UCLA football coach Rick Neuheisel talked about going head-to-head with BYU for high school football recruits earlier this week, and although the new coach didn't single out Hawaii prep linebacker Manti Te'o (NCAA rules forbid him from doing that) it was obvious that Te'o was the recruit he had in mind.

You can read more about what Neuheisel said here.

Te'o, in case you've been in a coma the last six months, is the Punahou High linebacker who is ranked as one of the top prep prospects in the country. Sources say that it is mostly a two-way battle between BYU and USC for Te'o, but that UCLA is making up ground because of the senior's relationship with UCLA offensive coordinator Norm Chow.

Te'o and Chow are both LDS.

Recently, Scout.com came out with its list of top linebackers in the West.

Te'o is the No. 1 strongside linebacker on the list, which is actually three lists -- for middle linebacker, strongside linebacker and weakside linebacker.

Bingham High's L.T. Filiaga is the only Utahn on the lists. He is the No. 7-ranked middle linebacker.

However, a couple of guys that BYU has offered, Milpitas (Calif) middle linebacker Steven Fanua (No. 5) and Reno (Nev.) weakside linebacker Kyle Van Noy (No. 2) made the list.

So did Darren Markle, a middle linebacker (No. 8) from Meridian, Idaho, who was very interested in BYU but didn't get an offer from the Cougars and instead committed to Washington State.

Among those Utahns who made the "players to watch" list were Lone Peak middle linebacker Kade Andrus and Grantsville weakside linebacker Austin Gumucio.

-- Jay Drew