Utes Recruiting Recap

Depending on what publication one looks at depends on where various schools are ranked. In JR's recap of BYU's recruiting, he rightfully chose scout.com's rankings that placed BYU as the highest rated non-BCS team at 40, Utah at 53, and TCU at 56. They also give BYU four 4-star and nine 3-star recruits, Utah one 5-star, 1 4-star, and nine 3-star, and TCU one 4-star and eleven 3-star. But that is just one publication. For my purposes I am going with Rivals.com rankings as they are far more favorable to the Utes. Rivals has Utah as the highest rated non-BCS team at #44 with 1 5-star, two 4-star, and fourteen 3-star recruits. Compare that to TCU at #46 with four 4-star and twelve 3-star and BYU at #50 with two 4-star and fourteen 3-star. I don't know which rankings are more accurate and we won't until 2 or 3 years from now. And frankly it doesn't matter. What I know is, is that both Utah and BYU arguably had their best recruiting classes ever, though each still missed out on highly rated recruits they thought they could land.



For Utah, the star of our class five-star DE James Aiono out of Snow College. He is a beast of a defensive end and will immediately produce for and help the Utes. Unfortunately he is a JC kid and only has two, maybe three years at most with the team.

The Utes also had two 4-star recruits, Terrance Cain and Latu Heimuli. Terrance is a JC QB out of Blinn CC in Texas. He will have a great chance to start for the Utes this season as the team has an open QB competition. The Utes also stole 3-star QB Jordan Wynn from California out from under the noses of Colorado. He adds to Utah's QB depth and will make for a fun competition this season.

Latu Heimuli is arguably our biggest steal of the class. He is a stout DT out of Highland High in Salt Lake. He is our highest rated 4-star recruit and was offered scholarships from Florida, Nebraska, Colorado, Washington State, Arizona (all of which he took visits), Arizona State, BYU, Cal, Oregon State, and UCLA. To land a kid who had scholarship offers from that many quality schools is huge and says a lot about the steps forward this program is making.

Utah, BYU, and TCU (and all non-BCS schools for that matter) will likely never get a top-25 recruiting class so long as they are in non-BCS conferences. But as Utah has shown twice now, recruiting is a fickle thing and seemingly mediocre recruits can turn out great and bring you to the promised land. Utah, BYU, and TCU have all built strong programs that are sustainable. All three should be around for a long while at the top of the conference. A few more years for these teams like the one that Utah just had and we'll land even more Heimuli type recruits.

One last note, the Utes may have found their replacement for Kink Louie, they picked up a verbal commit from kicker Nicholas Marsh out of Petaluma, CA.

The Diamond Lining

By now we are all familiar with the situation surrounding Kyle Van Noy and his DUI. I am very proud of him for staying committed to BYU. It would have been very easy to simply go play for another school and there were a lot of big schools that wanted him. But to his credit he is determined to prove himself to his team and Bronco by waiting until next Jan to enroll. 

Kyle has now decided he is going to go move in with the Heaps family in Washington as soon as he graduates high school in order to surround himself with good people in a solid LDS environment (if this is absolutely not true and you can verify it, please correct me). Apparently Kyle is really good friends with Jake and the Heaps family. I don't know if they met at football camps or where but they have forged a solid friendship. Jake's mom was on the TBS (total blue sports) chat last night. She said that Jake and Kyle were reading the TBS message board and were both so overwhelmed by the support that the BYU fans are giving to Kyle that they cried. I, for one, am also proud of the way BYU fans have handled the situation. I think this bodes well for BYU's chances of landing Heaps, the only 5 star quarterback next year and the #1 prospect in the country by most recruiting publications. And if BYU is able to recruit Heaps he will bring a stellar class with him. The wonderful lesson here is that by being good people and setting a good example as fans we have become a recruiting tool. 

Thanks, Jake for being Kyle's friend. Regardless of where you go, your support will be remembered.

Check This Out!

Yeah, yeah, my review of Utah's recruiting class is coming, I will say depending on the website you look at the rankings flip-flop between Utah and BYU and the number 4-star players. But that is coming. First a higher priority, check these out:

From Utah B-Ball player Carlon Brown...Sick!

This one was #1 on Sportscenter against TCU:



But this one is even better against Utah State, but no one saw it:

Recruiting Class 2009

OK Steve and anyone else out there who reads this blog. BYU won the recruiting battle. I'm not just saying that cause I'm a homer (I am), but I'm doing so objectively. Scout.com has BYU's recruiting class at #40 in the nation and Utah at #54. Utah did manage to land a 5 star recruit but BYU has more 4 and 3 star commits. Let's break it down.

Utah - Top 100 - 0

5 Star - 1 (I am jealous)

4 Star - 1

3 Star - 8

BYU -  Top 100 - 0

5 Star - 0 (I'm glad Manti went to Notre Dame instead of the cesspool that is USC)

4 Star - 4

3 Star - 9

Highlights of BYU's recruiting class include: WLB Kyle Van Noy 

TE Richard Wilson

S Craig Bills

RB Adam Hine (Timo)

Click on the names to see videos!

Go to BYUCOUGARS.com for information and videos on all the signees.

You will note how much emphasis was given to Defense in this class. I'm hoping some of these guys can start immediately because BYU's O will be great next year they just need a much better D. Rumor is we'll see the 4-3. I don't know how I feel about that. I suck at the 4-3 on NCAA Football 09 and that of course really relates to the real world. But it does look like BYU will have a great D line next year so that should be a smart move. 

Steve I invite you to rundown your recruits. Also, feel free to argue that the blog should be red. If you put up a fight we might have to put it to a vote.

Anyway, here's looking forward to spring practice just a month away!