16 in-state gridders sign to play for Cougars, Utes and Aggies
Hundreds of ardent boosters gathered at the campuses of BYU and Utah Wednesday to celebrate national letter-of-intent day and catch a glimpse of the future.
In Provo, Cougar coach Bronco Mendenhall reiterated that his recruiting base is the Beehive State and his 21-player class of 2008 featured eight from local high schools. Three hail from Bingham — tight end Austin Holt, placekicker Justin Sorensen and linebacker Iona Pritchard.
"I like players who really want to be at BYU," Mendenhall said of the Miner trio. "When you go in a player's room and you see the (program's) mission statement above his bed, that's a good indicator that he's the right kind of young man. When they win a lot of football games as well under a head coach (Dave Peck) who has patterned a lot of his program similarly after how we do things here, they know expectations also."
Of the 15 players Utah coach Kyle Whittingham signed, five were local products, including Alta running back Sausan Shakerin, Timpanogos lineman Dave Kruger and Bingham lineman Derek Tuimauga.
A year ago, Mendenhall created a stir on letter-of-intent day when he declared, "We didn't lose to anybody and won't lose to anybody, I think, from this point on in in-state recruiting."
That comment drew the ire of Utah defensive coordinator Gary Andersen, who responded: "First of all, I would be surprised if Bronco made that statement. If he did, it was ignorant and not factual. Utah and BYU will battle on in-state recruits year in and year out. However, we do not always recruit the same players. We feel very good about our in-state recruits and have once again signed quality players from the state of Utah. And we look forward to recruiting against BYU in the future and winning."
Mendenhall admitted Wednesday that he and his staff recruited both Kruger and Shakerin but lost out to the Utes.
"This year, we went after two that, at the end of the day, didn't chose us," he said. "We went after both of those players early. They chose the University of Utah, and it's probably a good choice for them. Both are good young men and good players."
Recent comments
Brent Guy's starting 22 players could not come close to compete...
What the h | Feb. 11, 2008 at 6:06 p.m.
re:slc valley,
the meet was davis and the time was 22.5...
curiouspanther | Feb. 8, 2008 at 6:56 p.m.
Brady ran a 22.4 to win the region 5 title. He ran a 22.7 at state...
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