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Cougar Sportsline, Vol. 29, Issue 36
by hb arnett 03 Apr '09

03 Apr '09

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Cougar Sportsline, Vol. 29, Issue 36
by hb arnett 03 Apr '09

03 Apr '09

I am sending out this issue today instead of its normal time of Monday because I won't be available then. Thanks, HB HB Arnett's COUGAR SPORTSLINE 801 372 0819 hbarnett(a)fiber.net and hbarnett@xmission <mailto:hbarnett@xmission.com> .com PO Box 50424 Provo, Utah 84605 Vol. 29, Issue 36 - April 6, 2009 Click <http://www.cougarstreet.com/products/index.php?type-450&PCID=450:0:0:0:0> Here To Order Or Renew Your Subscriptions MAX HALL IS STILL THE BIG DOG Max Hall is not a laughing matter despite his luster among Cougar fans becoming a little tarnished late last season. Throwing six picks against Utah will do that sort of thing. Here is a Max Hall joke that was making the rounds after the season ended. Did you hear that Max Hall lost his three best receivers to early entry into the NFL? Yeah, Austin Collie, Paul Kruger and Sean Smith (The latter two both picked off a Hall pass for the Utes and both are headed early to the NFL. Hall certainly was good for a little levity, but without him as quarterback for BYU last year, a little levity would have been a lot of losing. That is not funny, but true. Without Hall last season, the Cougars are lucky to get 5 wins. Without Hall this season, the same will hold true. Here something else to smile about. Hall is having a great spring. Here are some numbers that are no joke and will get you longing for the season to get started right away. With three weeks in the books and several 11-on-11 drills and two serious scrimmages, Hall's numbers are not laughable, but laudable. That lends itself to a big fall for the senior-to-be quarterback. Game Like In the two most game-like scrimmages, Hall has gone 19-of-26 for 176 yards. As has always been the case with BYU football, the Cougars will only go as far as their quarterback will take them. Stand-up comics are funny, but Hall has put up some stand-up-and-take-notice numbers this spring. In other work during the spring, he has completed 53-of-67 throws. We don't think you will see any coaches in the MWC laughing about Hall coming back for his senior season and neither should we as BYU fans. COUNTING CORNERBACKS AND OTHER RECRUITS There is a good reason that Bronco Mendenhall focuses on recruiting LDS players. There is an even better reason why he focuses on trying to find LDS cornerbacks and other defensive backs. If the recruit is a defensive back and not LDS and signs with BYU out of high school, history shows it is highly unlikely he will last at BYU. There is normal attrition of recruits at BYU and with all football programs, but when it comes to non-LDS recruits in general and defensive backs, in particular, they seldom survive in Provo for long. The numbers are even bleaker for black non-LDS recruits. We go back ten years to look at the non-LDS high school recruits BYU has signed in the last decade and see how they fared in the program. 1998...In this recruiting class BYU signed four high school non-LDS recruits: Kevin Gilbride, qb; Eugene Childs, wr; Michael Westbrook, wr; Jernaro Gilford, db; Brandon McFerron, ol. Gilbride, Childs, McFerron and Westbrook lasted two seasons or less. Gilford did go the distance, but he had to take an honor code hiatus before returning to Provo to finish. The Cougars also signed a jc defensive back, Michael Lafitte. He didn't play much, but made it through his two years of eligibility in Provo. 