Well, now we know where BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall is spending his summer vacation.

I just talked to Jordan Johnson, a defensive back from Massachusetts, who says he commited to BYU and Mendenhall this morning.

"He was in Hawaii with his family on vacation," Johnson said. "But he still sounded excited to hear from me."

Johnson becomes the 19th member of the class of 2010 to commit to BYU and will sign with the Cougars in February, although he's not really a 2010 high school graduate.

Johnson said he graduated from a charter school last month, but will attend a prep school in North Andover, Mass., this fall and play football there.

It is similar to what BYU basketball player Charles Abouo did after graduating from Logan High. Abouo went to a prep school in New Hampshire for a season before joining the Cougars.

Johnson said he is 5-10 and 171 pounds.

He said he found out about BYU, and they about him, because of former BYU basketball star Danny Ainge.

Johnson's uncle works with Ainge in the Boston Celtics' front office.

"Danny Ainge "and Austin Ainge, his son, couldn't stop talking about how great BYU is, so I had to get out there and see for myself," Johnson said.

He attended BYU's non-padded camp last week, then committed Thursday morning.

"When I went out there, I just fell in love with the place," he said. "And I feel like I have a lot to offer BYU defensively."

Johnson said he is African-American and non-LDS, but that after careful consideration with his mother and other family members, he decided he could handle living in Provo and attending BYU.

"It will be good for me to get out West and become a part of another culture," he said.

Johnson said he also had offers from Tulsa, UConn and three Division I-AA schools: New Hampshire, Northeastern and Bryant University.

"It came down to UConn and BYU, and although I would probably be more comfortable socially at UConn, I decided BYU was the better place for me," he said.

Just talked to BYU offensive lineman Jason Speredon for a story I am working on about how summer workouts are going.

Speredon said three different groups are working out daily under the watchful eye of strength and conditioning coach Jay Omer at either 7 a.m., 10 a.m. or 4:30 p.m.

Coaches other than Omer cannot watch or be involved in the workouts, per NCAA rules.

Besides, coach Bronco Mendenhall is on vacation this week.

Speredon said the players feel a sense of urgency, perhaps a little stronger than in past years, because of BYU's first opponent, Oklahoma.

The workouts are voluntary (another NCAA rule), but Speredon estimates almost every player on the team stuck around this summer to participate in them.

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BYU will have one less player in the Mountain West Conference basketball wars to worry about next season.

Jake Schaller of the Colorado Springs Gazette is reporting that Air Force center Phillip Brown won't be back at AFA for his junior season.

The 6-foot-7 Brown played well against BYU in that close Cougars' win at the Marriott Center last season, scoring six points, grabbing four rebounds and blocking three shots in 13 minutes. It was by far his best game of the season.

AFA coaches said they couldn't provide a reason for Brown's departure, citing privacy laws.

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BYU's men's soccer team defeated the Ogden Outlaws 1-0 on Wednesday and are now 2-1 against their rivals.

"Our guys were tired tonight. It wasn't the prettiest game to watch," head coach Chris Watkins said. "But we felt like we deserved to win and ultimately did so."

BYU midfielder Richie Bindrup scored the game's only goal on a free kick from about 25 yards out.

The teams will meet again on Saturday in Provo for the final time this season. Fireworks will follow.

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The television network Altitude announced it will televise some classic college football games in July, including BYU's 1997 Cotton Bowl win over Kansas State.

On July 27 at 7 p.m., watch the Cougars and Wildcats play in Dallas.

"The pressure was high and the drama was thick in this battle that includes a game-changing interception and a Hail Mary touchdown pass. The teams produced top performances all the way to the final play, when one team finally secured the win," noted Altitude in a news release.

The replay will also be shown at 11 p.m. MT on July 28 and and 10 a.m. MT on July 30.

Former BYU golfer Steve Schneiter is going back to the PGA Championship.

Schneiter tied for second place on Wednesday at the PGA Club Pro National Championship in Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M.

The top 20 finishers at the Club Pro tourney qualify for golf's fourth major, so Schneiter will play in the PGA Championship Aug. 10-16 at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn.

