In recruiting parlance, Taysom Hill is blowing up.

Hill, the 6-foot-2, 210-pound quarterback from Highland High in Pocatello, Idaho, a junior, just received his fifth college football offer.

This one is from the University of Utah.

Scout.com first reported the offer this afternoon. I met Hill back when he was impressing everyone at the Las Vegas 7 on 7 passing tournament in March, so I called him to get the details.

Hill said Utah first made the offer through his high school coach a few days ago. Today, he received an e-mail from Utah assistant coach Jay Hill (no relation) with a note that he would be receiving a letter in the mail shortly with a written offer.

"It's exciting," he said. "I can see myself at Utah. It's pretty close to home."

Hill confirmed that he also has offers from Idaho State, Arizona, Boise State and Stanford.

He carries a 4.0 grade point average and received a qualifying score on the ACT college admission test, but is going to take it again because he believes he can do much better.

He said he doesn't have a favorite right now.

"I am just keeping my options open," he said. "I still want to make some trips in the fall to see what is out there."

Hill's older brother, Jordan, signed with BYU out of high school but transferred to Arizona State, so I asked Taysom if the Cougars were at all interested in him.

"They called last week and talked to my coach and asked for some film. I think [quarterbacks coach] Brandon Doman called," he said. "They haven't had any [direct] contact with me, though."

BYU did not sign a prep quarterback last February. According the Web site Totalbluesports.com, BYU has offered just one QB from the class of 2009. Josh Nunes, a 6-foot-4, 205-pound junior from Upland, Calif., and a four-star prospect, has an offer from the Cougars.

BYU's women's volleyball program signed three high school players to national letters of intent recently, although none are from Utah.

Utah landed a couple of the state's standout players, but this has been considered a down year for Utah girls volleyball players, despite the phenomenal growth the sport has had in Utah recently.

The Cougars signed setter Markelle Malone, a four-year all-conference selectee from Durango High in Las Vegas. They also acquired Malia Marquardt, a rightside hitter from Vista High in Vista, Calif., and middle blocker Nicole Warner of Rigby High in Rigby, Idaho.

Last fall, BYU made a run to the Elite Eight after a disappointing performance at the MWC tournament and finished ranked No. 12 in the nation.

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We've had a lot of news about Utah teams that played well in several club basketball tournaments the past few weeks in Houston and Las Vegas.

Well, another Utah player has also participated, but on a out-of-state team.

McKay Blackburn, a 6-foot-7 sophomore at South Sevier in Monroe has been playing for the Las Vegas Blue Devils 16-under team.

The team lost by three points in overtime in the Platinum Division championship game at the Las Vegas Easter Classic in March.

At the Kingwood Classic in Houston, the team lost in the Silver Bracket championship game (it had to forfeit in the middle of the second half when a team member suffered an eye injury that required emergency surgery).

At the Las Vegas Spring Classic, the Blue Devils lost by four points in the Gold Division's championship game.

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We mentioned that a team of Davis High prospects went 1-2 at the Las Vegas Spring Classic last weekend. Actually, the team went 2-2. The results on the tournament's Web site are wrong, several readers have informed us.

Davis lost its second game while playing without one of its stars, James Cowser, who was lost in the first game due to a badly sprained ankle.

Turns out that another Utah-based all-star team won its division at the Las Vegas Spring Showcase basketball tournament in Las Vegas last weekend.

A team of 12-year-olds coached by former Utah State basketball great Kendall Youngblood and Karl Cloward won the Platinum (highest) Division and went 5-0 at the tourney.

The team known as Utah select included: South Jordan's Daylor Youngblood and Kade Cloward, Box Elder's Shad Watson, Bountiful's Pere LeSeuer, Draper's Mason Krueger, Trevor Hill and Jake Greene and Riverton's Jordan Evans.

Northwest College in Powell, Wyom., has landed a pair of Utah high school basketball players who were teammates on the Salt Lake Metro club team.

East High's Malcolm Colbert and Northridge's Scott Odekirk have signed letters of intent with the Rangers.

Colbert, a 6-foot-3 shooting guard, averaged 18.2 points per game last season for the Leopards.

Odekirk, a 6-foot-4 wing, was a 2008 McDonald's All-American nominee who would like to meet Tiger Woods, J.J. Redick, LeBron James and Dwight Howard.

How did we know that?

Odekirk announced his signing on his myspace page.

A few odds and ends from over the weekend....

