The Pac-12 participation thread.

[SeattleUte]

Ute fans,

I am looking at your recruiting so far and I am curious who is recruiting Florida for the Utes? Utah has 4 commits from Florida which is quite a bit for a Western school. I am curious if this was by design has Florida been an emphasis? I know in the past Texas and California have served Utah well. But they have more Florida commits than California commits and they only have 1 Texas commit right now.

The problem with this strategy is that it seems these Florida kids are not being coveted by the Florida schools. Do Ute fans feel like recruiting has gotten better since joining the PAc? I would expect Utah to compete with at least the lower level Pac-12 schools for recruits like long-time rival Colorado, Washington State, Cal, Arizona, etc. But it seems they are still competing with MWC schools and lower other non-bcs programs.

The 4 commits from Florida it seems only one has very good offers. Andre Godfrey has several solid offers, most of them lower level BCS teams (NC State, BC, South Florida, etc.) but he has a few nice offers as well like Wisconsin and UCLA. I saw that he committed on the 9th but is still taking a trip to UCLA this weekend.

The other Florida commits have kind of crappy offers (Florida International and South Alabama).

In fact it seems most of the commits so far Utah has beat out the likes of Army, Nevada, SDSU, Boise State, etc. Other than Jackson Barton who is definitely the biggest recruit of this class I am not seeing a lot of big offers. It seems like Utah usually does a good job of stealing a few guys each year from the big time schools.

Offer list (besides obviously Utah)
Kaelin Clay- Toledo
Kyle Christansen- BYU, Utah State, Hawaii
Amone Finau- none
Kenyon Frison- Nebraska, Oklahoma, UW, UCLA (nice list and was impressive at the Semper Fi bowl)
Andre Godfrey- (long list but all lower level BCS teams; BC, NC State, Kentucky, West Virginia Cincinatti this list is more along the lines who I thought Utah would compete against in the Pac-12, at least the west coast version of these schools)
Allan Havili- Don't believe a damn thing about his offers I know where they came from.
Travonne Hobbs- Arkansas, Baylor, Southern Miss, La. Tech, Tulane, Western Kentucky
Casey Hughes- Army, Colorado, Nevada, Utah State, UNLV
Donovan Isom- La. Tech, Tulane
Sidney Jones- Colorado, New Mexico, SDSU, NMSU
Thor Katoa- none
Jeremy McNichols- Colorado State
Howard Pututau- Utah State
Monte Seabrook- none
Raelon Singleton- Colorado State, Houston, La. Tech, La. Monroe, Tulane, North Texas
Brandon Snell- FIU, South Florida, South Alabama
Pasoni Tisini- none
Pita Tonga- none
Joe Tukuafu- Utah State
Marcus Williams- Boise, Nevada, San Diego State
Tavaris Williams- Duke, Florida International


So who is Utah still in on? Because this is underwhelming to say the least.


Do they have a few guys that are still wavering?

I think it's imortant for the leading major college program in a smallish state essentially to own the recruiting market in-state. Subject to that I don't care where our recruits come from as long as their good.

[cougjunkie]

I think it's imortant for the leading major college program in a smallish state essentially to own the recruiting market in-state. Subject to that I don't care where our recruits come from as long as their good.

You must be really pissed about this class.

The top talent in state is leaving, the good news is you are beating Utah State in quite a few head to head battles.

[USUC]

I think it's imortant for the leading major college program in a smallish state essentially to own the recruiting market in-state. Subject to that I don't care where our recruits come from as long as their good.

Carefully crafted. What does this mean? Do you define major college program as a program in a current BCS league? If so Utah is the only program in the state. If you meant the leading college program in the state, Utah aint it. Also Utah certainly isn't owning in-state recruiting.

[Blueintheface]

I think it's imortant for the leading major college program in a smallish state essentially to own the recruiting market in-state. Subject to that I don't care where our recruits come from as long as their good.

[TripletDaddy]

This is the part where SeattleUte tells us how Whit has basically raided Laramie for coaching talent.

[cougjunkie]

This is the part where SeattleUte tells us how Whit has basically raided Laramie for coaching talent.

Don't forget QB talent as well!

[SeattleUte]

You must be really pissed about this class.

The top talent in state is leaving, the good news is you are beating Utah State in quite a few head to head battles.

No they're not.

http://www.utahby5.com/showthread.ph...ll=1#post29593

[cougjunkie]

No they're not.

http://www.utahby5.com/showthread.ph...ll=1#post29593

yes they are.

3 of the top 4 going out of state. A state that is generally low on talent after the top 6 or 7 you experience quite the drop off in most years. Then again you want to dominate the state and you guys are kicking Utah States ass head to head.

http://recruiting.scout.com/a.z?s=73...mn=RatingValue

[SeattleUte]

yes they are.

3 of the top 4 going out of state. A state that is generally low on talent after the top 6 or 7 you experience quite the drop off in most years. Then again you want to dominate the state and you guys are kicking Utah States ass head to head.

http://recruiting.scout.com/a.z?s=73...mn=RatingValue

BYU isn't competing anymore for Utah recruits?

[SCcoug]

BYU isn't competing anymore for Utah recruits?

Check the BYU recruiting thread. We're in a fight with USC, Stanford, Washington, UCLA ect. for our recruits.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

No they're not.

http://www.utahby5.com/showthread.ph...ll=1#post29593

That Dalton kid from Bingham that is #2 on that list is Utah or UW? He's dead to me.

[cougjunkie]

BYU isn't competing anymore for Utah recruits?

Utah the school or Utah the state?

