![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GIBQEOR6LBBBXHYF4XV2FYMRKY.JPG\")
Utah Utes football spring practice in Salt Lake City, UT on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Anna Fuder\/Utah Athletics <\/p>\nThe vibes were a bit different than in years past as Utah opened spring camp on an uncharacteristically warm March Thursday. <\/p>\n
The weather hit 80 degrees, but something else beside heat was in the air as the Utes embarked on their first practice \u2014 the sound of music blasting from the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe music is real cool. We didn\u2019t have it last year. This year we have it and it just makes everything 10 times funner, better. It\u2019s just like, \u2018OK, let\u2019s dance together, let\u2019s get a groove and then go on the field and handle business,\u2019\u201d running back Wayshawn Parker said.<\/p>\n
Utah Utes football spring practice in Salt Lake City, UT on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Anna Fuder\/Utah Athletics <\/p>\n
Thursday marked the first time since 2004 that someone other than Kyle Whittingham is leading the Utes into spring practice. Though he already has a Las Vegas Bowl win under his belt, this is Morgan Scalley\u2019s first spring camp as Utah\u2019s new head coach, and an it\u2019s important time to put his stamp on what the program will look like under him.<\/p>\n
That process started back in winter workouts and will continue every day.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important every day. It is important every day,\u201d Scalley said. \u201dCulture is not just words on walls. You have to practice it and you promote it when you see it. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we see the behavior that we\u2019re asking for, man, you got to shout it to the rooftops, and then don\u2019t permit anything that\u2019s counter to your culture, so it\u2019s a daily thing and you\u2019ll hear that from the players as well. If you\u2019re just talking about it once a week, then it\u2019s really not culture. It\u2019s fake.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed, each player who was interviewed on Thursday talked about the culture Scalley implemented as a defensive coordinator that is now team-wide \u2014 RSNB, which stands for \u201cRelentless, Smart, Nasty, Ballhawks.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what he\u2019s instilled into the team since Day 1. Coach Whitt had his way of doing things. Loved coach Whitt. He was awesome. He was one of the best to ever do it. Scalley has implemented it in a different way,\u201d said safety Jackson Bennee.<\/p>\n
\u201cSimilar tough-mindset culture, but I love the direction he\u2019s putting this program in, and he\u2019s just a winner, man. He really will do whatever it takes to win. He definitely leads by example, and I look up to coach Scalley a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scalley is going to do certain things his way, but there are going to be similarities between the program Scalley will run and the one Whittingham ran, which is a positive for Utah.<\/p>\n
Utah\u2019s new coach was his usual high-energy self on Thursday, something quarterback Devon Dampier is a fan of.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat energy, it\u2019s all energy. I really love that about Scalley because that\u2019s how I am \u2014 to bring energy every day, to be consistent, to want the best out of the team and just knowing how to be smart, but also push our team to our full limits,” Dampier said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what he\u2019s doing and he\u2019s doing a great job so far.\u201d<\/p>\n
The biggest difference for Scalley himself in his first spring practice as the head man? <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t get to teach as much. I\u2019m not a position coach, so I try as much as I can to get out there and teach what I can teach,\u201d Scalley said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s more not what we\u2019re doing, but how we\u2019re doing it, making sure that the effort\u2019s there in all aspects, that the culture is … everyone\u2019s being held accountable to the same standard. My role is different. Still have the same energy, the same passion, but I don\u2019t have a position group.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thursday was also the first spring practice at Utah for new offensive coordinator Kevin McGiven, the former Utah State play-caller who replaces Jason Beck, who joined Whittingham at Michigan.<\/p>\n
Offensive install has been happening since the winter, so Utah was able to hit the ground running on the first day of spring as the team continues to perfect McGiven\u2019s offense.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re talking alignment, assignment technique, that\u2019s kind of the progress. Align correctly, align with speed. OK? What\u2019s my assignment? Master my technique, and then the rest of it is just reps, reps, reps, reps, reps,\u201d Scalley said. <\/p>\n
\u201cBuilding a skill takes time and effort, and that\u2019s why we\u2019re out here doing this, but I\u2019m pleased because a lot of the stuff that we did during the offseason, too, was to prepare for today. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t the first time they\u2019ve lined up in formations, so we\u2019ve been getting ready for this moment. Coach McGiven and that staff\u2019s done a great job.\u201d<\/p>\n
The early reviews from Dampier on his new offense are positive. One selling point about McGiven\u2019s offense was its similarity to what Beck ran last year at Utah.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s one of those guys that he does what\u2019s best for the team and he fits the offense around his players,\u201d Dampier said of McGiven. \u201cHe starts that off with me, what I do best, and we go from there with our O-line and then what our receivers do best and we put them in the best situations possible, so I\u2019ve been really happy with the offense. I\u2019m here with a smile on my face, so I\u2019m happy about the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/WCU2FCCTHRCHZDG2RIBKQTP4AE.JPG\")
Utah Utes football spring practice in Salt Lake City, UT on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Anna Fuder\/Utah Athletics <\/p>\n
Dampier, who threw for 2,490 yards and 24 touchdowns and rushed for 835 yards and 10 scores while helping Utah to an 11-2 record last season, isn\u2019t at 100% health as spring camp opens, but is practicing and is digesting the new offense.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first thing with him is making sure he\u2019s fully healthy, which he\u2019s not there yet, but we want to see progress,\u201d Scalley said. \u201cThere\u2019s some different things that we\u2019re asking in this offense, maybe a little bit more in terms of reads and stuff like that, but he is so smart, so football savvy that he enjoys the challenge of that.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s very smart picking up scheme, but the main thing is getting him healthy to the point where he can be as dynamic as we know he can be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Until pads go on, there\u2019s not a lot to take away from the first week of spring ball, but one thing Scalley is looking for is effort, and he found that in spades on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cRelentless. You\u2019re going to make mistakes. Make them full speed. We can teach. We can learn from those. Learn from your mistakes. Don\u2019t make the same mistakes twice, but effort makes up for a lot in a lot of aspects of your game,\u201d Scalley said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople talk about luck. You make your luck a lot of time by the way you work. Ball\u2019s on the ground and a guy\u2019s there to pick it up. Oh, how lucky, how fortunate. No, he was running to the ball. He was there for a reason, so I think you make your own luck, and all coaches, all players understand that that\u2019s the first word in our culture for a reason, and we\u2019re going to hold our guys accountable to it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The vibes were a bit different than in years past as Utah opened spring camp on an uncharacteristically…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":822896,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,49,48,3309],"class_list":{"0":"post-822895","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-news-feed-local"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116261129770560916","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}