NLI

Any big news? shockers?



I haven't followed too closely this year.

I don't think we landed any of those last minute guys we we were hoping for. disappointing class in my opinion.

I think OL Tim Duran was a surprise today. McTyer not signing with us is a major disappointment. Hope we can still get Taumoepenu and maybe Nic Purcell. Tunstill tweeted he was staying with TCU

I hadn't heard about Kalolo Utu:

Defensive line

6-2, 285

Upolu, Samoa

Compton Community College



A three star recruit from Scout.com … recorded nine tackles and one tackle for loss along with one interception in 2008 … a graduate of Dominguez High School … recorded eight sacks as a senior and four sacks as a junior … served LDS mission to Las Vegas



But maybe that is just me. I agree that Tim Duran was a surprise.



Update: never mind on Kalolo Utu--the sheet I was following referred to him as Kalolo Manumaleuga. My bad. :blush:

I agree, pretty disappointing. There are a few guys that look like they will be good, but for the most part, pretty quiet class. Maybe they will surprise.

I've decided to never calling another class disappointing or surprising until I see how much they accomplish 3-4 years from now.

BroncoBot wrote:
I've decided to never calling another class disappointing or surprising until I see how much they accomplish 3-4 years from now.

I agree. After what many called the "Greatest Class Ever", and it's subsequent flop, I'll just leave the *'s for others to wade through and relish in the Cody Hoffman's that we get.

imuakahuku wrote:

I've decided to never calling another class disappointing or surprising until I see how much they accomplish 3-4 years from now.

I agree. After what many called the "Greatest Class Ever", and it's subsequent flop, I'll just leave the *'s for others to wade through and relish in the Cody Hoffman's that we get.

I was so excited when we signed that great class. It seems, however that we have more Dennis Pittas , Cody Hoffmans, & Ben Criddles than we have 5 stars who work out. (Ben Olsen, Jake Heaps, Ofa etc.)

I only caught the presser 1/2 way through but here were a few things I picked up that were pretty interesting

* Bronco believes we only lost 1 recruit attributable to the coaching change

* Bronco and Doman didn't decide until 10 days ago that it would be better for Doman to "step down"

* Bronco really hated the coaching changes running up against finalizing the recruiting season and he doesn't ever want to do it again

* Realizing that things were not going to be solved with the staffing and that he'd have to do a lot of the in-home visits to solidify recruits, Bronco suspended the coaching search until after the LOI day. Finding coaching staff will begin again in earnest very shortly (can't recall if he said "tomorrow' or "Monday")

* On the new NCAA rule allowing non-coaches to be a recruiting coordinator, Bronco believes that will lead to the establishment of whole office of recruit coordination at the bigger schools--people who can break down film, contact (call/text), and visit recruits. He believes this rule was put in place to further separate the haves from the have-nots.

* The details of the 2010 coaching change are not known, but Bronco believes Robert Anae has shown the most loyalty of any other coach he's ever worked with.

* Similar to 2010, at the end of 2012 all of the [offensive?] coaching staff was asked to reapply for their jobs and were given an opportunity to indicate where they'd like to go and what they'd like to be doing.

* Different from 2010 there were a lot more considerations this time around, a lot more interviews and angles to look at (though he didn't say what those were)

* Kicking will continue to be a challenge. Bronco asked Dave McCann if he had any suggestions after Dave noted that the team had major kicking challenges last year, but that there were no kickers on the list of recruits, despite it being one of the largest classes ever under Bronco

* Bronco would have liked to have had 1 more Juco guy, but they went through all the best guys and there wasn't another one that fit the full BYU package. He graded himself "OK" on how well he did with using jucos as a stopgap for the new mission policy.

* He believes the new mission policy will have the largest effect in creating a dearth of available schollies for those in the 2015 class who don't go on a mission.

Per Gurney - we got Pita Taumoepenu. Going on a mission first. Sweet!!!!!

Per scout.com and after reading a ksl article; there are a few "commits" that are not showing up as signed... Someone in the know tell me what I'm missing.

Sounds like they are guys who committed but are not officially on the team or allocated a scholarship until they return from their missions. That is part of the reason Bronco said there would be very few scholarships available in 2015 when this year's class comes off missions and claim those scholarships.



According to byurosters.com it is these fellas:

Francis Bernard

Ma'ataua Brown

Inoke Lotulelei

Patrick Palau

Pita Taumoepenu

According to the same site, these 5 players did not sign NLI's because of the new NCAA limit of 25, but signed an informal 'Letter of Commitment' and are expected to join the team following their missions.