Utah the school, BYU has gone head to head and won with Kavika Fonua, Fred Werner, Matt Bushman, and Sione Takitaki.
Utah beat BYU on Kyle Christansen

Utah the state: BYU offered the following: Fonua, Christansen, Dawe, Kaufusi, Tolutau, Mone.

Right now BYU has landed 2 of those players, Christansen is headed to Utah and Kaufusi is uncommitted. Tolutau is headed to Wisconsin and Mone to Michigan.

BYU did not offer Finau (1 offer was Utah), Katoa (only offer was Utah), Tukuafu (only offer Utah and USU), Tisini (only offer was Utah), Pututau (only offers Utah and USU), Frison (not a BYU kid), or Havili (bull shit offers).

Again I already congratulated the Utes on landing these in-state kids. It is tough to steal a kid from Cache Valley. Whit has done a nice job of keeping these 2 star kids from playing at Southern Utah or Snow College.

[cougjunkie]

That Dalton kid from Bingham that is #2 on that list is Utah or UW? He's dead to me.

He is still a heavy Stanford lean. He said on Twitter the other day that Stanford needs to pick up the passing game next year. Hinting that he will be there.

[Applejack]

Ute fans,

I am looking at your recruiting so far and I am curious who is recruiting Florida for the Utes? Utah has 4 commits from Florida which is quite a bit for a Western school. I am curious if this was by design has Florida been an emphasis? I know in the past Texas and California have served Utah well. But they have more Florida commits than California commits and they only have 1 Texas commit right now.

The problem with this strategy is that it seems these Florida kids are not being coveted by the Florida schools. Do Ute fans feel like recruiting has gotten better since joining the PAc? I would expect Utah to compete with at least the lower level Pac-12 schools for recruits like long-time rival Colorado, Washington State, Cal, Arizona, etc. But it seems they are still competing with MWC schools and lower other non-bcs programs.

The 4 commits from Florida it seems only one has very good offers. Andre Godfrey has several solid offers, most of them lower level BCS teams (NC State, BC, South Florida, etc.) but he has a few nice offers as well like Wisconsin and UCLA. I saw that he committed on the 9th but is still taking a trip to UCLA this weekend.

The other Florida commits have kind of crappy offers (Florida International and South Alabama).

In fact it seems most of the commits so far Utah has beat out the likes of Army, Nevada, SDSU, Boise State, etc. Other than Jackson Barton who is definitely the biggest recruit of this class I am not seeing a lot of big offers. It seems like Utah usually does a good job of stealing a few guys each year from the big time schools.

Offer list (besides obviously Utah)
Kaelin Clay- Toledo
Kyle Christansen- BYU, Utah State, Hawaii
Amone Finau- none
Kenyon Frison- Nebraska, Oklahoma, UW, UCLA (nice list and was impressive at the Semper Fi bowl)
Andre Godfrey- (long list but all lower level BCS teams; BC, NC State, Kentucky, West Virginia Cincinatti this list is more along the lines who I thought Utah would compete against in the Pac-12, at least the west coast version of these schools)
Allan Havili- Don't believe a damn thing about his offers I know where they came from.
Travonne Hobbs- Arkansas, Baylor, Southern Miss, La. Tech, Tulane, Western Kentucky
Casey Hughes- Army, Colorado, Nevada, Utah State, UNLV
Donovan Isom- La. Tech, Tulane
Sidney Jones- Colorado, New Mexico, SDSU, NMSU
Thor Katoa- none
Jeremy McNichols- Colorado State
Howard Pututau- Utah State
Monte Seabrook- none
Raelon Singleton- Colorado State, Houston, La. Tech, La. Monroe, Tulane, North Texas
Brandon Snell- FIU, South Florida, South Alabama
Pasoni Tisini- none
Pita Tonga- none
Joe Tukuafu- Utah State
Marcus Williams- Boise, Nevada, San Diego State
Tavaris Williams- Duke, Florida International


So who is Utah still in on? Because this is underwhelming to say the least.


Do they have a few guys that are still wavering?

Utah's recruiting class is not great right now.

Here is the kind way to frame the Ute's class so far (CJ always does a nice job covering the glass-half-empty approach):
- the Utes are getting two really good tackles in Barton and Frison (assuming Frison signs and isn't lured by some farm state school like Nebraska or Oklahoma) and the Utes REALLY need tackles
- the Utes are getting a lot of WR depth, something they sorely lacked last year. I don't think they have the next Kenneth Scott or Dres Anderson, unfortunately.
- I think we are getting two decent NTs, Havili and Tonga. Apparently you have some beef with Havili, so I'll leave you to that. But even if you don't believe his offers, he did trip to Oklahoma - did they just fly him out there for fun or are they trying to get another stud from Stansbury High?

This class has a bunch of commits from non-BCS types (personally, even though we beat BYU for him, I think Christiansen fits this category). I think that is a combination of (1) not going bowling for two years in a row and (2) having recruiters who just left their personal-injury practice within the past year.

I think the Florida thing is a conscious move away from Texas. We have been snake-bitten in Texas recently (star recruits getting killed in accidents, recruits knocking up their girlfriends so they have to transfer back to be close to their baby mama, etc). In the past we would basically fill the safety/DB positions with Texas recruits. Now, since we don't play TCU every year, I think it has been harder to convince kids to leave the lone star state. Maybe Florida will work out, but I'm skeptical.

[Applejack]

He is still a heavy Stanford lean. He said on Twitter the other day that Stanford needs to pick up the passing game next year. Hinting that he will be there.

I think UW lost Schultz when Sark stopped Barking. It's between Utah and Stanford and Notre Dame now. Stanford will win.