1999...BYU signed Jenaro Gilford (again, because he didn't qualify academically the year before), db; Colby Bockwoldt, lb; Kurt Elliott, db; Devian Mims, dl; Robert Ramirez, db. Mims and Ramirez never qualified academically and never enrolled. Only Bockwoldt made it through 4 years of eligibility. In the non-LDS juco ranks, BYU signed Hashi Robertson, db; Brian Gray, db; Jonathan Pittman, wr. All three played their two years. 2000...Isaiah Joiner, a running back, was the only non-LDS high school signee that year. He ran back a few kickoffs and also had an incident where he ran through a mall parking lot. He was a quick exit. On the juco scene, Danny Phillips and Derrus Wilson, both db's, didn't contribute much, but stayed two years. Brian McDonald, rb, also played 2 years. He enrolled as non-LDS, but joined the Church and served a mission after graduation. 2001...O'Neal Howell, db and Breyon Jones, wr signed. Both made four years. Josh Brandon, db, a juco, played his two years. 2002...Curtis Brown, rb, Dan Coats, te, Travonne Jackson, db, Thomas Stancil, rb signed out of high school. Brown and Coats were four year-guys and stars. Jackson and Stancil lasted a year. Brown joined the LDS Church while in Provo. James Allen, db and Walt Williams, db, signed from the juco ranks. Allen lasted a year and Williams could never qualify academically. 2003...This was a small class and no non-LDS recruits were signed. 2004...Karland Bennett, db; Antwaun Harris, wr, B.J. Mathis, rb; Michael Reed, wr; Ibrahim Rashada, db; Billy Skinner, db; William Turner, lb. Only Reed survived and graduated. We would tell you what happened to the others, but Cougar fans don't want to be reminded of it. Juco wise, BYU signed non-LDS recruits Todd Watkins, wr; Riley Weber, wr; Eddie Scipio, db; Michael Morris, wr; Gary Lovely, lb; Greg Lovely, db, Justin Luettgerodt, lb. Watkins, Weber, Luttgerodt and Gary Lovely made it. Scipio never enrolled for academic reasons. 2005...Brandon Howard was the only non-LDS high school signee. He started last year, but is not currently in school. There is hope that he will return in the fall. On the juco scene BYU signed non-LDS recruits Sete Aula, ol and Justin Robinson, db. Both were starters and played through their eligibility. 2006... BYU signed just one non-LDS recruit; a juco deep snapper, Matt Johnson. He never enrolled. 2007...BYU signed 4 non-LDS high school recruits. They included: Brannon Brooks, db, J.J. DiLuigi, rb; Ryan Kessman, wr and G Pittman, db. Only DiLuigi is still here after just two years. No non-LDS jucos were signed. 2008...Only 2 non-LDS signed. O'Neill Chambers, wr and Garett Nicholson, db. Both present and accounted for after one season. No jucos signed. Stats aren't our forte, but our numbers show that BYU is retaining just 33 percent of its non-LDS high school recruits over the last decade. When you figure the retention rate of non-LDS high school defensive backs that have signed in the last ten years, it is only 25 percent. By contrast, when you figure the retention rate of non-LDS juco recruits, the retention rate of juco signees in the last decade is 81 percent. We are sure there must be other factors, but it appears to us that BYU would be better served by focusing more attention on the junior college market, especially when it comes to defensive backs and non-LDS prospects. For perspective, from what we can gather from the official press guides of BYU football for the last ten years, there is also a pretty good turnover rate for the bread and butter LDS recruit over the last 10 years. Here are the counts per year. The attrition can be attributed to scholarships being pulled, transfers, injuries, academics and other problems, but here are the numbers. 