Sep 01st by Tyler

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As of 7:45 MST letter were received from:

Jordan Atkinson

Remington Peck

Fono Vakalahi

Terry Alletto

7:50

Craig Bills

8:20

Mitch Mathews

Tui Crichton

8:25

Brad Wilcox

8:55

Anthony Heimuli

Ryan Mulitalo

10:50 update

Cody Hoffman

Thomas Bryson

Peni Maka’afi

Trevor Bateman

Richard Wilson

Brett Thompson

Brian Logan

10:25

Kyle Van Noy

Adam Hine (Timo)

Lee Aguirre

10:40

Jray Galea’l

Feb 04th by Jim

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The Value of Stars

Every year, about this time, grown men spend long hours in Internet chat rooms, hoping, predicting, praying, and cursing because of one thing, recruiting stars.

Recruiting sites such as Scout.com and Rivals.com, rate high school recruits by using a system of stars. Five stars is the highest ranking and, of course, one star is the lowest. But what do these stupid little pointy things really mean?

How Stars are Awarded

So what kind of things are recruiting services looking at when rewarding recruits with the cinco digit delights?

One of the first things that recruiters look at is current talent level. These are the kids that are the stars of the High School Football scene. They make the plays, and seem to have “it”. They are performing well at their current level. But not all high school stars have what they need for the next level.

They also look at how they think this kid will transfer to the next level. Is he fast enough? Is he too short? Does he have the body type and mentality for College football?

Third, they look at NFL potential.  Does the kid look to have the raw materials to develop into a contributor in Professional football?

So this produces a variety of kids who have stars for a variety of reasons.  Some may be playing at a high level, but tapped out their potential.  Others have tons of potential, but it is still raw and undeveloped.

What the Stars Don’t Measure

Work Ethic:  This is probably the single biggest reason that many a 2-star athlete has put in a 4-star career, and vice versa.  A kid may have a ton of potential, but if he is lazy and unwilling to develop that potential, it remains just unrealized potential.

Character and Attitude: Is the kid a primadonna or a team player.  Does he bring synergy to field, or discord.  Are his actions on and off the field an example or a distraction.  Character is huge, especially at a school like BYU.  If the kid can’t keep the honor code and stay in school, it doesn’t matter how much talent he has, we won’t get to see it.

Academics:  Many a talented athlete have had their careers derailed, or side tracked because they couldn’t either qualify for school, or remain qualified once they got into school.  Again, it seems that almost every year, there is a kid who committed in February, but couldn’t qualify in September.  Some are able to go the JC route, get a little maturity and help, and come back to contribute for 2 years at Division 1. There are also many who disappear, never to be heard from again.

So What Does it all Mean?

Ultimately, no matter how excited we get on Letter-of-Intent Day, the value of any recruiting class may not totally be known for a few years.  At BYU, this is delayed even longer by missionary service.  So we can debate and claim to have a better class than the rest of the MWC put together, but we won’t know if that is true till we match up at some future date.

Feb 04th by Jim

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This week is an important week in the transition to next year’s football team.

Goings:

Gone to hopefully greener NFL pastures is Cougar wideout, Austin Collie.  I have been watching Cougar football for a lot of years, and Collie is probably the best wide receiver ever to play at BYU.  He has the complete package, at least at the college level.  He was a deep threat, good in possession situations, and could create space and keep the defender off of him.

Collie has been Max Hall’s favorite target, and set many records while at BYU. He tied the NCAA-record of 11 straight games of 100 yards or more receiving. He also became the school’s all-time leader in career receiving yards (3,255), receptions (215) and touchdown catches (30).

I will miss his one handed grabs, stiff arms, and jaunts into the end-zone…. at least in Cougar Blue.

Also, going from next years schedule, Arizona State.

Comings:

Opening next years schedule is Oklahoma in the brand new, Dallas Cowboy facility.  This will be a great opportunity to put BYU on a national stage, early in next years campaign.

This is also the weekend that most Cougar football recruits are in town for their official visit.  Already, this weekend has seen the commitment of Kyle Van Noy added to, what looks to be possibly the best BYU gridiron recruiting class of all time (at least, according to recruiting service rankings).  Scout.com has this class currently ranked at 33rd in the country, and BYU still has a shot at 5 star linebacker Manti Te’o, and 4 star o-lineman, Xavier Su’a-filo.  They are also hoping to land the LT’s (Linebacker LT Filiaga, and D-lineman LT Tuipolotu), an extra JC CB or two, and probably another speedy RB.

How BYU is able to fill the holes left by graduating seniors, and improve defensive production will probably determine the cougars ability to make a run at another conference title next year, and possible run at our turn at a BCS game.

Jan 10th by Jim

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Video on this Kid

I was impressed with the first video I saw of this kid. But it wasn’t on the basketball court. It was in a presentation by the LDS Church General Young Men’s Presidency. Tyler was serving as his wards Teacher’s Quorum President, and their meetings were video taped to show how to correctly work with Aaronic Priesthood Presidencies. Tyler stood up and took control as quorum president and ran things the way they should be run. I know, I know, when you put a camera on a group, they tend to step and and perform. I was assured, however, by Brother Burgess (another great Alpine, Utah name), and uncle to Sam Burgess, that this was how they functioned all the time. I was impressed with his leadership skills.

Numbers on the Court

His numbers on the court would also bare this out.

Points per Game: 21

Rebounds: almost 5 per game

Assists: 3.1

Steals: 1.5

Accolades

He also brings with him a long string of recognitions.

2 time 5A MVP

2 time 1st team All State

Deseret News Mr. Basketball for the State of Utah

Utah Gatorade Player of the Year

1 of 100 Seniors Nationwide invited to NBA Player Association Camp

Excited

Cougar fans everywhere are excited to see him follow in his father’s (Marty Haws) footsteps. I don’t ever remember a kid who has gotten so much fan attention for so long. Coach Dave Rose will be happy to have Haws in the House. I will be looking forward to seeing him on the hardwood in cougar blue!

Sep 25th by Jim

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