* Some readers took issue with my assertion that Tyler Haws, C.J. Wilcox and Lone Peak's 6-10 Nate Austin were the top three recruitable basketball players from Utah's class of 2009. They believe Provo's Brandon Davies should have been put in that group, and they are probably right.

However, Austin's recruitment is heating up.

His father says that along with Utah State, Fresno State, BYU and Utah seem to be the most interested in him at the present time and that he will most likely make a decision in the fall.

* Keep an eye on Park City sophomores Dylan Chynoweth and Erik Walker as two of the better football players in the Class of 2010. Both attended last weekend's Schuman National Underclassmen Combine in Boise.

Chynoweth was the Combine MVP for sophomores after recording a 34-inch vertical jump, a 4.6 in the 40.

Walker was the overall MVP and the Fastest Man with a 4.5 in the 40. He posted a 36-inch vertical jump and was acknowledged for locking down receivers all afternoon as a defensive back in one-on-one drills.

Due to his MVP designation, Walker received an invitation to the Ultimate 100 Camp at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., in July.

* Jordan High girls basketball star Bev Smith has signed to play basketball for Westminster. Smith earned honorable mention all-state honors in Class 5A last season.

* Marc Jackson, the former Olympus High and University of Utah basketball star, let me know that he is no longer the basketball coach for the Utah Southvalley Community (USC) school at Woodland Hills. He quit about a month ago.

Jackson would not specify why he decided to part company with the new private school owned by real estate developer Bob Jones.

Jackson has joined a company called Sportz Filmz,which makes teaching tools for coaches and a memory library for youth, high school and college players. It was founded by member of former BYU linebacker Bryan Kehl's family. Kehl, of course, was drafted by the New York Giants in the fourth round on Sunday.

* Taysom Hill, the quarterback from Highland High in Pocatello, Idaho, picked up offer No. 4 recently. A rising senior, Hill received an offer from Boise State, which is something in and of itself because the Broncos are notorious for not making as many early offers as other programs.

Idaho State, Stanford and Arizona have also offered Hill.  

* As noted by The Tribune's Tony Jones in the high school blog, Alta senior basketball star Taylor Brown has signed with Utah Valley State College.

It was a busy weekend for many of Utah's top high school-age boys basketball players. Most played in a pair of club team tournaments in Las Vegas over the weekend, the Las Vegas Spring Showcase and the Double Pump Spring Classic.

Here's a rundown on how things went in the Spring Showcase:

Salt Lake Metro Black went 3-1 in the 17-under division of the Las Vegas Spring Showcase.

Metro Black won its two pool-play games and then its first game in the Platinum Division bracket. However, Saturday night it lost to eventual tournament champion Compton (Calif.) Magic in the Round of 32.

The highlight was Brighton freshman (yes, freshman) Corbin Miller's 24 points in the first half to lead Metro to its opening win.

The West Jordan Jaguars and A Train Snowbears also went 2-0 in pool play, but lost their first-round games in the Platinum Division.

In the Spring Showcase's Gold Division (second-place pool), a team called Utah Select won the championship. Utah Select went 6-1, losing only to West Coast Academy in its second pool-play game (a loss that sent it to the Gold Division rather than the Platinum Division).

Utah Select was comprised of players from the St. George area, including Dixie State College-bound Dalton Groskreutz. Pine View's Louis Garrett and Jordan Rex and Snow Canyon's Seth Weinheimer were also on the team.

Lone Peak also went to the Gold Division for bracket play and went 4-2 overall. Mega-recruit Tyler Haws had several 30-plus point games. Lone Peak lost to Belmont Shore Up and Coming in the semifinals before Utah Select beat that team in the finals.

Davis also played in the Gold Division, going 1-2.

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Here's a rundown on how Utah teams did in the Double Pump Spring Classic:

Utah Pump-N-Run Red went 5-1 and lost in the championship game.

The team was coached by Westminster assistant Todd Phillips and included Skyline's Ryan Osterloh, Woods Cross' Tyler Stahle, Granger's Ray Tapusoa, Timpanogos' Skyler Halford, Murray's Markus Duran, Provo's Kyle Collinsworth, Bountiful's Sean Carey, Timpview's Bronson Kaufusi, Orem's Ian Harward and Provo's Brandon Davies.

Halford is a senior and Kaufusi and Collinsworth are sophomores. All the others are juniors.

Salt Lake Select went 4-1 in the Silver Division's under-17 competition.

The team was coached by Mike Bernardo and included West Jordan's Jordan Weirick and Reyes Gallegos, Riverton's Corey Caldwell and Scott Friel, Jordan's Preston Richards and Jordan Bernardo, Lehi's Corey Smith, Viewmont's Tommy Barrett, Hunter's A.J. Patailli and Brighton's John Sherwood.

