Sounds like former Ute Paul Kruger is itching to get onto the field for the Ravens, he even offered to play at tight end according to this report.

Utah's basketball team landed their final recruit for their upcoming class with Dominque Lee, a small forward out of Berkeley, Calif., committing to the Utes.

The 6-foot-3, 190-pounder has the tough, physical nature that has come to typify players under Utah coach Jim Boylen.

Lee joins J.J. O'Brien, a small forward out of Alta Loma, Calif., and Preston Guiot out of Missouri in the class.

Lee's coach at St. Mary's, Manny Nodar, said Lee will take some time to develop but could be a big player for the Utes as he refines his game.

"He's not at the same level, but his game has been compared to Clyde Drexler's," Nodar said. "It looks ugly, but he gets it done. He attacks the basket hard and he is hard to defend."

Nodar had offers from San Jose State and Santa Clara and had drawn interest from other local schools, Nodar said. However, Lee was sold on the Utes after his recent visit.

"You could tell when I asked him how it went, he had a big smile on his face," Nodar said. "With his style, he fits in there the best of all the schools that were looking at him."

The early signing period is Nov. 11-18.

Co-worker Steve Luhm will have more on how the tsunami impacted Utah players, but several players sadly lost relatives.

Sophomore tackle Sealver Siliga lost eight relatives while Neli A'asa lost three family members and the town where he was from reportedly was destroyed, being one of the hardest hit areas.

None of the family members lost were thought to be immediate family members, according to coach Kyle Whittingham.

"It's a tragic situation and I don't know all the details but I know a lot of our guys on this football team were affected by it," he said. "The phones have not been functioning. There has been some communication by internet and email but it's not a good situation."

Whittingham said the team will do whatever it needs to do support the players.

"It is unique, it's tough," he said. "Obviously we give them our support and our thoughts and prayers are with them but it's a tough day."

 So far none have asked to return to the islands.

"We'll certainly do whatever we can do to help them out," he said.

The Utes ended practice a few minutes early. They will practice tomorrow afternoon then take the weekend off.

The tsunami that hit the islands hit close to home for the Utah team as well.

Doug Elisaia, the team's director of strength and conditioning, feared two family members were lost in the catastrophe. However, he received the news this afternoon they were found and are safe.

There are several players on the team with ties to the islands including Neli A'asa, Kenape Eliapo and Joseph Toefaeono. School officials are still checking to see if any players' relatives might be affected.

Send your good thoughts and hopes to all the tsunami affected.

The most notable change on the Utes' depth chart this week is sophomore Sealver Siliga sliding into Lei Talamaivao's starting spot at tackle. Talamaivao is expected to be out three to four weeks with the cracked fibula he suffered against Louisville.

He broke the same bone last year and missed 11 games.

Freshman Dave Kruger and junior Junior Tui'one will also get more playing time.

Talamaivao had five tackles against Louisville before suffering the injury. Siliga had three tackles and a pass breakup.

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham hadn't heard the news that Brian Johnson was cut from the New York team in the UFL until yesterday at practice.

He said he would talk to him about possibly joining the Utes as an administrative assistant since the Utes already have their limit of coaches.

"He'll be successful at whatever he pursues," he said.

Co-worker Steve Luhm took care of the practice notes that were in today's paper, you can find them here.

In case you didn't see this story, Texas Tech coach Mike Leach has banned his players from using Twitter after a couple posted some critical comments.

Utah doesn't have such a ban. Utah sports information director Liz Abel said players are reminded such venues are public and to be sensible about what they put on sites such as Twitter and Facebook, but so far no bans have been needed.

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham fielded several calls today on the MWC teleconference about how Matt Asiata's season-ending injury will affect the Utes' offense. He said he same thing he has said since Saturday after the game, so at least he is consistent. He reiterated he expects Eddie Wide to handle most of the work and doesn't anticipate changing much, although he did say there might be a few more plays to the outside which fit Wide's style of running better.

He also said the "Asiata package," will remain in the team's plans.

"I guess we need to come up with a new name for it," he said.

