An athlete saying they put their “blood, sweat and tears” into their performances for their teams is an adage as old as the one about “death and taxes.”
But for the No. 13 Utah Utes football team, that might actually be true — the blood part at least.
Every week, the Utes hold a “Bloody Tuesday” practice. True to form, they did so the Tuesday after the team’s frustrating loss to Florida.
And to hear Clark Phillips III tell it, those practices are doozies.
“Bloody Tuesday is just one of those days of the week where we try to simulate it the most like the game,” Phillips said. “Try to make it just super violent, super crazy. It’s the longest of the week in terms of practice length. It’s a grinder.”
So, did anyone actually bleed on Tuesday?
“I hope not,” Phillips said. “I hope not.”
The mere potential for bloodshed should be indicative of how seriously the Utes take Tuesdays.
Cornerbacks coach Sharrieff Shah said Bloody Tuesday has been a staple of Utah’s practice regiment for as long as he can remember.
“Coach [Kyle Whittingham] makes certain that everybody feels it — from the warmup, from the time that we come out and don’t stretch but you’re running wind sprints, to the live tackling sessions, to the repeated long special teams, to extended periods. Oh yeah, you feel it.”
And the intensity on those days are no different when coming out of a win or loss. If anything, there’s more nastiness when Utes have the stink of failure still on them — especially after the way they lost to the Gators.
“The vibe is much more of a concerted effort for physicality. People are chippy. It’s bad attitudes — and I love it. I love it. I love the violence. I love people on edge, an extra level of physicality because that’s what was missing on Saturday.”
The Utes play their first home game of the season Saturday against Southern Utah.