In the 16-under division, Utah Pump-N-Run White went 4-2 and lost in the championship game.

In the 15-under division, Utah Pump-N-Run Red went 4-1 and lost in the semifinals.

Here's a wrapup of how Utah's top club team of 17-year-olds (Salt Lake Metro) fared at the prestigious Houston Kingwood Classic last week. Most of the information is courtesy of Metro coach Dave Hammer.

Metro includes arguably the state's top three college prospects from the class of 2009: Lone Peak's Tyler Haws, Pleasant Grove's C.J. Wilcox and Lone Peak's Nate Austin.

Haws recently returned from an unofficial recruiting visit to Stanford and has been selected to the Scouthoops.com Top 100 juniors in the nation list by Dave Telep.

Wilcox has pending scholarship offers from San Diego, Utah State, BYU and Utah. However, UConn and LSU have expressed major interest lately and could be close to offering.

Austin, a 6-foot-9 center, is the state's top post prospect. He recently received a scholarship offer from Utah State. Kentucky, Utah, Stanford, San Diego and BYU have expressed interest.

BYU's Dave Rose and Utah's Jim Boylen were among the hundreds of college coaches who attended the tournament. More than 250 17U teams from all over the U.S. competed in the event.

In pool play, Metro opened with a 72-51 win over the Portland Legends as Wilcox scored 18 points, Haws added 15 and Brighton's Corbin Miller chipped in 13. Miller is just a freshman, but is already drawing college interest. Tommy Tebbs, who has moved into the Lone Peak boundaries, added 11.

Next up was California powerhouse Compton Magic. Metro defeated the Magic 79-75 as Haws scored 35 points on a game that was televised nationally by GrassrootsTV. Wilcox added 19 and Olympus' Elliott Bullock chipped in 10.

Metro began tournament play with a 58-52 win over a New Mexico team. Haws had 20 and Wilcox 18. Then Metro defeated Yakima, Wash., 76-67 as Wilcox had 26, Haws 23 and Miller 18.

Miller, the Brighton phenom, is ranked No. 34 in the nation for his class by Hoopscoop.com.

Alas. Metro was eliminated in the Sweet 16 by the Carolina Celtics, 48-43. Austin had 15 rebounds in that game, while Wilcox and Haws had 15 and 14 points, respectively.

The team also included Clearfield's Cameron Evans (who has signed with Snow College) and Pleasant Grove's Craig Tucker.

Olympus' 6-10 Bullock, the only senior on the squad besides Evans and Tucker, has drawn some late recruiting interest and could be signing with a program soon.

Some clarification is in order from a previous post about Cottonwood High lineman Keni Kaufusi's signing to play football for Utah. Thanks to Steve Martinez, father of Cottonwood junior John Martinez, for setting me straight on the young man's family situation.

I felt the relationship was important to note because, with Keni Kaufusi heading to Utah, there is some feeling out there that the Utes' chances of landing John Martinez improved a little bit.

Well, don't get your hopes up, Ute fans.

Steve Martinez said his son will likely go to one of the best three or four football schools in the country.

"Utah, my alma mater, does not fit that profile, so unless something changes radically, I will be using all my frequent flyer miles and then some," he noted in an e-mail. "Or, watching the TV on Saturday, Channels 2, 4 or 5."

John Martinez is rated as one of the best offensive guards in the country in the 2009 class. Already, he is one of the most-recruited football players in state history.

Here's the family situation:

Keni Kaufusi and John Martinez are biological brothers.

Steve and Lori Martinez adopted John when he was three days old.

Keni is 17 months older than John. Keni has lived with the Martinez family at various times, including about five years continuously from grades 4-8. He is living with them now, but Steve and Lori are not his parents (contrary to my earlier report).

Steve reports that Keni is "frantically" working on finishing the last couple of BYU correspondence classes he needs to get qualified academically for Utah.

Southern Utah University basketball fans have two more new players to get to know.

SUU coach Roger Reid announced today that he has signed two more men's basketball players, bringing the total of 2008 spring signings to six.

The Thunderbirds have signed Jake Nielson, a freshman guard from Aurora, Colo., and Eules Thompson, a junior college transfer from Southwest College in Los Angeles.

Nielson, 6-3, 200, played for Grandview High in Colorado before going on an LDS Church mission to Seoul, South Korea. He originally signed with Colorado State out of high school, and his sister, Mindy Nielson, is on BYU's women's basketball team.