1998...Signed 13 LDS high school recruits. Only 7 made it through 4 years of eligibility. 1999...Signed 16 LDS high school recruits. Only 8 finished four years of eligibility. 2000...Signed 19 LDS high school recruits. Only 5 finished the full scholarship trip. Highest attrition rate in the last decade. 2001...Signed 9 LDS high school recruits. Only 4 survived the full four years. 2002...Signed 12 LDS high school recruits. Only 6 made it to the end. 2003...Signed 11 LDS high school recruits. There are still 8 left with this being the senior season for those signees. 2004...Signed 9 LDS high school recruits. Three left the program early. The rest are still playing with the exception of Austin Collie who left for the NFL. We aren't counting him as part of the attrition. 2005...Signed 13 LDS high school recruits, but three are long gone already. The rest are still in the program. 2006...Signed 20 LDS high school recruits, some of which will be enrolled as true freshmen this fall. Of the 20, 4 are already gone for good. 2007...Signed 17 LDS high school recruits. Most of this group is just getting started in the program, but 4 are already not considered part of the team and we are hearing from a pretty good source that one more who is currently serving a mission is seriously considering not coming back and transferring to the Pac 10 instead. Before we give up the name, we want to wait a few more months to see if this changes. We will say that this is a high profile player who made waves as a freshman. 2008...Signed 15 LDS high school recruits a year ago. It's too early, but we are sniffing at least three right now who won't last. The numbers are rough and are skewed to show better than they really are because we don't know yet what the ultimate attrition will be in the latest recruiting classes. Regardless, even if no other players leave the program from the most recent classes, the numbers show the retention rate for LDS high school signees for the last 10 years is 61 percent. If you look at the early classes in the last decade which had time for a class to work itself through the system, the retention rate for LDS high school signees in the years 1998-2003 was only 47 percent. We expect the recruiting years from 2004-2008, when it all shakes out and attrition is accounted for, to be pretty similar. Based on those retention numbers, there is a reason why BYU focuses on LDS recruits in football. Based on those same retention numbers, when it comes to signing non-LDS players, BYU has more success in retaining jucos than high school recruits. Who really knows what it means. Our best guess and extrapolation is that the LDS Church demographics still lacks a propensity to produce good LDS defensive backs. We are still probably another decade and 7 million baptisms away from that changing. Hold the Hype What really hits you in the face, however, is how over-hyped football recruiting really is. When you go back and check on the "big names", LDS or non-LDS, which signed with the Cougars, it is amazing to see how many of them never worked out or left the program with eligibility remaining. The two most publicized recruits that lasted only one year in the program were Ben Olsen and Ofa Mohetau. It happens with every recruiting class and