ST. GEORGE — While the summer heat remains, the turn of the calendar into August unofficially means it’s time for football.
The Utah Tech Trailblazers began formal preparations for their first full season of Western Athletic Conference play Tuesday as they opened their 2022 season with team meetings and coaching sessions.
Associate Athletics Director for Media Relations Steve Johnson told St. George News that the Trailblazers will conduct their first on-field practice Wednesday morning.
The team will hold all of its preseason practices inside Greater Zion Stadium. The practices are closed to the public.
In all, the Blazers’ camp will feature 21 practices and two scrimmages ahead of their season opener at Sacramento State on Saturday, Sept. 3.
Utah Tech finished 1-10 last season with an 0-3 mark in WAC games.
According to a press release, last season’s first full NCAA Division I FCS schedule for Utah Tech was rated as the toughest in the entire country.
FCS stands for Football Championship Subdivision, which determines a national champion in a 24-team playoff.
The other tier of Division I football, the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), determines a national champion in a four-team playoff among the Power Five conferences.
The Georgia Bulldogs are defending champs this year in the FBS, while North Dakota State Bison are the defending FCS champs after winning nine of the past 11 national titles.
As for Utah Tech, a total of 66 players including all 11 primary starters on both offense and defense return for this year’s campaign.
Two Trailblazers were selected onto the WAC preseason all-conference list, both on the defensive side of the ball: sophomore safety Tyrell Grayson and sophomore linebacker Will Leota.
Stephen F. Austin out of Nacogdoches, Texas, is the overwhelming preseason favorite to win the WAC. The Lumberjacks received four of five first-place votes in a coaches’ poll.
Utah Tech was picked to finish last in the conference and rival Southern Utah University was picked just ahead of them at fourth in the poll.
Abilene Christian was projected second and Tarleton State received the other first-place vote and was picked to finish third in the WAC.
The Trailblazers open their home schedule Sept. 10 at 7 p.m. against Chadron State at Greater Zion Stadium.
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