The Pac-12 participation thread.

[Paperback Writer]

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.

I haven't followed Utah recruiting closely but I would think the Utes would have more success fishing in California then Florida. In other words, TCU is off the schedule but California PAC-12 teams are now on it.

[Vic Vega]

I have not followed Utah's FB recruiting at all. Which teams have they shown they can consistently beat for recruits when the recruit is in neither schools back yard? I would imagine WSU can't look better to a kid from SoCal for instance.

[Hot Lunch]

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

And just like when Utah has gone up against those schools, BYU will lose out as well.

[Applejack]

I haven't followed Utah recruiting closely but I would think the Utes would have more success fishing in California then Florida. In other words, TCU is off the schedule but California PAC-12 teams are now on it.

California is still the #2 state for recruits (after Utah). This year, for whatever reason, Utah has really struggled to get the California kids. That is why their class looks weak right now. I blame the inversion. There are three Cali kids that will be visiting over the next few weeks who would be very good gets, but we are up against Cal, UCLA, etc. so I'm not holding my breath.

I have not followed Utah's FB recruiting at all. Which teams have they shown they can consistently beat for recruits when the recruit is in neither schools back yard? I would imagine WSU can't look better to a kid from SoCal for instance.

It's pretty simple: winning brings recruits. The most recent Pac-12 standings give you a good sense of the recruiting pecking order (i.e. Arizona State is killing it this year).

[cougjunkie]

And just like when Utah has gone up against those schools, BYU will lose out as well.

It has already begun. Lost Uriah to Stanford.

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[Applejack]

It has already begun. Lost Uriah to Stanford.

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What's the deal with Nacua? Last I heard he had decommitted and was looking at Utah and ASU (and Oregon St?). I hope the Utes get him, but I haven't heard anything about him for a while.

[cougjunkie]

What's the deal with Nacua? Last I heard he had decommitted and was looking at Utah and ASU (and Oregon St?). I hope the Utes get him, but I haven't heard anything about him for a while.

Nacua has academic struggles I would be surprised if he qualifies at all.

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[Applejack]

Nacua has academic struggles I would be surprised if he qualifies at all.

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Our admissions office is world class. They can work something out!

[Hot Lunch]

It has already begun. Lost Uriah to Stanford.

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I can't ever blame a kid for choosing Stanford. Hard to pass up on that education and as a parent, I know that is where I would be encouraging my child to play if they wanted him.

[Applejack]

I can't ever blame a kid for choosing Stanford. Hard to pass up on that education and as a parent, I know that is were I would be encouraging my child to play if they wanted him.

Agreed. The only exception is Dalton Schultz - Stanford is a really, really, really bad fit for him.

[The_Douger]

It has already begun. Lost Uriah to Stanford.

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I just don't get why we weren't in there with an offer sooner. He's a great student, had offers from Stanford, Wisconsin, and other big time programs and we're in there dragging our feet. We only get around to offering this kid who wants to be at BYU once he's gotten deep in to the recruiting process with other schools who are all better at football than us.

If we want to beat out these types of schools, they need to be in the fold and accounted for before they start being recruited heavily by other programs.

I just want Stanford to start sucking again. We have nothing to offer against them. They are a better school and have a better team.

[Hot Lunch]

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 will say this about Utah's recruiting class, it is less than stellar and quit frankly as a fan, I am very disappointed with it.

Utah has 5 kids that I am excited about, beating MWC and WAC schools do nothing for me. Utah has to start winning more recruiting battles vs. Zona, Oregon St., Wazzu, Cal and at times ASU.

As for the kids in this class that I am excited about, Barton and Frison are two huge gets. Both have offers from Oklahoma and many other good BCS schools. Both will be the anchors to both sides of the Utah offensive line for the next couple of years at RT and LT. I actually think Frison when all is said and done will be the better of the two. He is raw and hasn't played the game as long as Barton. Both are great pick-ups. Havili out of Stansberry Park is going to be a really good DT, he also has some big time offers and I have a couple of friends that played college ball that have seen him play and loved what they saw. I like what I see from Isom. He put up some huge numbers this season in Louisiana, they play pretty good football down there. He has great size and is a really good athlete with a good arm. Miami was after him early in the recruiting process. Godfrey is probably the most impressive land of the class. On paper there are a couple of kids with better offers (Frison and Barton). The reason is that he is the most impressive land in this class so far is because he is from Miami, has BCS offers, some of which are better than just lower end BCS offers like Wisc. and Louisville along with many others. Utah has struggled to get kids from out of state like this that do have those type of offers. Some of the best High School football is played in the state of Florida.

At the end of the day, classes like this won't get Utah 7 or 8 wins in the Pac12. There need to be some big improvements on the recruiting end going forward. Have to.

[cougjunkie]

I just don't get why we weren't in there with an offer sooner. He's a great student, had offers from Stanford, Wisconsin, and other big time programs and we're in there dragging our feet. We only get around to offering this kid who wants to be at BYU once he's gotten deep in to the recruiting process with other schools who are all better at football than us.

If we want to beat out these types of schools, they need to be in the fold and accounted for before they start being recruited heavily by other programs.

I just want Stanford to start sucking again. We have nothing to offer against them. They are a better school and have a better team.

BYU is limited on schollies they only had room for one D-end in this class. Originally that went to Isaiah Nacua. When he started looking around Bronco decided he couldn't wait due to limited schollies and the need for a D-end and they parted ways. At this point they went after Sione Takitaki who is rated similar to Leiatau. Takitaki commits quickly and BYU is all set. At the end of November it looked like Takitaki was not going to qualify and BYU was left scrambling and offered Uriah Leiatau. In a perfect world they offer and keep all three but with scholarship limitations they only had room for 1.

BYU coaches had them rated Nacua, Takitaki and then Leiatau. Now it looks like they are going to miss on all of them.

[The_Douger]

Do we have different rules than other schools to get kids qualified?

[Donuthole]

Do we have different rules than other schools to get kids qualified?

In other words, are high academic standards hurting BYU football recruiting? Probably not.