Hi everybody, hope this email newsletter finds you well. Jake Hatch here checking in after a long hiatus of letting this platform sit stagnant. I’ll be upfront with you on this - I am not sure what I am doing with this newsletter. I think it will be place for me to weigh in on various timely sports topics or a topic. I have a lot of thoughts about things going on in the sports universe and that’s what I suppose I intend to use this platform for - to put those thoughts into a newsletter that you can debate with me about. You can weigh in on Twitter by following me here.
Today is August 1. NFL training camps are underway. College football programs are reporting for their own camps as well. Football season is here folks. We’ve made it. America’s most popular sport has treated us to a long offseason filled with plenty of drama, but in just a few days time, we will be able to watch live football on TV (that is if you consider the NFL preseason actual football).
Let me say one thing on the whole moniker of “fall camp” for the colleges - it needs to go away. It’s not fall officially until September 21, which is when the season is well underway. It’s blazing hot outside, hardly what I could consider “fall,” so let’s just follow the NFL’s lead and call it training camp for the college program(s) you happen to root for, OK?
With that out of the way, the first practices of training camp for BYU and Utah are scheduled for later this week (Utah on Wednesday & BYU on Thursday). Both programs are expected to put together strong seasons once again and I believe 10+ wins are certainly within grasp for the Utes and Cougars should they avoid catastrophic injuries, get some lucky bounces and play to their strengths. Utah State, coming off a Mountain West Conference championship and 10-win season of their own, began practices last week as they will open their season a week earlier on August 27 when they host UConn in Logan.
All three programs boast returning starters at quarterback and I believe each programs’ fortunes lie chiefly on the arms and playmaking ability of Jaren Hall, Cam Rising and Logan Bonner. It’s low-hanging fruit to make that statement, but football is becoming more and more about having an elite quarterback and the local FBS squads boast a trio of proven commodities.
I can’t wait for the upcoming season and to bring you all of the coverage you can handle. The majority of you subscribed to this newsletter are BYU fans, so I would recommend you check out Locked On Cougars, my daily podcast focused on BYU. You Utes and Aggie fans won’t want to miss what we’re cooking up for DJ & PK this fall on The KSL Sports Zone. It could be another historic football season in the Beehive State, so let’s get it going. Welcome August and welcome football!