will continue to happen. It doesn't diminish the fun of following recruiting, but the actual results don't match the hype. That holds true for almost every football program in the country. Recruits are like movies. They all are released with tons of hype, but most go straight to DVD and are never seen or heard from again. The blockbusters are very few and far between on the field and on the screen. Then, of course you have a low-budget movie or player who beats the odds and makes money on the screen and noise on the field. BYU has had its share of them. When it comes to recruiting, we will still refer to the trite phrases of "blue chip and can't miss", but are adding a new adjective to our recruiting jargon. That would be "Napoleon Dynamite". It refers to recruits and movies that are totally unheralded that make waves on the field and money at the box office and last for at least four or five years in the program and on the screen. NAMES AND GAMES OF SPRING With the annual spring game put on ice for this year, we are publishing the official BYU spring football roster. Almost half of those names listed are probably guys of whom you have never heard and who will not be listed on the roster this fall. These are names you would have watched if the game was played. You wouldn't have seen guys like Max Hall, Harvey Unga, Dennis Pitta, Jan Jorgensen etc. As another bonus, we are passing along the score of the Blue-White contest, had it been played. Blue 16 White 10. Here is the roster to help you predict your own score. No. Name Ht. Wt. Pos. Cl. Hometown/Last School Attended 90 Bernard Afutiti 6-1 262 DL Jr. Fontana, CA/Mt. SAC College 51 Matt Ah You 5-11 220 LB Sr. Rancho Cucamonga, CA/ Lone Peak HS (UT) 72 Nick Alletto 6-6 318 OL Jr. Parker, CO/Ponderosa HS 29 Luke Ashworth 6-2 201 WR Jr. Provo, UT/Timpview HS 43 Jordan Atkinson 6-3 243 LB Jr. Martinez, CA/Diablo Valley JC 35 Matt Bauman 6-1 230 LB Sr. Salt Lake City, UT/Skyline HS 58 Jeff Bell 6-0 218 LB Sr. Williamsburg, VA/Bruton HS 5 Brandon Bradley 6-0 200 DB Jr. Tallahassee, FL/Lincoln HS 89 Braden Brown 6-6 260 TE Fr. Salt Lake City, UT/Highland HS 87 Rhen Brown 5-10 187 WR Fr. Summerville, SC/Lone Peak HS (UT) 60 Terence Brown 6-3 351 OL So. Summerville, SC/Summerville HS 32 Riley Bushman 6-1 215 LB Fr. Tucson, AZ/Sabino HS 11 O'Neill Chambers 6-2 210 WR So. Harmony, FL/Harmony HS 41 Coleby Clawson 6-3 235 LB Sr. Wales, UT/Snow College 34 Jefferson Court 6-3 212 LB Fr. Sandy, UT/Alta HS 12 Stephen Covey 5-11 198 WR So. Provo, UT/Timpview HS 92 Brett Denney 6-4 265 DL Sr. Thornton, CO/Legacy HS 10 J.J. Diluigi 5-9 200 RB So. Canyon Country, CA/Canyon HS 42 Shawn Doman 6-2 232 LB Sr. Woodburn, OR/Canby HS 80 Matthew Edwards 6-3 195 WR So. N. Salt Lake, UT/Woods Cross HS 96 Steven Fisher 6-4 250 DL So. Orem, UT/Timpanogas HS 26 Landon Fowler 5-11 185 DB Fr. Kaysville, UT/Davis HS 56 McKay Frandsen 6-3 225 LB Fr. American Fork, UT/American Fork HS 48 Jameson Frazier 6-2 200 DB So. Draper, UT/Alta HS 16 Brenden Gaskins 6-4 215 QB Sr. Farmington, NM/Glendale JC 88 Andrew George 6-5 250 TE Sr. Englewood, CO/Cherry Creek HS 15 Max Hall 6-1 205 QB Sr. Mesa, AZ/Arizona State 76 Braden Hansen 6-6 285 OL Fr. Sandy, UT/Alta HS 59 Chase Hansen 6-3 20 LB So. Draper, UT/Snow College 20 Daniel Hansen 5-10 195 RB So. Madera, CA/Madera HS 67 Nate Hartung 6-2 345 OL So. Butler, PA/Butler Area HS 30 Connell Hess 6-0 210 LB Fr. Boise, ID/Capital HS 97 Tevita Hola 6-1 320 DL Sr. West Valley, UT/Snow College 31 Tyler Holt 5-9 175 K/P So. Granite Bay, CA/Granite