SALT LAKE CITY — Morgan Scalley described his first day of spring camp as a newly-named head coach as "boring."
It was the first official day of camp, after all, and there wasn't any real football action in terms of a padded practice or hard hits. But it was the start to a new era of Utah football, even if some of the components will have a similar look and feel with Scalley calling the shots.
But make no mistake, it's Scalley's program — and there will be differences, even as the program hopes to maintain (and improve upon) what has made Utah successful already.
Scalley now just oversees the entire operation and isn't there to coach up a specific position group or make defensive assignments, which is one of the biggest changes for him on the first day of camp.
"I don't get to teach as much," he said. "I'm not a position coach, so I try as much as I can to get out there and teach what I can teach. It's more not what we're doing, but how we're doing it, making sure that the effort's there in all aspects; that the culture is everyone's being held accountable to the same standard.
"My role is different," he added. "Still have the same energy, the same passion, but I don't have a position group."
The energy is ever-present, but he's trying to instill into his team a "relentless effort" in everything they do on the practice field. The reps will come — and spring will be a big proving ground and opportunity to get said reps — but camp, he said, is about having the right effort and mindset to get better in all facets of the game.
Even — and maybe more importantly — with the many mistakes that will take place over the next month.
"You're gonna make mistakes, make them full speed," Scalley said of what he's trying to teach. "We can teach, we can learn from those. Learn from your mistakes, don't make the same mistakes twice, but effort makes up for a lot in a lot of aspects of your game."
Over the next month of camp, Scalley and his coaching staff will work to identify starters and depth pieces, while installing a new offensive scheme with Kevin McGiven calling the shots as offensive coordinator.
And then there will be a slight change in the structure and style that defensive coordinator Colton Swan wants to utilize this season on the defensive side of the ball.
The reps, especially this time of the year, is what's going to matter most, though. The team has seen and studied the playbook from the beginning of the year, but now it's about gaining reps in as close to game situations as possible in dedicated spring practices.
While it won't always look good on the practice field, Scalley maintains he wants a "relentless" attitude in approaching how his team operates as they prepare for fall. And he wants energy, which was in abundance on the first day.
"It's all energy," Utah quarterback Devon Dampier said of Thursday's practice. "And that's one thing I really love about Scalley, because that's how I am. 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. That's what he's doing, and he's doing a great job so far."
Running back Wayshawn Parker added that the "music is real cool — like, we didn't have it last year."
"This year we have it, and it just make everything 10 times funner — like better," he added. "It's just like, OK, let's dance together."
But it's serious business, too.
Football is just a game, but it's one in which high expectations have been placed on Utah's shoulders, with Scalley declaring at his introductory press conference that Utah is capable of winning a national championship.
The dancing, energy and fun won't get Utah there alone, but it's about blending it with the important elements of a game — that relentless effort and attention to detail — to make the team better in its pursuit of a higher ceiling than has been realized at Utah yet.
"I love the way the direction he's putting this program in, and he's just a winner, man," safety Jackson Bennee said of Scalley. "He really will do whatever it takes to win. He definitely leads by example, and I look up to Scalley a lot."
