Jack Tuttle appears to be a great get for our Utes.

[ProudUte]

But, one four star recruit signing yesterday doesn’t make up for our failure to sign at least some of these in state kids.  Six in states kids signed with P5 schools.  Four of these kids are 4-star recruits.  Four of them are going to other teams in our conference.

I know many of you will try to spin this 100 different ways.  I am not trying to be a debbie-downer, but I see yesterday as a bad day for Utah football.  Am I wrong?  We simply need to do better than this if we want to compete in the PAC 12.  I hope that the February signing day changes my mind on things, but as of righ now – this recruiting class is not good overall.

Again, Tuttle is great and I am so impressed that he kept his commitment to us.  If Tuttle had not signed – yesterday would have been a disaster IMO.

 

[Duhwayne]

Did you look at it position by position? Our early signees addressed acute needs and we even grabbed another Florida prospect with offers from Georgia, LSU and elsewhere. We have instant impact at DE and LB, both of which faced a dropoff. I’m happy with what we have. Sometimes local kids go where they will play. Sometimes they want to leave. The secret is out on Utah as a market. Bama, Stanford, Washington, USC, Michigan, they all regularly recruit. Saban himself and his assistants have been to St. George three times in the last month. We aren’t going to win all of these. We need to win the backyard but need to stay on top of our needs more. Looks to me like we did.

[Tony (admin)]

I’m not in tune with high school athletes/recruits but it’s a big country. I’m not super concerned about whether or not we get locals so long as we get solid players somewhere.

[gUrthBrooks]

Why can’t USC keep top California recruits like Tuttle (who they wanted) and that other QB that decommited from them?

[User Suspended]

Utes better sign Tennesse Pututau or state recruiting will be a total bust ( in relationship to what was available) 

 

 

[gUrthBrooks]

What about Tevita Fotu and Jaren Kump? Current commits. Less speaking in absolutes “total bust” will alow for a more normal conversation.

[Utah]

What about Nick Heninger? From Salt Lake, walked on, balled out last year as a FRESHMAN. 

I’d trust Whitt over Swinney or Markham or whoever. Dude seems to know his business. 

Remember when Whitt got Dimick to sign and backed off Four Star in State phenom Troy Hinds? Remember how BYU owned the recruiting? 

Well, one is in the NFL and one never really played a down. 

[gUrthBrooks]

What about Phil Indablank? he lives above Hogle Zoo.

[Puget Ute]

If ever there was a player deserving of that gloriously rare 6-star rating, it is Phil Indablank.  He is the perfect combination of Tackle strength, WR hands, Safety speed, and has the leaping skills of a gazelle.

[GameForAnyFuss]

I’m curious: Does anyone have any stats on how many 4+* kids who hold offers from their local P5 school end up going somewhere else? For example, how many 4+* kids from LA end up someplace else besides USC or UCLA? I bet it’s not a small number.

Not that we shouldn’t do better at in-state recruiting, but let’s be honest: Some kids just want to get away from mom and dad or experience someplace else for college. I know I did.

It doesn’t surprise me that Utah loses a lot of good athletes to other schools. Because let’s be honest: If you don’t (or aren’t allowed to) ski, or climb, or mountain bike, and you’re not LDS, what appeal does Utah really hold?

[User Suspended]

Until Utes/kwitt can prove they can win the PAC12 championship or even a divisional title it will be tough sledding to attract top talent. 

[gUrthBrooks]

And yet we just signed one of the top QB’s in the country this year! And one of the top Corners in the country last year, and one of the top OL in the country the year before that.

[highlandute7]

I think it would be interesting to look at how many of the in-state guys we supposedly missed on, are making an impact on their currrent teams. Seems to me there a lot of them that go out of state that end up having little impact. Only a few come to mind that have had some impact. Porter Gustin (2015) and Dalton Schultz (2014). Tufele (2016) was hurt last year and didn’t play. Luke Falk doesn’t count as he didn’t have an offer. Here are a few others, with noted class.