Bay HS 47 Terrance Hooks 6-1 230 LB Sr. Tempe, AZ/Marcos de Niza HS 45 Shane Hunter 5-10 235 LB Jr. Idaho Falls, ID/Snow College 26 David Jackson 6-1 175 WR Fr. Provo, UT/Timpview HS 6 McKay Jacobson 5-11 190 WR So. Southlake, TX/Southlake Carroll HS 23 Landon Jaussi 6-5 210 DB Jr. Wylie, TX/Southern Virginia 85 Leon Johnson 6-0 185 WR Jr. Thatcher, AZ/Eastern Arizona JC 21 Scott Johnson 5-11 185 DB Sr. Provo, UT/Timpview HS 84 Jan Jorgensen 6-3 260 DL Sr. Helper, UT/Carbon HS 55 Solomone Kafu 6-2 310 OL Fr. Rio Linda, CA/Rio Linda HS 91 Rockey Kalamafoni 6-2 290 DL So. Portland, OR/Liahona HS (Tonga) 28 Bryan Kariya 6-0 215 RB So. Kaysville, UT/Davis HS 7 Tyler Kozlowski 5-9 185 WR Jr. Wildwood, IL/Warren Township HS 34 Tucker Lamb 5-9 195 RB Fr. Orem, UT/Orem HS 33 Ryan Love 5-10 175 RB So. Cameron Park, CA/Ponderosa HS 5 Parker Mangum 6-4 210 QB Sr. Boise, ID/St. Mary's 16 Brady Marshall 5-8 180 DB So. Modesto, CA/Beyer HS 19 Matt Marshall 5-10 185 WR So. Salt Lake City, UT/Skyline HS 96 Jonathan McCullough 6-5 230 TE Jr. Hillsboro, OR/Glencoe HS 25 Steven McFarland 6-2 235 RB So. Lakeview, OR/Lakeview HS 13 Carter Mees 5-11 190 DB Fr. St. George, UT/Pine View HS 27 Blake Morgan 5-11, 195 DB So. Greeley, CO/Greeley West HS 17 Rex Morgan 5-10 175 DB Fr. Greeley, CO/Greeley West HS 82 Mike Muehlmann 6-5 225 TE Fr. American Fork, UT/American Fork HS 39 Grant Nelson 6-3 225 LB Jr Sewickley, PA/Hopewell HS 3 Garrett Nicholson 5-9 180 DB Fr. Salt Lake City, UT/West HS 53 Austin Nielsen 6-0 230 LB Fr. Glendale, AZ/O'Connor HS 36 Billy Oden 5-10 220 LB Fr. Waimanalo, HI/Kailua HS 38 Brandon Ogletree 6-0 225 LB Fr. McKinney, TX/McKinney HS 17 Paul Olsen 5-11 195 DB Fr. American Fork, UT/American Fork HS 59 John Pace 6-2 210 DS Sr. Yorba Linda, CA/Esperanza HS 38 Mitch Payne 6-2 210 K Jr. North Ogden, UT/Weber HS 1 Jordan Pendleton 6-2 230 DB So. South Jordan, UT/Bingham HS 86 B.J. Peterson 6-3 200 WR Jr. Salt Lake City, UT/Brighton HS 98 Matt Peterson 6-5 265 DL Fr. Bluffdale, UT/Riverton HS 32 Dennis Pitta 6-5 250 TE Sr. Moorpark, CA/Moorpark HS 31 Byron Putnam 5-11 195 DB So. Draper, UT/UofU 57 Matt Putnam 6-6 265 DL So. Brigham City, UT/Box Elder HS 70 Matt Reynolds 6-6 320 OL So. Provo, UT/Timpview HS 22 Andrew Rich 6-3 215 DB Jr. Ogden, UT/Snow College 37 Vic So'oto 6-3 250 LB Sr. Carlsbad, CA/Carlsbad HS 73 Jason Speredon 6-5 305 OL Jr. West Valley, UT/Granger HS 63 Jesse Taufi 6-4 302 OL Jr. Long Beach, CA/Long Beach CC 75 Stetson Tenney 6-5 295 OL Fr. Show Low, AZ/Show Low HS 30 Malosi Te'o 5-10 200 RB Fr. Laie, HI/Kahuku HS 2 Shiloah Te'o 5-10 205 DB So. Laie, HI/Kahuku HS 24 StevenThomas 5-11 180 DB So. Chino Hills, CA/Chino Hills HS 62 Marco Thorson 6-3 310 OL Fr. Ramona, CA/Ramona HS 52 Russell Tialavea 6-3 290 DL Sr. Oceanside, CA/Oceanside HS 46 Masi Tuitama 6-2 215 LB Fr. Oxnard, CA/Pacifica HS 94 David Tuitupou 6-5 255 DL So. Orem, UT/Mountain View HS 18 Travis Uale 6-2 195 DB So. Hawaii Kai, HI/Kamehameha HS 45 Harvey Unga 6-0 240 RB Jr. Provo, UT/Timpview HS 44 Dan Van Sweden 6-2 235 LB Sr. West Point, UT/Northridge HS 99 A.J. Van Valkenburg 6-1 195 LB Jr. South Jordan, UT/Snow College 49 Jadon Wagner 6-4 235 LB So. Lethbridge, Alberta/LCI 21 Neal Watterson 6-0 180 RB Jr. Charlotte, NC/Charlotte Country Day 9 Kase Wells 6-2 185 WR Jr. Basin City, WA/BYU-Idaho 64 R.J. Willing 6-5 310 OL Sr. Kahuku, HI/Kamehameha HS 71 Rick Wolfley 6-3 350 DL Jr. Afton, WY/Star Valley HS 50 Tanner Zylstra 6-3 225 LB Fr. LaVerne, CA/Bonita HS

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