Schneiter won the Club Pro in 1995 and was the low club professional at the 2005 PGA Championship.

The Sandy resident was an All-American at BYU after playing high school golf at Jordan High.

Provo's Chris Moody, a pro at Riverside Country Club, finished in a tie for 24th place and missed qualifying for the PGA Championship by a single shot.

He finished at 1-under-par 283 after shooting a 69 on Wednesday.

BYU finished 47th in the 2008-09 Directors' Cup All-Sports standings, which were released earlier this week.

The Learfield Sports Directors' Cup is presented each year by the National Association of Collegiate Athletic Directors and recognizes schools that achieve in all sports.

TCU was the highest ranked Mountain West School (42nd), while Utah was 51st out of the 271 eligible schools.

Five schools in the MWC finished in the top 100.

Stanford won the Cup for the 15th straight year.

Here's a link to the standings.

I could use a little help on this one, BYU fans.

I'm working on an article about how ticket sales are going for the BYU-Oklahoma game, especially how they are going on BYU's end.

I've talked at length with BYU ticket manager Clark Livsey, who was extremely helpful.

Basically, Livsey said BYU sold out its 7,500 alotted tickets, then requested 2,000 more tickets and sold those out, too.

So BYU will have at least 10,000 people at the game, and that doesn't include those who bought tickets or will buy tickets through the Dallas Cowboys (ticketmaster.com) or through stubhub and the like.

BYU Associate Athletic Director for Communications Duff Tittle told me that that BYU officials were surprised at the "huge demand" for the higher-end tickets, the $150 seats.

Now I would like to hear from some people who have actually registered with BYU tickets and then purchased tickets.

What was the experience like? Were you happy with the transaction? What did you end up paying, and why did you decide to shell out some of your hard-earned cash?

Send me an email if you don't mind being quoted in the newspaper. Please include your full name and what town/state you live in.

My email address is drew@sltrib.com.

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While I am at it, I might as well remind readers that I am on twitter. If you are a tweeter, too (and who isn't these days?), you can follow me by searching for my name, or searching my login, which is drewjay.
Chances are I will follow you, too.
I've found several BYU athletes and/or coaches who are tweeters as well, including tight end Dennis Pitta, quarterback Max Hall, basketball players Charles Abouo and Lamont Morgan, Jr. and assistants John Wardenburg (basketball) and Brandon Doman (football).

The Sporting News has an interesting Q&A segment with outgoing Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen on its Web site this week.

One of the questions Hansen was asked was whether he foresees the conference expanding in the near future.

Obviously, his reply holds interest to BYU and Utah fans. Here it is:

Q: Will (new commissioner) Larry Scott someday be running the Pac-12? Pac-16?

A: I don't think (so). It certainly won't be soon. The reason a conference expands is to extend or enlarge its football for football television reasons. As we learned back in the 1990s, the only real attractive place we could go was Texas. Texas then had, and likely still does, about seven percent of the nation's television homes. The other institutions within our footprint would bring no gain. Nearby, including in the state of Utah, there aren't enough television homes to make those institutions attractive. The prospects just aren't there.

For the complete segment, go here.

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BYU guard Jimmer Fredette has been inducted into the inaugural class of the Capital District (N.Y.) Basketball Hall of Fame.

The Cougars' all-conference point guard, who is the leading scorer in section history, was inducted on Sunday. "It's a great honor to be recognized with all the great players and coaches in Section II history from the past 50 years," Fredette said. "I was excited to be on the list."

Fredette scored 2,404 career points at Glens Falls High, near Albany. It's the sixth-highest mark in New York schoolboy basketball history.

He averaged 28.8 points a game as a senior, made 81 three-pointers and shot 92.0 percent from the free-throw line while leading his team to a 25-2 record.

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Former BYU players Brady Poppinga and Kelly Poppinga will present the third annual "Poppinga Football Experience Skills Camp" on July 10 at Evanston High in Wyoming.

The non-contact camp is open to all youth football players in the intermountain area entering second through 12th grade.

