Faletau Satuala

[cj13]

Still a 4 star that is expected to commit to Utah. He’s announcing on January 6th. If we land him, our average recruit will be an 87.66

Compared to following years:
2023: 88.76
2022: 87.46
2021: 87.75
2020: 86.52

Not sure if there has been rating inflation over that time, but this class isn’t as bad as the 61st ranking makes it seem. If we want to make real noise in the playoff though, we need to consistently get to 2023 levels and surpass that into the .89 average. Hopefully this cycle was just a case of natural variance from year to year.

Any more top targets that have not signed yet? It’s been pretty boring compared to last season.

[DataUte]

I think this target is the only one that would raise the average. Maybe some portal guys as things settle. There are a few other guys we have an offer to that we might get, but mostly in the 85-87 range

[AlohaUte]

I’m less and less concerned about High School recruiting because of the Transfer Portal. It’s still got some importance, but not near as much as it used to. I still want us to get top recruits and keep them and develop them, but when we can augment with experienced players, there’s an argument to be made that we should put more focus on the portal.

[Charlie]

At the top of the uncommitted list is Jericho Johnson a DL leaning toward Oregon, who would be an awesome get. Also Lamar Radcliffe who is leaning toward Utah is the short yardage RB we would love to have. Fonohema is also interesting.

[RustyShackleford]

Oregon already has like 3 highly rated DT committed I don’t understand why he would want to go there. Sometimes recruits make head scratching decisions and then wonder why they aren’t getting playing time 2 years from now.

[EagleMountainUte]

Because they were the best in High School so they assume they will be even better as the funnel narrows.

[Central Coast Ute]

NIL at oregon is huge

[concerned]

Is Fonohema the springville player? I thought he committed to the Y.

[cj13]

Didn’t Radcliffe decommit? I’ve never seen a player who decommits recommit tick the same school.

[D T]

CJ Blocker did just last year.

[RustyShackleford]

Is he actually leaning towards Utah after decommitting? That would be awesome. We don’t really have that power back like TT was.

[cj13]

247 Sports says Utah is the favorite still. I guess I remember Blocker did decommit last year and recommit so hopefully we get him.

[krindor]

Some thoughts on Radcliffe

Full disclosure/caveat that I have no inside info or particular skill breaking down film

Radcliffe is a bit of an interesting case and frankly reminds me of Adarrius Harshaw, a 87.5 rated player who decommited from Utah…and ended up signing with Austin Peay. Harshaw had a great junior year and committed to Utah…but then was hurt and limited and lacked explosiveness as a senior, leading Utah to back off the offer and nobody else to offer.

Radcliffe is not the same situation exactly…but there are similarities. He had a massive sophomore year and became a hugely sought after recruit. At the start of his junior year he was rated 90.99 – and then missed that entire year with injury. The expectation was that he’d be back, good as new, for his 2023 senior season. And his numbers for the season look very good, so maybe he is. But it’s worth noting that (per 247) nobody except Utah had offered him since his junior year injury and Utah may have backed off him. I’m wondering if his high rating (which has been dropping since that time and is now 88.3) is more an artifact of where he started and just hasn’t been updated. I hope not, both because I’d love a great talent at Utah and because it would suck for him if an injury reduced him from Oregon/Washington offers to hoping for FCS…but his scenario is a weird one and I’m not sure what the case actually is

[D T]

247

[Jim Vanderhoof]

Krindor appreciate your thoughtful and well researched posts. I see you on CB as well. It’s nice to see some intelligent non biased posts from a cougar. I’m a die hard Ute but still like to read posts from knowledgeable fans of any team.

[highlandute7]

Announces tomorrow. Any insight how he is leaning? 247 Crystal ball says TSPP.

[NarfUte]

Pretty sure he signed with BYU during the NLI period and is just announcing during the game

[Yergensen]

Committed to BYU today. He wants to play TE, which they’ll accommodate. We wanted him on Defense.

[highlandute7]

He said during his announcement that he is starting at defense but he hopes they will let him switch. Was kind of an awkward interview.

Seems odd he would want to play TE down there given what we have done with TEs recently. To each his own.

[DataUte]

Well, we have a lot of depth at TE, so we wouldn’t even let him have reps.