Thompson, 6-2, 170, averaged 15.5 points a game for LA Southwest and will be a junior at SUU this fall.

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Just got word that Davis High's Connor Van Brocklin and Viewmont's Davis Emery have signed with Salt Lake Community College's men's basketball team. Emery was a Tribune first-team all-state selection in 5A and Van Brocklin was a second-team all-state selection.

Van Brocklin's older brother, Brody, played for SLCC before moving on to Weber State.

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Another Viewmont basketball star, 5-6 guard Shea Madson, has signed to play basketball for Green River Community College in Auburn, Wash.

Avid followers of high school basketball in Utah might remember Reggie Chambers, a 5-10 guard who averaged 14.5 points a game for West High his junior season before moving to Florida. Chambers was a second-team Salt Lake Tribune all-state selection in 2007.

Chambers had a stellar senior season at Miami's Monsignor Pace High, helping the team win a state championship, and recently signed to play college basketball for Florida Gulf Coast University.

Chambers was listed as a two-star prospect by Rivals.com.

He averaged 8.1 points and 7.2 assists per game for a team that went 22-9 and won the 4A state title in Florida.

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I received an e-mail from a person close to Pocatello (Idaho) quarterback Taysom Hill this morning informing me that the 6-foot-2, 210-pound junior just received his third scholarship offer -- from Stanford. Arizona and Idaho State have also offered the Highland High star. Hill's older brother, Jordan, signed with BYU out of high school but transferred to Arizona State after an LDS Church mission.

Cottonwood High lineman Keni Kaufusi has confirmed that he signed a national letter of intent to play football for the University of Utah on Tuesday.

Kaufusi, the 6-foot-2, 275-pound defensive tackle told me he chose the Utes over offers from Colorado, Oregon State and Oklahoma State. "I picked Utah because it is close to home and my relatives can see me play," Kaufusi said. "It was kind of tough, because I really liked those other schools, too."

A senior, Kaufusi was not expected to be an academic qualifier during February's signing period, but has made significant progress toward becoming eligible thanks to some BYU correspondence courses. He said Wednesday that he is now on track to graduate and qualify.

He took the ACT college admission test last Saturday and said he feels like he did well enough to earn a qualifying score of 19 or better. He said he was one point shy the first time he took the test.

"I am pretty sure I did better the second time," he said.

Kaufusi is the brother of Cottonwood junior lineman John Martinez, who was adopted by Kaufusi's parents -- Steve and Lori Martinez -- at a young age.

Kaufusi said it was especially difficult to turn down Colorado because his good friend and teammate, Lynn Katoa, is at that school already, having graduated from Cottonwood in December.

More odds and ends regarding college basketball recruiting:

* Kamille Lisonbee, a 6-foot-7 center from Mountain Crest High, has signed a letter of intent to play basketball for Marshall, a member of Conference USA. Lisonbee averaged 10.2 points, 9.1 rebounds and 4.3 blocks per game for the Mustangs last season. She was a Tribune honorable mention all-state selection.

* Woods Cross basketball star Holton Hunsaker, who has signed with Louisiana Tech, received his LDS Church mission call to Fiji last week. Hunsaker will serve the two-year mission before attending the school in Ruston, La.

* Brooke Tolman, a 5-8 guard at Box Elder High, has signed to play for Central Wyoming Community College. Tolman averaged 8.5 poins, 5.0 assists and 3.0 steals per game for the Bees last season.

* Southern Utah's women's basketball program has signed two more players: Lyndie Neville, a 5-8 point guard from Cody, Wyo. and Cassi Jones, a 6-2 power forward from Flagstaff, Ariz.

* Southern Utah's men's basketball program also signed to more players. They are Cory Davis, a guard from New Mexico Junior College, and Kemo Duncan, a forward from Spoon River Community College.

Davis is 5-11, 175 pounds and from Salem, Ore. Duncan is 6-7, 210 pounds and from the Carribean island of St. Kitts. Lucas Jones and former Alta star Tyson Koehler also signed with the Thunderbirds this spring, and coach Roger Reid said he anticipates signing more players before the end of the signing period.

More happenings in the world of recruiting while I was away......

Chris Fetters of Scout.com is reporting that Cottonwood High lineman John Martinez, a 6-foot-3, 265-pound offensive guard, now has 28 written offers.

The latest two schools to offer the five-star recruit are Auburn and Washington. Arkansas, UCLA and Hawaii have also recenlty offered.

