman class is doing an outstanding job,” Ludwig said. “I hate to single out any one individual out. They are all doing a nice job trying to master a whole lot of terminology, a whole lot of new techniques. It’s a lot of work, but they are coming to work everyday and we are seeing improvements everyday.”

The immediate goal for Ludwig and crew right now is to get all of the plays down to where they happen automatically with little to no thinking.

“Each player, each position group may have a moment of shine at different times, but what we are trying to do is work very hard and put it together and be collectively very efficient,” Ludwig said.

Tyler Huntley has been noted as fitting well in the system and doing some good things through the first week of camp, but Ludwig also likes what he has in back-up Jason Shelley and Andrew Lisk. Both have shown the same preparedness and eagerness to learn which gives Ludwig great confidence in quarterback group to handle their business when called upon.

“The other two quarterbacks are having an outstanding camp,” Ludwig said. “It’s still very early, but their preparation through the course of the summer and their work with the receivers in the offseason really shows up everyday. It’s an outstanding group of young men and very good football players.”

Perhaps one of the bigger gripes from last season were drops that were often drive killers, and momentum shifters between the quarterbacks and wide receivers. Ludwig says a conscious effort has been made by everyone to improve in that area and so far he is liking what he’s seeing from both the quarterbacks and wide receivers.

“I think we are doing a good job of playing pitch and catch,” Ludwig said. “There was some missed throws and dropped balls on day one which is not uncommon as the players are pretty juiced up. The last two days we’ve been very efficient catching the ball. There is a lot of football ahead of us during camp. They are doing a great job concentrating as the fatigue of camp starts to kick in later in the week next week.”

The running back group might be one of the most solid in all of the Pac-12, just don’t tell Ludwig he has an “embarrassment of riches” at the position. He prefers to look at it as solid depth that will all eventually be used in one form or another in the Utes’ 2019 campaign.

“We have good depth, we have good players and we’re going to need every one of them in one way, shape or form,” Ludwig said. “It’s a good, hardworking group and I’m excited to see them play live and full speed.”

Perhaps the biggest mystery on the offensive side of the ball for the Utes comes from the offensive line, but Ludwig likes what he has to work with. He is confident they will be able to hammer out their starting five plus depth in no time at all.

“It’s been coming together very well,” Ludwig said. “It’s a difficult thing in the first two days. We don’t have shoulder pads on. I think we’ve had practice three and four where you have half pads and they have shown physicality, they have shown very good technique. We are just looking to identify the best five to put on the field at the same time and develop depth behind that.”

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