The Utes return to practice today after taking yesterday off. Whittingham noted that the bye is perfect timing between the injuries, the break in the schedule between non-conference games and conference games. This week is about the halfway mark through the whole season too if you count fall camp, which he does.

"In a lot of respects it's timely for us," he said.

The biggest work for the defense, he said, is improvement from the corners on the fade route. "We still have to do a better job there," he said.

Utah's men's basketball team will be practicing Wednesday and Thursday from about 1:15-2:15 p.m. if you are interested in catching them in action. All practices are open to the public.

Boylen's crew could be in for a windy afternoon, they're all headed up to Snowbird to take photos for the media guide, schedule card and team poster.

Brian Johnson's career with New York in the United Football League didn't last long, the team announced Tuesday he was waived along with six other players. Ingle Martin, who was selected as a fifth round pick by Green Bay in the 2006 NFL draft and had short stints with three other NFL teams, was added to the roster.

Martin was waived by the Denver Broncos on Sept. 4.

Bowl games for the MWC, continue to be a downer unless the bowl game involves a BCS matchup.

Today the Poinsettia Bowl announced it has extended its agreement to take the second pick of the MWC through the 2013 season.

In 2010 the opponent will be Navy if it is eligible. The 2011 and 2012 games will pit the MWC vs. the WAC and the 2013 game will be Army if it is bowl eligible.

A WAC team will be invited if Navy and Army fail to qualify.

This year the MWC will play the Pac-10's sixth-place representative.

The 2008 game was the first time the WAC sent a team to the Poinsettia Bowl because the Pac-10 didn't have enough eligible teams. Boise State, ranked No. 9, lost to No. 11 TCU 17-16.

That was a great bowl matchup made possible because the Pac-10 was so bad, Utah was in the BCS and the Las Vegas Bowl had BYU, as it always seems to do.

Matchups that line up like that don't happen often enough.

Looking ahead to 2011 and 2012, I just can't get excited about yet more MWC vs. WAC contests, especially since we already have them now with the New Mexico Bowl and the Humanitarian Bowl.

It would be nice to see some new teams from different conferences in 2011 and 2012.

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham doesn't know much more about the state of Utah's injured players today than he did Saturday night, although he is hopeful many will heal in time to play at CSU on Oct. 10.

Whittingham believes offensive lineman Zane Beadles (lower leg laceration), Joe Dale (cramps/tightness) and Lamar Chapman  (hip) should all be healed in time for the CSU game.

He was less certain about the future of defensive tackle Lei Talamaivao, who suffered a cracked fibula Saturday.

The sophomore missed 11 games during the 2008 season with a broken leg.

"The initial thought is it's not as severe as last year's," Whittingham said. "But we won't know anything concrete until all the tests and evaluations are done."

Talamaivao's backup is redshirt freshman Dave Kruger, who has played in three games this season.

The most notable injury was to running back Matt Asiata who suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.

Whittingham said Asiata was debating whether to apply for a medical hardship which might give him another year.

"There is no timeline on applying so he'll wait until after the season to make his decision," Whittingham said.

 However, the chances of such happening are unlikely since a qualifying rule is that the athlete hasn't participated in more than two contests or 20 percent of the scheduled contests.

Sausan Shakerin, the freshman running back who injured his shoulder and wrist at San Jose State on his 46-yard carry, remains questionable for CSU.

Receiver Shaky Smithson will continue to get more work at running back when the Utes resume practice Tuesday.

As for the team overall, Whittingham said he liked how the team has progressed through the first four games.

"Special teams have done a solid job and we expected the linebackers to be productive and they have," he said. "The corner play is getting better each week and the defensive line is solid for us. Terrance Cain has progressed as the quarterback and the running backs have been steady."

As for the receivers, Whittingham said they've been steady as a group and have "played their roles very well."

"We've had some drops, you'd like those guys to be perfect," he said. "I'm pleased with Aiona Key's blocking and David Reed has given us big plays in production."

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham called Saturday's game "the most complete game" the Utes have played this season.