Fetters points out that 22 of the last 25 national champions have offered Martinez, who is ranked as the No. 2 guard prospect in the country.

For what it is worth, a reader of this blog reports that he was representing his company at a job fair at Cottonwood two weeks ago and that Martinez was there wearing a USC jacket.

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I wrote about Taysom Hill, the 6-foot-2, 210-pound quarterback from Highland High in Pocatello, Idaho, a month ago after watching Hill play well at the 7 on 7 passing camp in Las Vegas. At the time, Hill had just one scholarship offer, from Idaho State.

Now, Hill has two offers. Arizona became the latest school to extend an offer, jumping in the ring last week.

Hill said BYU coaches have shown some mild interest (he is LDS), but have yet to offer. He also expects some offers from a few other Pac-10 schools in the near future.

Hiill's brother, Jordan Hill, originally signed with BYU, but transferred to Arizona State after an LDS Church mission.

I'm back, and, not surprisingly, the e-mail basket is extremely full. My apologies if some of this is old news, or if you've read it or heard about it before.

Following are some basketball recruiting developments that have happened in the last week. We'll have some football recruiting news later today or tomorrow.

* McKenzie Jessop, a Salt Lake Community College star who played at Murray High, has orally committed to play for Westminster College. Jessop, who also played for the club team Salt Lake Metro, was sixth in assists and ninth in rebounding in the Scenic West Athletic Conference last season. She will join SLCC teammates Keshia Catten and Michelle Pace at Westminster.

* Lone Peak's Ryan Littlefield and Juab's Dana Allred have committed to sign letters of intent with Southern Virginia University. Both were Tribune first team all-staters last winter, and both also played for Salt Lake Metro.

* Utah Pump-N-Run's 16-year-old boys team was eliminated in the round of 16 (Gold Division) of the Kingwood Classic in Houston. UPNR lost 52-49 in overtime to Pro Skills Elite of Dallas on a last-second half-court shot. The 16-year-old division included 127 teams from around the U.S. in the tournament.

Bingham's Shad Sommerville and Oly's Nicholas Paulos and Will Watkins led the team in scoring and Bingham's Ben Clifford led the squad in rebounding. The team also included Oly's Connor Brady, Alta's Jordan Brown, Copper Hills' BJ Caver, Woods Cross' Peter Howey, Timpanogos' Joe Kruger, Copper Hills' Steven Larson and West's Nate Levine. Coaches were Brandon and George Sluga.

* Salt Lake Metro's 17-year-old team also played at the Kingswood Classic and performed well. More on their showing in a later post.

* A team of boys who mostly attend Olympus High won the Bay Area Basketbrawl last weekend in California, defeating the Oakland Cougars 65-52 in the championship game. The Titans won four games en route to the championship. The team consisted of Joey Bourne, Connor Brady, Corbin Green, Adam Mahas, Nicholas Paulos, Sam Spafford, Spencer Hille and Wil Watkins.

* A pair of Southern Utah University commitments have been posted here previously, and they became official last week as the T-Birds signed former Alta star Tyson Koehler and Lucas Jones, a center from Volunteer State (Tenn.) Community College.

Koehler, 6-9, played for Grayson County (Texas) Community College last year and plans on an LDS Church mission before enrolling at SUU. He was a first-team all-league selection at Grayson after averaging 9.6 points and 6.3 rebounds a game.

* Last year, College of Eastern Utah's point guard, Tyler Kepkay, signed with Utah. This year, CEU's point guard, Kal Bay, will sign with Idaho State. Bay began his college career at Colorado, but left when the school fired coach Ricardo Patton and the new staff decided not to honor his scholarship.

CEU's Felix Casperi, a 6-foot-8 power forward from Brazil, will also sign with ISU.

* Utah State was interested in Jeremy Granger, a 6-foot-1 point guard from Elgin High in Illinois. However, Granger will signe with Eastern Illinois, it appears. Army and Wisconsin-Green Bay also made late pushes for Granger.

* Dixie State College's women's progam has signed SLCC's BreAnne Haslem, along with Jessie Ingraham, a 5-10 point guard from Pima (Ariz.) Community College. Courtney Spawn, a guard/forward from nearby Virgin Valley High in Mesquite, Nev., has also signed with Dixie State.

* Park City's Lauren Deane has signed with Weber State. The 6-foot forward earned second-team all-state honors after averaging 15.4 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. Deane played her first two seasons of basketball at Judge Memorial.

Weber State also signed Sarah Conner, a 5-8 guard from Guernsey, Wyo.

Feel like you need a break from The Recruiting Trail?

