Rising star Cole Bishop is confident in the defense to be special in 2022.
With spring ball now nearly complete, Utah’s coaches and players have a pretty good grasp on how things are shaping up for the fall season. Having conducted several scrimmages and given the roster turnover, it's clear that the defense needs a bit more work than the offense. Not that there’s any reason to be alarmed, but given the youthfulness of the roster and a plethora of new faces, Utah’s defense has some work to do before September.
Despite only being a sophomore, safety Cole Bishop was not only one of the bright spots last season, but has continued to develop his game. Multiple times throughout camp, Bishop has been mentioned by head coach Kyle Whittingham in addition to several other coaches as being a standout player.
"Cole Bishop is having a tremendous spring, picking up right where he left off in the fall," Whittingham said.
"He's everything you want," Morgan Scalley added. "You can go in the safeties room right now and he's watching film. He eats, sleeps and breathes football. He's a great kid. He's a great leader. His best days are ahead of him."
As an emerging leader, Bishop commented on what the safety group has been working on, and also assessed where they currently stand after five weeks of practice.
“During this offseason, the safeties have really worked on our man coverage and just understanding the defense. We’re trying to get back to being able to do that, do it confidently and we’ve made a lot of progress.”
“Obviously we’re young,” Bishop continued. “Even though I have a year of experience I’m still just a sophomore and we’re young but definitely this spring has helped. Everyone has been pulling their weight, obviously there’s still little things to fix up but we’re doing good.”
In last week's scrimmage, the offense was rolling and clearly got the best of the defense. With a plethora of touchdowns and several big plays, Utah’s defense struggled to get stops and the coverage at times was scattered which allowed for sizable gains. However, it's important to note that neither Bishop or Clark Phillips III were in the game which would’ve made a huge difference. Additionally, Utah’s offense is on completely different level and firing on all cylinders, making it difficult for any defense to stop them.
“We had a few guys out, I didn’t play in that game, Clark wasn’t playing…we’ve got a lot of things to clean up. But our offense is really explosive. It’s not like they’re bombing on us and they’re nothing. I mean, Devaughn Vele, Cam, they’re all doing really good so it's not a knock on us, they played really good,” Bishop explained.
Overall, Bishop doesn’t appear to be worried about the defense at all. While there’s a lot of young guys fulfilling critical roles, last year proved they’re completely capable, and spring camp has been a testament that the new freshmen are ahead of the game.
“We’re going to have a really good year I think. I mean, a few of the corners are still coming back from injuries and we’re slowly getting them in and then just the depth in all positions is just looking a lot better,” Bishop said.
“I think we can be pretty special,” Bishop continued. “It’s a lot different this year not having Devin [Lloyd] and Nephi [Sewell] in front of me, and last year, them helping me try to figure out what to do and now I’m trying to help some of the younger guys in different run-fits and stuff. But I think we’re going to be pretty special.”
As the Utes now transition to summer and with opening day a little more than four months off, Bishop shared that he will be focused on improving his strength, something that he and Scalley have decided to make an emphasis. Meanwhile, Bishop feels the defense needs to primarily concentrate on learning the playbook before they take the field in Gainesville on September 3.
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