Maybe it is time to start drinking the Kool-aid, for the rivalry game at least

[UteThunder]

1280am does their annual 60 in 60 where media members vote on the 60 best football players in the state of Utah. In the 60 weekdays leading up to the start of college football they release one player on the list each day.

They have done #’s 60 – 21 so far and will continue with the top 20 starting Monday. The breakdown of players on the list to this point are as follows:

Utah 17
BYU 12
USU 9
Weber 2

Based on the Utah players who have not made the list yet, I think Utah could end up with half of the players in the top 20 for a total player count of nearly half of the top 60 players in the state.

Utah players on the list:

#23 Singleton
#26 Shyne
#27 Handley
#29 C. Barton
#31 Fakailoatanga
#32 J. Barton
#35 Anae
#36 Falemaka
#38 Simpkins
#40 Blackmon
#43 Wilson
#44 McCormick
#46 Paulo
#48 T. Smith
#52 Hart
#53 Repp
#57 Thompson

Utes I expect to make the top 20

T. Williams
Lotulelei
Luafatasanga
Hansen
Wishnowsky
Uhatafe
Mokofisi
Fitts
Hobbs?
Moss?
Ballard?
Blair?

Anyone else on Utah’s roster not yet named that could be a top 20 player I might be missing?

Note: The list was voted on before Carrington joined the team, so he won’t make the cut despite clearly being one of the top 20 players in the state.

[UteThunder]

I forgot Jaylon Johnson as a possibility. Honestly, though, I have a hard time seeing a true freshman making the list in the top 20 even though Johnson may end up being that good. Blair and Ballard are doubtful too just because they are new comers as well.

If Moss was going to make the list, I would have thought it would be behind Shyne, but maybe Shyne was devalued in their minds after hurting his knee.

[CincyUte]

Don’t get your hopes up. Mangum will be #1 and half the top 20 will be BYU guys you’ve never heard of.

[UteThunder]

Maybe, but I don’t think so. I think Lotulelei gets the #1 spot and I think Utah State will get 2 or 3 players in the top 20. That leaves 17 or 18 spots to split between Utah and BYU. As I said before, I can see Utah getting as many as 10 of those spots. Looking at BYU’s roster, there are only 6 players I think they will for sure vote into the top 20: Mangum, Koroma, F. Warner, T. Warner, Kaufusi, and Pau’u. I’m sure there will probably be 1 or 2 more that I’m just not familiar enough with. At most they get 8 of the top 20 spots.

[CincyUte]

I just remember last year when BYU had 6 guys in the top 10. 

[Tony (admin)]

Don’t these things just end up being a politically correct, even down the line kind of thing?

[UteThunder]

My understanding is that is how it used to be, but they are now letting the voters vote for however many players from each team that they want to. I guess we’ll find out for sure when the final tally comes in.  

[Stone]

The weakness of this rankings is that it is comparing us to schools that are not in our league (literally and figuratively). If we have more top players than any school in the state, I would say, we damn well better. If we didn’t, I would be very concerned. So while I am giddy with excitement for this season, this ranking game plays no part in my optimism.

[UteThunder]

Right. I mentioned I’m viewing this list in relation to the rivalry game with BYU.

[Stone]

Point taken. Poor reading comprehension on my part.

By the way, I appreciate your realistic view of the rivalry game. As much as I always want to see a blowout, it just is not the case lately. For that reason, I find it hard to imagine there will be a blowout this year either.

[FtheY]

Blowing out byu sour would be awesome though. One can hope.