You're not alone.

The trailmaster -- that's me -- is taking his herd (my family) on a Carribean cruise, so I won't be blogging for the next week or so.

Thanks for reading these past eight months -- and Bon Voyage!

Several readers have asked lately about the status of Keni Kaufusi, the Cottonwood High senior football player who did not sign with a program in February because he had yet to take the ACT college admission test and had some other academic setbacks to overcome.

A Cottonwood assistant coach, through e-mail, tells me that Kaufusi visited Oklahoma State last weekend, along with his Cottonwood teammate, John Martinez, the big junior lineman who is sought after by almost every major program in the country.

It was an official visit by Kaufusi (OSU paid), while Martinez paid his own way so it was an unofficial visit.

The coach said it is down to Colorado, Utah, Oregon State and Oklahoma State for Kaufusi.

The young man has apparently cleared up his academic shortcomings with the help of some BYU correspondence courses (ironically) and is now on track to graduate.

Kaufusi is 6-foot-1 and 275 pounds and plays defensive tackle. He has also visited Colorado.

Of course, former Cottonwood quarterback Alex Cate now plays for Oklahoma State, while linebacker Lynn Katoa, Kaufusi's classmate at Cottonwood, is at Colorado.

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I covered Utah's scrimmage this afternoon because our Utah football beat writer, Lya Wodraska, is out of town covering the Utah gymnastics team. I picked up a couple of recruiting tidbits while roaming the sidelines:

* Jordan High football coach Alex Jacobson has already had one junior lineman commit -- Vyncent Jones said he will sign with Utah a couple months ago. Another junior lineman, Kyle Johnson, is drawing a lot of interest from BYU and Auburn, Jacobson said.

* Alta's Sausan Shakerin and Boo Andersen watched the scrimmage with interest. Shak signed in February, while Andersen has received a scholarship offer and will sign with Utah this summer.

* Bingham High coach Dave Peck was there with several of his players, including junior tight end/defensive end Remington Peck. Remington hasn't received any offers yet, but is drawing interest from both BYU and Utah. He said Bingham receiver Mike Edmunds is another Miner who is being looked at heavily, along with linebacker L.T. Filiaga.

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This isn't related to recruiting, but noteworthy nevertheless. Former Utah safety Steve Tate watched the scrimmage and told me he is eagerly awaiting the NFL Draft in two weeks. Tate said he isn't sure whether he will be drafted or not, but said that the Green Bay Packers seem to be the most interested.

Former Ute All-American Eric Weddle, now the property of the San Diego Chargers, also attended the scrimmage.

Westminster College's women's basketball team has landed another one of Salt Lake Community College's top players from the recently completed season.

Keshia Catten, a former standout at Murray High who played for SLCC last season, has orally committed to the Griffins and plans to sign a letter of intent during the upcoming spring signing period.

Catten was third in the Scenic West Conference in assists, averaging 4.0 per game, and also averaged 11.7 points per game. She led the conference in three-point shooting with a 41.5 percentage.

Catten will join her SLCC teammate Michelle Pace at Westminster. Pace committed a few days ago.

She is the 15th former Salt Lake Metro club team player to earn a college basketball scholarship.

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Southern Utah University's softball program has signed Samantha Powell, a catcher from Colton, Calif. Powell, a senior at Colton High, was a first-team all-San Andreas League performer last year.

 

BYU forward/center Trent Plaisted's announcement today that he will enter his name in the 2008 NBA draft has naturally caused some to wonder what the Cougars will do with the scholarship if the junior does indeed turn pro.

Plaisted has not hired an agent, and has until June 16 to decide whether he will turn pro or return to the Cougars for his senior season.

BYU coach Dave Rose said at today's news conference that coaches will plan the next few weeks as if Plaisted will be back, "because if he does come back, we want to make sure there is a place available for him."

However, Rose said that if Plaisted does not return, and that becomes evident any time between now and the middle of June, coaches will start contemplating what they will do with the scholarship.

They will either sign a player (probably from the junior college ranks) or give the scholarship to a walk-on currently in the program.

"We are involved with quite a few players in our recruiting process and we do have players in our program that compete every day and are in a non-scholarship situation," Rose said, noting that there will be time to add a player if that's what the staff decides to do. Players can be signed right up until the start of the school year.

My guess is that the scholarship will go to a walk-on/

Currently, the Cougars have committed all of their available scholarships for 2008-09 because center Gavin McGregor was recently awarded a scholarship.

McGregor has petitioned the NCAA for an extra year of eligibility but has not heard back from them. Assuming the application is not granted, he will be a senior in 2008-09.