All proceeds from the camp will go to the Poppinga Play it Forward Fund that supports children's charitable causes.

For registration information, call the Evanston Parks and Recreation Dept. at 307-789-1770 or send an email to eprd@allwest.net.

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Former BYU basketball player Travis Hansen is sponsoring the 2009 Charity Basketball Camp to be held July 8-10 at the Flash Factory in Lehi for boys in third through 12th grades. Spots in all grade levels are still available.

The cost for the three-day camp is $79. Registration and additional information is available by calling 801-377-1423 or by logging on to www.travishansen.com Those who register will be automatically entered into a drawing for prizes and to receive one free training session with Travis.

Just got my ballot for the Mountain West Conference 2009 Preseason Football team.

Media members may include any player in the league on their preseason ballots, but the list of candidates provided by the league is a helpful guide.

Here are the players that BYU has submitted to the league for possible preseason honors:

QB -- Max Hall (Offensive Player of the Year Candidate)

RB -- Harvey Unga

TE -- Dennis Pitta

WR -- McKay Jacobson

WR -- O'Neill Chambers

OL -- Matt Reynolds

C -- R.J. Willing

DE -- Jan Jorgensen (Defensive Player of the Year Candidate)

DE -- Brett Denney

LB -- Matt Bauman

LB -- Coleby Clawson

DB -- Scott Johnson

PK -- Mitch Payne (Special Teams Player of the Year Candidate)

By the way, the other players nominated for Offensive POY Candidates were SDSU receiver Vincent Brown, UNLV receiver Ryan Wolfe and TCU quarterback Andy Dalton.

The other players nominated fro Defensive POY Candidates were TCU's Jerry Hughes, UNLV linebacker Jason Beauchamp, Utah linebacker Stevenson Sylvester, New Mexico safety Ian Clark and Wyoming defensive tackle John Fletcher.

BYU did not nominate a Freshman of the Year candidate. New Mexico nominated running back A.J. Butler, CSU nominated receiver Marquise Law and TCU nominated tailback Ed Wesley.

The other Special Teams POY candidate is TCU returner Jeremy Kerley.

Want more proof that statistics and performances in high school football games carry far less importance to college football recruiters than "tools" and other factors such as size, speed and agility?

Consider the case of one of BYU's most recent commits, Lone Peak High's Sae Tautu.

The 6-foot-3, 215-pound Tautu received an offer from BYU to play linebacker, although he has never played a down at linebacker in a high school game.

"I've always been a quarterback," Tautu told me Monday.

However, Tautu switched to linebacker in the spring -- knowing that he was probably going to be too big to play quarterback, and wasn't going to get playing time at the position at Lone Peak -- and the transformation has been astounding.

He ran with the linebackers at BYU's recent camp and at the All-Poly Camp in Bountiful -- earning honors at both camps -- and handled the drills so well that BYU coaches offered a scholarship.

"I was a little surprised," he said. "I thought I would need more time in games and stuff to show what I could do."

Wyoming and Southern Utah also offered after Tautu earned the Outstanding Linebacker Award at the BYU camp and made the all-camp team at the All-Poly affair.

Tautu said he quickly jumped on the BYU offer because he has a lot of friends and relatives who have played for the Cougars or are currently on the team. He's the nephew of former BYU tight end Itula Mili, and aso related to running back Malosi Te'o, safety Shiloah Te'o and incoming safety Jray Galea'i.

Tautu called his commitment "pretty firm" and said he is "OK" academically but will need to take the ACT college admission test again to bump his scores up a little bit.

BYU announced today that senior Lee Cummard will play for the Phoenix Suns' entry in the 2009 NBA Summer League July 10-19 in Las Vegas.

Cummard, who went undrafted last Thursday, will likely be joined on the team by the Suns' two picks in the draft: Earl Clark and Taylor Griffin.

"I'm really excited to be playing," Cummard said. "It's a great opportunity to prove what I can do against great competition. The Suns are a great organization and I look forward to getting started."

The league will take place at Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion. Go to www.nba.com/summerleague2009 for more information on game times and schedules.