Congratulations to our newest bretheren

Name	 Pos.	 HT,WT	 Hometown	 Previous
Chasen Andersen	 LB	 6,0, 218	 Logan, UT	 Logan HS
Josh Carter	 OL	 6-5, 290	 Tucson, AZ	 Eastern Ariz. College
Michael Davis	 WR	 6-2, 180	 Glendale, CA	 Glendale HS
Tim Duran	 OL	 6-4, 290	 Puyallup, WA	 Cabrillo College
Nathan DeBeikes*	 LB	 6-2, 196	 Thousand Oaks, CA	 Thousand Oaks HS
Garrett England*	 DB	 6-4, 190	 Salt Lake City, UT	 Skyline HS
Edward Fusi	 OL	 6-1, 285	 Corona, CA	 Mt. San Antonio CC
Rylee Gautavai	 LB	 6-1, 200	 Bountiful, UT	 Bountiful HS
Billy Green ^	 QB	 6-2, 196	 Woodway, WA	 King's HS
Keegan Hicks	 OL	 6-3, 285	 South Jordan, UT	 Bingham HS
Brayden Kearsley	 OL	 6-5, 298	 Aloha, OR	 Aloha HS
Moroni Laulu-Pututau*	 TE	 6-4, 190	 Hyrum, UT	 Mountain Crest HS
Dallin Leavitt	 DB	 6-0, 205	 Portland, OR	 Central Catholic HS
Sam Lee	 DB	 6-0, 180	 Brandywine, MD	 College of the Canyons
Kai Nacua	 LB	 6-2, 205	 Henderson, NV	 Liberty HS
JonRyheem Peoples	 DL	 6-6, 298	 Rigby, ID	 Rigby HS
Trajan Pili	 LB	 6-2, 225	 Las Vegas, NV	 Centennial HS
Addison Pulsipher	 OL	 6-6, 260	 Temecula, CA	 Temecula Valley HS
Thomas Shoaf	 OL	 6-6, 265	 Columbus, IN	 Columbus North HS
Talon Shumway *	 WR	 6-3, 200	 Highland, UT	 Lone Peak HS
Merrill Taliauli	 DL	 6-2, 305	 Salt Lake City, UT	 East HS
Johnny Tapusoa*	 DB	 5-10, 195	 Laie, HI	 Kahuku HS
Trenton Trammell ^	 DB	 6-0, 190	 Oakland, CA	 City Coll. of San Fran.
Kalolu Utu	 DL	 6-2, 285	 Upolu, Samoa	 Compton CC
De'Ondre Wesley	 OL	 6-6, 310	 Pleasant Hill, CA	 Diablo Valley CC

beauso79 wrote:
Per Gurney - we got Pita Taumoepenu. Going on a mission first. Sweet!!!!!

This is great news.

It appears the day went well. Got who we thought, one trade in our favor and picked up 1 other. Is that right?

BYU released Awa-Dubose and signed Duran and Fisi. Bronco really wanted another JC player (ie Dubose type) but apparently there was a paucity of the ones that met their search criteria.



[ Post made via Mobile Device ] http://cougarcorner.com/images/mobile.png" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">

I'm not sure that Bronco/BYU wants any of the high profile players, or any players who happens to think they are entitled to "star" status. And we all need to understand that whoever BYU recruits must understand and accept the honor code and a few other requirements like no long hair, etc. And I don't think Bronco allows coaches to promise any recruit he will start if he comes to BYU. For 4 and 5 star recruits this is a turnoff; for the 2 and 3 start recruits it is an opportunity for them to prove themselves and earn a spot.



Looking at the past couple of years, BYU got better play out of every position except QB and Oline. They appear to have plenty of quality QBs in the system, and if Anae's recruiting pays off, BYU will have an offense again this year.

Looking at the signess (http://byucougars.com/m-football/signing-day-central) and judging purely from their looks/picture, I have a couple of awards:



Looks Most Like a Gamer: Dallin Leavitt

http://byucougars.com/files/users/kcox/dallin-leavitt.jpg" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">



Looks Least Like a Gamer: Thomas Shoaf

http://byucougars.com/files/users/kcox/thomas-shoaf.jpg" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">



Reminds Me of Jake Heaps: Billy Green

http://byucougars.com/files/users/kcox/billy-green.jpg" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">



Any other awards that you'd like to give?



This is all TIC, I'm not really judging who's going to be a good player or not. Just, when I saw those recruits' pictures, that was the first thing that popped into my head.

Most extensive haircut before camp starts

http://byucougars.com/files/users/kcox/jonryheem-peoples.jpg" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">



Most likely to pick up a beard card

http://byucougars.com/files/users/kcox/tim-duran.jpg" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">



Utah fan's least popular Cougar recruit (did you see his burning the Utah recruiting letter video on youtube? :lol:

http://byucougars.com/files/users/kcox/brayden-kearsley.jpg" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">



Most likely to get booed against Utah Statehttp://byucougars.com/files/users/kcox/chasen-anderson.jpg" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">