Forgive him for his tone that was less than ecstatic after the Utes' 30-14 win Saturday.

Losing Matt Asiata for the year (torn ACL), defender Lei Talamaivao (cracked fibula) for an indefinite length (Whittingham said he wasn't sure how long he'd be out), Zane Beadles for the game (gash in his leg) and Joe Dale for most of the game (cramps/tightness) can wear on a coach.

First, how to replace Asiata and how his absence might change things. Whittingham said if Eddie Wide can produce like he did tonight, the Utes may not have to change their plans to keep pounding opponents with the run game.

Also, the Utes are hopeful backup Sausan Shakerin might be back after the bye, although Whittingham didn't seem that convinced he will be. The Utes aren't giving many details about injuries this year so we don't know what the extent of Shakerin's injuries are, but the fact that receiver Shaky Smithson already was getting some naps at running back this week makes me believe his injuries could be lingering.

Smithson will continue to get some time at running back, Whittingham said. 

Ray Stowers is also available, although his shoulder problems, plus his bad decision Saturday with a personal foul penalty, probably won't make him high on the depth chart.

I'm not going to go into many specific details of the game, you'll be able to find them here in our game coverage, but I will give some general impressions.

Utah's corners are still liabilities, especially with Brandon Burton getting back-to-back interference calls.

Kepa Gaison had a big night for the defense as did Robert Johnson. Maybe there are some leaders starting to emerge for that defense.

Offensively, Utah was good, but not great. The Utes' offense was 2-of-3 on third down conversions in the first quarter then finished 2-of-10 the rest of the night. But a lot of those issues might have been a by-product of the injuries.

Quarterback Terrance Cain was definitely his most consistent and David Reed was his usual dependable self.

Joe Phillips, the walk-on kicker, is obviously the Utes' kicker of choice now, over scholarship athletes Ben Vroman and Nick Marsh (Marsh is indefinitely suspended) after his three field goals.

Saw some scores around the country. As bad as the Utes might feel about the injuries at least they won, a lot of other favored teams can't say the same. 

From emails and comments I've seen, I think fans are getting a little impatient with the Utes' offense and want to see more. Have to say I agree.

Couple things I'm looking for today, better passing down field from Terrance Cain. If he can't do it the Utes should give Jordan Wynn a try. Coach Kyle Whittingham said this week they don't want to redshirt Wynn and want to give him experience. Conference play starts in two weeks with two road games, do they really want his first game time to be at CSU or UNLV? Seems it would be better for him to log his first minutes in the friendly confines of Rice-Eccles Stadium.

Also want to see more variety in the passing game. For all the talk about how great Aiona Key and DeVonte Christopher looked in spring/fall they've been nonexistent as receivers (although Key has drawn praise from Whittingham for his blocking). Key has just two catches for 15 yards, Christopher has none.

In case you were wondering, David Reed has 20 catches for 282 yards, Jereme Brooks has 12 catches for 149 yards, John Peel has 10 for 137 yards, Matt Asiata has seven for 71 yards and Shaky Smithson has six for 42 yards.

A lot of talk about the run game and its ineffectiveness against Oregon. My thought on that is it isn't something to worry about right now. Judging by his two carries for negative yardage against Oregon, Eddie Wide isn't the power back the Utes claimed him to be, that is why the Utes had to use Asiata against Oregon when they were hoping they could sit him out.

Asiata looked tentative against the Ducks because of his shoulder. He said this week he feels better (better, not great mind you) so I bet he'll run better.

However, with him still not 100 percent and backup Sausan Shakerin out (shoulder) this is as good a game as any to focus on the passing game, isn't it?

Defensively, the Utes need improvement in all areas. They've got to do a better job against the run and will be challenged by Louisville back Vic Anderson (101.5 average).

The Utes also need to get to quarterback Justin Burke (242.5 total offense) better than they have other QBs.

The corners weren't really tested against Oregon, but the Louisville Courier-Journal story hints they could be busy today. We'll see if they can improve from their bad performance against San Jose State.

Story in today's paper about how the BCS has skewed the focus on these non-conference games.