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Cummard, by the way, has been named to former UCLA coach Steve Lavin's inaugural All-Undrafted Team. Cummard made the third team, while Utah's Luke Nevill is on the second team.

Here are the teams:

First Team

PG - Levance Fields, Pittsburgh
SG - Jerel McNeal, Marquette
SF - Dionte Christmas, Temple
PF - Jeff Adrien, UConn
C - Josh Heytvelt, Gonzaga

Second Team

PG - Jeremy Pargo, Gonzaga
SG - Tyrese Rice, Boston College
SF - B.J. Raymond, Xavier
PF - Marcus Landry, Wisconsin
C - Luke Nevill, Utah

Third Team

PG - Dominic James, Marquette
SG - A.J. Abrams, Texas
SF - Lee Cummard, BYU
PF - Tony Gaffney, UMass
C - John Bryant - Santa Clara

BYU has one of the most cost-effective sports programs in the country, according to Texas A&M's Laboratory for the Study of Intercollegiate Athletics.

The Cougars rank fifth in the country at running the most efficient major-college sports program in the country, according to the this posting on A&M's Web site.

Guess which program ranks No. 1?

That would be Utah State, naturally.

Yup, the Aggies are first on the list, followed by Kent State, La Tech, Akron and then BYU.

The Aggies therefore win this year's "EM Cup."

The purpose of the study, according to a news release, is to bring publicity to programs "that win the most conference and national championships, while at the same time have the lowest expenses."

Coincidentally, no schools from so-called BCS conference made the top 10. The top BCS program is Oregon, which checked in at No. 11.

Just caught up with Manu Mulitalo, the Granger High offensive lineman who committed to play for BYU last week.

Mulitalo said the commitment is "very firm" and that BYU was his first choice all along. Once the Cougar coaches offered, he jumped on it, he said.

"They had everything I wanted in a school....and they had the best facilities I have seen," he said.

Mulitalo said he is 6-3 and 305 pounds.

He's the young man, readers may remember, who was the offensive line MVP at a Nike Camp at USC last month, but didn't know which schools had offered him because his father was keeping that information away from him.

The rising senior said he still doesn't know all the schools that offered, but does know of at least three: Navy, Washington State and, of course, BYU.

He said he s a distant cousin of Ryan Mulitalo, the offensive lineman from Hunter High who signed with BYU in February.

Manu said he was recruited by defensive line coach Steve Kaufusi. He plays tackle for Granger, but will likely play center or guard for the Cougars.

His coach last year at Granger, Jonny Matich, is now Taylorsville's coach. He said the Cougs are getting a good one.

"He's fantastic," said Matich. "He's got tremendous footwork and size. He will be a great college football player."

New Granger coach Doyle Holt said Mulitalo has already qualified academically and will be a good fit at BYU. "He's one of the better ones I've seen around," Holt said. "He can bench press a million [pounds]. He's very strong."

Mulitalo said he will likely play a year and then go on an LDS Church mission after his freshman season.

Looks like I've got some catching up to do concerning all things BYU, after being away from everything and on vacation last week.

First things first: the great news about basketball coach Dave Rose. The coach met with the media last Wednesday, along with athletic director Tom Holmoe and his doctor, Dr. Scott Samuelson (son of BYU president Cecil Samuelson).

The news was overwhelmingly positive, as Rose's body has seemingly been cleared of cancer, after he was diagnosed with a pancreatic tumor a few weeks ago. The tumor was removed by doctors at a Las Vegas hospital.

Rose will take most of July off, which is a critical month for recruiting. However, his assistants are more than capable of filling in for him, and I'm sure potential recruits will understand why the BYU head coach isn't in the stands at the upcoming all-star tournaments in Las Vegas and Southern California.

Beginning July 6, the assistants will hit the recruiting trail, associate head coach Dave Rice said.

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While Rose is recovering and the assistants are out recruiting, Cougar forward Jonathan Tavernari will be in Sao Paulo, Brazil, trying to make the Brazilian National Team that will play in the Tournament of the Americas later this summer in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Tavernari left Provo last week, and reported in Sao Paulo on Sunday.

