Dave Telep of Scouthoops.com is reporting that the University of Utah's men's basketball program has landed Joseph "Jay" Watkins, a 6-foot-7 small forward who will play for the College of Southern Idaho this upcoming season.

Watkins made the West Coast Conference all-freshman team while at San Francisco in 2006-07 after averaging 6.2 points and 3.5 rebounds a game.

He sat out the 2007-08 season for academic reasons, then apparently chose to leave USF when it made a coaching change.

Watkins was a former three-star recruit out of Hamilton High in Memphis, Tenn.

-- Jay Drew

I haven't been able to confirm it with him yet, but word has it Colby Goodwin, a 6-foot-5, 202-pound tight end out of Cy-Fair in Cypress, Texas, gave Utah a verbal commitment Friday night.
Goodwin had recently narrowed his choices to Duke and the Utes. He also had offers from Kansas State, Arkansas and Houston.

Here is the list of verbal commitments for 2009 so far. It doesn't include receiver Travis Cobb, who gave the Utes a verbal commitment then decided to keep looking. A couple of the others have indicated their commitments are soft too, so you can be sure the Ute coaches are still working them to make sure they end up in Ute uniforms.

Vyncent Jones, 6-3, 270-pound offensive lineman out of Jordan High
Jarrad Stewart, 5-10, 180-pound safety out of Pearland, Texas
Chris Brown, 6-1, 185-pound running back out of Newbury Park, Calif.
C.J. Porter, 6-1, 185-pound receiver out of Concord, Calif.
Jamal Smith, Oxford, Calif., 6-2, 185-pound receiver out of Oxford, Calif.
Eric Dago, 6-foot-4, 210-pound defensive end out of Houston, Texas
James Aiono, Snow College, 6-3, 275-pound defensive end out of Murray High, then Snow College
Colby Goodwin, a 6-foot-5, 202-pound tight end out of Cypress, Texas

- Lya Wodraska

Utah's home opener with UNLV will be attended by a couple of recruits, including Josh Mauro, a 6-foot-6, 230-pound defensive end/tight end from L.D. Bell in Hurst, Texas.
Mauro, who has Boise State, Baylor, Oklahoma and TCU on his list, was here in the summer for a camp and is familiar with the area, but is eager to see the Utes in action.
He watched the Utes win over Michigan.
"It was awesome," he said. "I really like the campus, coaches and they have a good football program."
Mauro said he'll probably wait until the season is over to decide.
Working in Utah's favor is that another L.D. Bell athlete, basketball player Marshall Henderson, has committed to the Utes. He's making a visit this weekend as well, said his father and coach, Willie Henderson.
"My wife and I have been out before, but we're excited to see what it's like," he said.
So far the Utes have had fairly good luck in Texas. They have a commitment from Jarrad Stewart, a safety out of Pearland, Texas and another from Eric Dago, a defensive end out of Westside High in Houston, Texas. His commitment isn't solid as he said he is still looking at other schools.
A few of the many the Utes are after in Texas include a pair of receivers at Blinn College, Justin Jordan and Travis Cobb. Cobb committed earlier then changed his mind, wanting to leave his options open.
Colby Goodwin, another tight end out of Cypress Tex-Cy Fair, is reportedly close to deciding between Duke and the Utes.
The ones that got away category includes Steven Campbell, a safety who decided on Texas A&M and cornerback/quarterback Dustin Harris who also committed to A&M.
- Lya Wodraska

Utah high school basketball superstar Tyler Haws has narrowed his choices to two colleges and canceled scheduled visits to the other three, a source close to the Lone Peak High shooting guard confirmed earlier today.

Haws, the 6-foot-4 senior who is listed as one of the top 100 prep prospects in the country by several recruiting Web sites, will attend either BYU or Stanford.

After visiting Stanford last weekend, Haws called coaches at Utah, Davidson and Harvard and told them they were no longer in his plans, but if things changed he would let them know.

Haws "loved it" at Stanford, according to the source, and decided on the way back to Utah that if would be either the Cardinal or the Cougars.

He will visit BYU next weekend when the Cougar football team is playing host to UCLA. Haws' father, Marty, is a former BYU standout guard.

Tyler's high school coach, Quincy Lewis, has asked him to decide before Lone Peak's season starts in November, but has not demanded it.

Another source very close to the situation said it is a virtual toss-up now between Stanford and BYU.

"It is 50-50," the source said. "It could go either way."

Haws' plan is to play a year of college basketball and then go on an LDS Church mission. He turns 19 (mission age) in April of 2010.

-- Jay Drew

The 2008 Intermountain Hoops Fall Evaluation Showcase will be held Saturday, Oct. 4 at The Factory (formerly Open Court) in Lehi. The event is an NCAA-certified event being held during that weekend's open evaluation period for women's NCAA division I coaches to attend.
This is the fourth year for the event and it is considered one of the top regional events held during the period. More than 60 players who participated in the showcase have moved on to play collegiate basketball.
Registration for the camp is underway. The Showcase has sold out all three prior years. Registration is limited. Information regarding the Showcase is available at www.intermountainhoops.com.

The longer the recruitment of Provo High basketball star Brandon Davies goes on, the worse it seemingly gets for Utah, BYU and Utah State.

Davies, the Bulldogs' 6-foot-9 senior center, visited Cal over the weekend. He told Scout.com that he couldn't definitely see himself attending the Pac-10 school.

"It was a good trip," he said. "Very positive, and I learned a lot. We hung out with everyone there on the team, and our host was Jamal [Boykin]. He's really cool. Everyone was. The football game was awesome....What stood out the most was the atmosphere. I can definitely see myself there."

Davies said he is visiiting Gonzaga next weekend, and also has trips scheduled to Utah State and BYU. He also said that Cal coach Mike Montgomery is trying to set up an in-home visit wiith Davies in Provo.
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There's an interesting article in the Seattle Times today about Jake Heaps, the junior quarterback from Skyline High in Washington who has offers from more than 10 schools, including BYU.
College were able just recently to submit written scholarship offers to high school juniors because the school year has started.

Utah high school football teams usually produce more than their share of talented offensive linemen, which sort of makes up for the lack of skill position players that come out of the Beehive State.

This year, the state has some of the top offensive linemen in the country. That's the general feeling of Scout.com recruiting analyst Brandon Huffman, who has come out with his list of top offensive linemen in the West.

Not surprisingly, Cottonwood's John Martinez is the No. 1 offensive guard in the West, Huffman say. "A big, physical presence inside, one of the elite guards nationally," he writes. Martinez remains uncommitted, but has stated that UCLA, USC, Ohio State and LSU are among his final four.

As a sidenote, a friend of mine was going to the Layton-Cottonwood game last Friday so I asked him to keep an eye on Martinez and give me a report.

"Absolutely dominating," he said.

Somewhat surprising is the fact that Jordan's Vyncent Jones is the second-ranked offensive guard in the West. In case you missed it, Jordan recently traveled to Ohio and knocked off one of the winningest programs in the country, Massillon, 27-24 on a last-second field goal by Garrett Blaisdell.

Timpview's Tui Crichton is No. 4 among the offensive guards, while Jones' teammate at Jordan, Kyle Johnson, is on the list of "Guards to Watch," a long with Hunter's Ryan Mulitalo, who has committed to BYU.

Among the West's top offensive tackles is Timpview's Xavier Su'a-Filo, who is ranked No. 2 behind Kevin Graf of Agoura, Calif., a USC commit.

Cottonwood's Percy Taumoelau is on the list of top tackles to watch. He has an offer from Arkansas, among others.

No Utahns made the list of top centers.

-- Jay Drew