Masina (2015) got into trouble at USC. Noah Togiai (2015) hasn’t been great for OSU. Kafentzis (2015) has been a disaster. B Bowen (2015) was hurt this year at the other OSU. Bryan Mone (2014) hasn’t been great at Michigan. Kenyon Frison (2014) was kicked off the team at OU and looks like he is at Eastern Arizona JC? Kahi Neves (2016) left Arizona after flipping from the Utes, now is with Hawaii after getting booted from UA.

Granted, this is a short list, but my point is, sure, we will lose and continue to lose in-state prospects and we will be and have been ok. We will be ok if we don’t get every in-state guy. It is hard to watch when they leave, sure. But we find other players to fill those needs. It is impossible to predict how any of these players will turn out or if any of those listed above would have worked out better had they played for the Utes. But give them credit for making one of the toughest decisions they have to make. I think we will be ok if a few guys from Bingham and East don’t sign with us.

[PlainsUte]

Don’t forget Sione Lund!

[Utah]

Brian Mone I’d count as a loss. He was an absolute monster for Michigan. Haloti Ngata level player. 

He was injured really badly and never recovered. But his first year or so, he was a sure fire top 10 pick. 

[highlandute7]

I disagree. Based on his projections coming out of high school, he was the top 1 or 2 recruit in the state of Utah. Yes, injuries have slowed him down but to compare him with Haloti, is crazy. Haloti also got injured his first year but came back much more inpressive than Mone. Haloti was an all PAC10 player, Defensive player of the year and a consensus first team all-american, left as a junior and was a top 12 pick in the draft. Not to mention a 5 time pro-bowler and two time first team all pro as well as a Super Bowl champion. He could be an NFL Hall of Famer.

Mone registered 7 takles this season as a Senior, depending on source. He sure has the physical attributes to be a good player but hasn’t panned out in my opinion. He could be drafted I guess but it would be solely due to his size.

The only thing you can say that are similiar between them, is that they are both graduates of Highland High.

[Duhwayne]

Didnt we just sign our best ever class?

[Utah]

Last year, rivals ranked us at #25, our best class ever. And that was including all our recruiting “losses” to TDS. Hahahahahahahahahahaha. 

[jamarcus24]

I do wish we could keep a couple more of the highly recruited local kids home every year, but the staff does a good job bringing in out of state kids to compensate for any local loss. 

Also, you can’t predict the future from this point on so you have to look at it objectively.  According to Rivals we have 2 out of the top 10 kids committed (neither signed yesterday) and three uncommitted kids we are still in play for, including the #1 recruit in the state.  Out of last year’s class we signed two, but we’ll also be receiving a transfer from Stanford (Sione Lund, #2 in 2017).  In 2016 we pulled in 3 of the top 10 including Maxs Tupai, who was #1 in the state and in 2015 and 2014 we were able to sign the Barton brothers (Jackson was the #1 recruit in the state in 2015) who are anchors on both sides of the ball for us.

I do get frustrated when we lose local kids to other Pac-12 schools, especially when those schools are trending up.  Stanford and USC are mainstays here and now Washington has signed three local kids in the last two seasons.  We aren’t going to keep everyone and I can’t fault a kid for going out of state, but I do wish and I do believe that one day we’ll be able to keep one or two Jay Tufele’s, Simi Fehoko’s, or Porter Gustin’s at home.

[PorterRockwell]

We all do but when Stanford, USC et al come calling it’s still an uphill climb for us.  Winning a south title would help with that though.  Winning cures most things 

[Utah]

I agree. We CAN be Washington. Utah produces the same number of D1 kids and the same number of elite kids as Washington. 

We can get the same number of high end out of states kids here. 

Washington is a realistic goal for our program. 

The problem is, keeping those kids home. 

I think once we show we can win the PAC-12, we will start to keep those kids home. Kids want to play for a school with good facilities (check), cool uniforms (check), get to the NFL (check) and win (semi-check). 

We have one last hurdle to jump. 

[FtheY]

Couldn’t agree more, Utah.