He's a candidate to replace Plaisted in the starting lineup, along with Chris Miles and James Anderson.

"We have a lot of confidence with the other guys in our program," Rose said. "We have some depth at that position, but experience is the key."

Here's more proof that Lone Peak's Tyler Haws has the chance to be the best prep basketball player to come out of Utah in more than 10 years (probably since Murray's Britton Johnsen in 1997-98).

Haws has been selected as one of the top 100 players in the country from the class of 2009 by Dave Telep of Scouthoops.com. Haws is ranked as the No. 96 prospect in the country by the Web site.

Haws will play for the club team Salt Lake Metro at the Houston (Texas) Kingwood Classic later this month.

Prior to Thursday's announcement, Scouthoops.com had only graded the top 75 prospects in the country, so Haws' inclusion is new.

He's one of 22 shooting guards on the list.

Haws has scholarship offers from BYU, Utah and Stanford, although the Stanford situation could change with news that head coach Trent Johnson is taking the LSU job. According to Scouthoops.com, Haws has also drawn interest from Marquette, Gonzaga, Wake Forest and Harvard.

The Ivy League school is interested because Haws carries a 3.95 grade point average.

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Dixie State College in St. George has signed Jessie Ingraham, a guard from Pima (Ariz.) Community College, to its women's basketball team. Ingraham was a second-team NJCAA All-American.

In other recruiting news, Provo guard Vanna Cox has signed to play for SLCC's women's team and Lindsie Wilson, a former Orem High star who played the last two years at Snow College, has signed with Montana Tech, which competes in the same conference as Westminster.

Riddled by player defections the last few years, the University of Utah's women's volleyball program is turning to the successful junior college program at Salt Lake Community College for immediate help.

The Utes have signed Cinthia Silva, an outside hitter from SLCC who recently completed an All-American career there.

Silva helped SLCC finish third at the national tournament, and the team went 44-2 last fall. She led the Scenic West Athletic Conference with 3.87 kills per game.

Last fall, the Utes signed high schoolers Miranda Bradshaw, Sarah Hibbert and Abby Simmons during the early signing period.

While The Salt Lake Tribune honors five football players annually as MVPs in their respective classifications, the other daily newspaper in town picks one specific player above the rest and labels him Mr. Football.

The Deseret News also honors five MVPs, and more often than not Mr. Football is not one of the MVPs. I've never figured that one out, but if it works for them, what's the harm?

I bring this up because I just learned that the News' Mr. Football for 2007, Alta linebacker Boo Andersen, will sign to play college football after all. Andersen was a first-team 5A all-state selection in the Tribune, which named Alta's Sausan Shakerin as the 5A MVP.

Anyway, Andersen's mother told me Monday night that Boo will sign this summer with the University of Utah. Andersen and Shakerin have been attending Utah's spring practices and are excited about joining the Utes, she said.

Boo Andersen didn't sign with a program back in February because there was concern over his academic situation. However, his mother said he re-took the ACT college admission test recently, and scored a 20. His grades in core curriculum classes have also improved, she said.

It has been an exciting month for the Andersen family.

Their son Cliff Andersen, the former standout baseball and football player at Cottonwood High, is now in the Chicago Cubs organization.

Cliff Andersen appeared in a recent spring training game with the big club, and went 2-for-3 with an RBI in a 5-2 loss to Oakland.

When the season began, he was assigned to the Peoria (Ill.) Chiefs in Single-A, but is moving up the Cubs' organization quickly.

Cliff was picked by the Cubs in the 2006 Major League Baseball draft after signing with Oklahoma State in the fall of his senior year.

Another Andersen family member, Nikki, was a softball pitcher for BYU after a spectacular prep career at Alta.

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The Web site utezone.com is reporting that the University of Utah has offered a scholarship to Tray Robinson, a 6-foot-1, 215-pound junior running back from Trinity High in Fort Worth, Texas.

Editor Tom Cella notes that Robinson also has offers from New Mexico, Mississippi and Tulsa.

Robinson rushed for 885 yards and 12 touchdowns as a junior.

Mechel Hunt, a wing player at Fremont High in northern Utah, has orally committed to play basketball for the College of Southern Idaho. She will sign a letter of intent with the Eagles during the upcoming signing period.

CSU finished sixth at the recent NJCAA Tournament.

Hunt, 6-0, averaged 11.5 points, 2.1 assists and 3.1 steals for Fremont last year and helped the team go undefeated in Region 1.