Last summer, Tavernari made the senior national team and played on the Brazilian team in a qualifier for the Summer Olympics in Beijing. The team fell just short of qualifying.

Former BYU star Rafael Araujo is also expected to make the Brazilian National Team.

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BYU football coaches wrapped up their non-padded camp last week (after holding their padded camp the week before that) and it appears they have added a few more commitments to the class of 2010.

I reported before I left that the Cougars received their 16th commitment from Bryan Sampson, a tight end from Pleasant Grove.

Since then, I've tracked down Sampson's offensive numbers from his junior season at PG: 14 catches for 186 yards and two touchdowns. They are not gaudy numbers by any stretch, but Sampson apparently has the physical "tools" that BYU coaches are looking for.

Last week, BYU got two more commitments, according to Brandon Gurney at totalbluesports.com.

They are Manu Mulitalo, a 6-foot-3, 305-pound offensive lineman from Granger High in West Valley City, Utah, and Sae Tautu, a 6-3, 215-pound linebacker from Lone Peak High in Highland, Utah.

I am trying to reach both recruits and hope to have more information on their commitments after I talk to them.

Also, the Cougars have received two commitments from members of the class of 2011 (guys who will be juniors this fall).

Bingham defensive end Baker Pritchard (6-2, 240), brother of current BYU linebacker Iona Pritchard said he will become a Cougar. Iona Pritchard left a few months ago on a mission to the Marshall Islands.

The other high school junior who committed was Austin Heder, a 6-2, 215-pound linebacker from Pleasant Grove. Sampson predicted Heder's commitment when I talked to him a week ago Sunday.

Like I've always said, there's never a good time to take some time off from the BYU beat, with news seemingly happening every week -- even in the offseason.

But the fish are calling my name, so it is time for another break.

This will be my last post for at least a week.

Enjoy the last days of June, everyone. Talk to you next Monday.

If the Pleasant Grove Vikings don't contend for the Utah 5A state football championship this fall, something is seriously wrong.

The Vikings are expected to have seven Division I recruits on their roster this season, including at least two who have committed to BYU.

Bryan Sampson, a tight end and the son of PG coach Dale Sampson, just told me he committed to BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall on Saturday night.

"I went to his office last night and we talked for about an hour. I decided to commit," Sampson said.

The 6-foot-5, 210-pound Sampson is also the younger brother of former Utah tight end Colt Sampson, who just finished his college football eligibility.

"It came down to BYU or Utah and I just felt like BYU suited me better," Bryan Sampson said.

He said he had offers from Utah State, Idaho State and Washington State, but expected more to roll in soon, including one from Utah and coach Kyle Whittingham.

"Any tight end would love to go to BYU," he said. "The way they use the tight end in their offense is amazing."

The Cougars also received a commitment Saturday from Hau'oli Jamora, a defensive end from Kahuku, Haw. That commitment has been previously reported.

Sampson is the 16th member of the class of 2010 to commit to BYU, and the second from Pleasant Grove. Vikings linebacker Joey Owens committed to the Cougars last January.

Sampson said that linebacker Austin Heder, who will be a junior at Pleasant Grove this fall, will likely receive a scholarship offer from BYU in the next few days.

A Pleasant Grove lineman who will be a senior this fall, Bryce Walker, committed to Utah State on Wednesday.

BYU football coaches today received an oral commitment from Hau'oli Jamora, a defensive end from Kahuku High in Hawaii.

Jamora told me he chose BYU "because it is a great school, with great people, and they play great football. It wasn't that [difficult] of a decision."

Jamora said he is 6-foot-2 and abou 230 pounds. He said he attended BYU's padded camp earlier this week -- Monday through Thursday -- and decided to commit after returning home and talking to some family members.

He said he also had an offer from Wyoming and had been receiving interest from Idaho, Hawaii, Colorado and Arizona.

Jamora said he is LDS, but has not decided whether or not he will go on a church mission.

"I will figure that out later," he said.

The rising senior estimates that he had 12 sacks last season, and he was an all-league selection. He plans on playing both ways this season, getting some time at tight end.