She was recently named a second-team all-stater in 5A by The Salt Lake Tribune and was on the all-Region 1 team.

Hunt played club basketball for Salt Lake Metro and is the 13th Metro player from the 2008 class to receive a college basketball scholarship.

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Salt Lake Community College's Michelle Pace is moving on to Westminster College. Pace, a former Olympus High star who averaged 13.0 points and 6.3 rebounds per game last year for the Bruins, will sign with Westminster later this month.

Pace was fourth in the Scenic West Conference is scoring and rebounding and was selected to the Region 18 first team and to the SWAC all-tournament team. She was a NJCAA Distinguished Academic All-American in 2007.

More than 100 of the top underclassmen football players in Utah and parts of Nevada, Wyoming and Idaho were at Cottonwood High on Saturday for the inaugural Five Star Academy presented by Rivals.com, according to recruiting editor Jeremy Crabtree.

Spanish Fork's Richard Wilson was the one with the huge smile on his face.

Wilson, a 6-foot-2, 224-pound tight end/linebacker, received a scholarship offer from University of Utah coaches last week, he said.

The week before that, Wilson said he received his first offer, from BYU.

At the 7 on 7 passing camp in Las Vegas last month, before he had received any offers, Wilson told me he was hoping for offers from the two in-state schools.

"It seems like if you are from [Utah] and you don't have offers from BYU and Utah, schools from outside the state don't take you as seriously," he said.

Wilson caught 46 passes for 690 yards and eight touchdowns for the Dons last fall.

He is also drawing interest from LSU, Boise State, Arizona State, and Stanford, he said.

Back in Vegas, Wilson told me he was mostly a Utah fan growing up, but was leaning toward BYU because their coaches had been showing more interest.

Since then, it appears, things have changed a bit and now it looks like the Utes and Cougars both have a battle on their hands.

Spencer Hadley, a 6-foot-1, 215-pound linebacker from Connell High in rural Washington, signed with BYU in February.
But the high school senior figured he would not be playing for the Cougars until after his LDS Church mission.
That all changed Wednesday when Hadley stopped by the coach’s offices to say hello.
He is with his family in Utah this week because his high school is on spring break.
Coach Mendenhall saw me [at the football offices] and asked me to come talk to him, Hadley said.
He told me they were going to be kind of thin at my position [inside linebacker] this fall and asked if I would consider delaying my mission for a few months and play this fall, Hadley said.
It was an easy answer.
So, instead of leaving in October, when he turns 19, Hadley is going to leave in December or January with a season of Division I college football under his belt.
Presumably, Hadley is going to use the scholarship that was reserved for junior college linebacker Tolu Moala. He signed with BYU in February, too, but was apparently released from his letter of intent and will attend Oklahoma State because he did not meet the entrance requirements at BYU, according to an article in an Oklahoma newspaper.
Hadley told me via telephone Thursday night that he went to spring practice today, but this time he tried to soak up as much as he could because he will be in uniform this fall, rather in a coat and tie.
Hadley’s cousin, Austen Jorgensen, is also on the BYU football team. He has two siblings that attend the school.
It is the only place I have ever wanted to play, he said.
Now he gets to do it sooner than he ever expected.
The senior made 15 interceptions and had 13 sacks for his small-school team last fall, and was largely ignored by recruiters outside of BYU, he said.

I noticed the following link on a couple of local college football recruiting message boards and figured I would share it with you readers. Besides, I have been busy with a couple of my other beats and have not been able to do much on recruiting the past few days.
A quarterback prospect from Scripps Ranch H.S. in the San Diego area by the name of Tate Forcier has apparently created a Web site and posted his scholarship offer letters on it.
It is quite an impressive list. Schools such as Penn State, Oregon, LSU and Nebraska have offered the junior quarterback.
More fascinating are the actual letters. Interesting reading for football recruiting junkies, but I am sure coaches like Joe Paterno will not enjoy seeing their letters posted on the internet for everyone to see.
Here is the link:

http://www.qbforce.com/tate/offers/Offers.htm

Benji Kemoeatu, the highly touted offensive lineman from Kahuku, Haw., has apparently sent his national letter of intent to West Virginia.
Kemoeatu had given Utah coaches a soft commitment prior to signing day in February, but changed his mind and said on signing day he was going to West Virginia.
However, he did not send the letter because his parents were away and he needed it signed by at least one parent before it became official.
A newspaper in West Virginia reported that the Mountaineers have received Kemoeatu's paperwork. Here's the link:

http://www.wvgazette.com/latest/200804010460