HB Arnett’s

COUGAR SPORTSLINE

801 372 0819

PO Box 50424 Provo, Utah 84605

Vol. 27, Issue 39, June 13, 2007

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TOLEDO, TACOMA, TUCSON AND TIMPVIEW

If you keep track of minor league baseball teams, you know that the Toledo Mud Hens, the Tacoma Rainers, the Tucson Sidewinders and the Timpview Thunderbirds are all AAA affiliates of the Detroit Tigers, Seattle Mariners, Arizona Diamondbacks and BYU Cougars.

Okay, Timpview High School and BYU are not baseball teams, but the Thunderbirds might as well be the AAA football affiliate for the Cougars. They certainly are a direct pipeline of personnel for the program.

If you haven't been keeping track, let us refresh your memory with the number of Timpview players who are currently affiliated with the team.

Let's start with the Reynolds boys. Dallas will be a returning offensive line starter this coming season. Matt is back from his mission to Germany and, barring injury during his career, will be a major impact player for Bronco Mendenhall. Houston signed a letter of intent with BYU last February and will enroll in school after returning from an LDS mission.

John Barrett is another Timpview alum who is a walkon offensive lineman.

BYU currently has two Timpview running backs on its roster. The guy who, in our opinion, will make a big name for himself this fall is Harvey Unga. He will be a redshirt freshman. Wayne Latu, a reserve running back is also in the program.

Cade Cooper, the backup quarterback and transfer from Snow College, is a Tmpview product. Scott Johnson, a defensive back from THS, could make the two-deep roster this fall. He is a walkon. Griffin Miller, a wide receiver is back early from his LDS mission and will be a walkon this fall.

Speaking of receivers, Luke Ashworth is currently serving an LDS mission as is Stephen Covey. Both were highly regarded recruits coming out of Timpview two years ago when the signed with the Cougars.

The connection continues with BYU signing Famika Anae, an offensive lineman and son of current offensive coordinator, Robert Anae, to a letter of intent earlier this year.

They also inked Eathyn Manumaleuna, another offensive lineman from Timpview. He transferred in from Alaska to play his senior season for the T-Birds. He is a nephew to Robert Anae.

The list continues. BYU has verbal commitments from two more Timpview players for this coming year. Michael Alisa is a linebacker for Timpview. He played last year as a junior after transferring in from Kahuku HS in Hawaii.

Kevan Bills played defensive end, but will move to linebacker this season for coach Louis Wong, head coach of the Thunderbirds. Bills has already been offered a scholarship by BYU and committed.

The best player on the team shouldn't be too far behind in the pipeline. Craig Bills was only a sophomore, but is a big, big, big-time safety. This guy can name his ticket, but BYU is doing all they can to make sure he punches it with the Cougars.

By our count that is 16 players currently in the BYU pipeline from Timpview.

By our reasoning, if Pawtucket is the AAA affiliate of the Red Sox, then Provo, and Timpview High School in particular, have a similar role with the BYU football program.

There are usually anywhere from 120-130 players in the program that are either coming or going as scholarship players, walkons or missionaries. Timpview is currently providing at least 10 percent of those players. If there is another high school producing players at that rate for any other D-1 school, we certainly would like to know about it.

IS A TIMO IN HAND BETTER THAN A REGGIE IN THE BUSH?

A few weeks ago Adam Timo, the 6-1, 170 pound sophomore running back from Snow Canyon High School in St. George, Utah, said he had given BYU and Bronco Mendenhall a verbal commitment to play football for the Cougars in 2009.

It was a nice story and something to keep the BYU football fires flaming during the summer months, but not much more. At least that is what we thought at the time.

Sure, Timo rushed for 1600 yards, but despite being an exceptional athlete who won the Utah 3-A high jump and long jump championships as a freshman, how good could a 170 pound sophomore running back from a 3-A school in St. George really be?

Take our word for it. He is really, really, really, almost Reggie good.

Our first thought, before seeing him play, was that 1600 yards rushing was no big deal because of where and against whom that yardage was produced.

We were a little more impressed when we found out that Timo only became a starter when the state playoffs started in November. Before that, he was just a spot player who had rushed for 800 yards.

In four playoff contests, all away games against teams along the Wasatch front, he rushed for another 800 yards.

We boarded the bandwagon for good last week when we watched Timo on tape perform during those four playoff games. Quite honestly, we were flabbergasted and floored at how good this kid is.

In our opinion, Sausan Shakerin, the 6-2, 220 pound senior from Alta HS, is the best running back in the state. He is the total package. He has speed and power. He is a Luke Staley clone. He is also a man. Physically, this guy is already developed.

Timo is still just a boy. But boy 'o boy is he exciting. He has speed, and even at a mere 170 pounds, he has some pop when he hits people.

Barring injury, when this kid actually grows up and physically matures, he should be something extra special.

After watching Timo in those four games, we have our own thoughts on just how good Adam Timo is now and should become, but we hesitant because we didn’t want to over-hype him and then lose credibility if he didn’t’ pan out as a player at the next level.

Thankfully we don't have to. We will let the audio clip attached to this newsletter do the talking. Click on it to hear the television broadcast announcers of the Snow Canyon-Logan playoff game describe their pre-game conversation with Logan Head Football Coach Mike Favero. He compared Timo and Reggie Bush as high school sophomores. Favero, who has a Helix HS (the high school in San Diego where Bush prepped) background, is likely more qualified than most to make the comparison.

You can listen for yourself, and remember that his comments were before Timo rushed for over 300 yards and scored four touchdowns against Favero's Grizzlies. Timo should have had five touchdowns, but one was called back on a penalty. Click here to listen to Favero.

There are several big-time sophomore LDS recruits that BYU wants to sign. The 2009 recruiting class looks to be loaded with talent.

Timo is the first of that group of of LDS super sophomore prospects to commit. Others in the class that BYU covets include Brett Thompson, a 6-3, 210 pound wide receiver from Oak Ridge HS in El Dorado HS in California, Manti Te'o, a

linebacker the entire Pac 10 is already after. He is at Punahou HS in Hawaii and Craig Bills, a 6-1, 190 pound safety from Timpview HS in Provo.

We are also hearing that there is also an extremely talented sophomore LDS lineman in the East Valley area that BYU already has on their must have list. We are trying to track down more info on him.

BOWER BACK IN RECRUITING BUSINESS

Jacob Bower is the 6-4, 240 quarterback who left BYU earlier this year and enrolled at Bakersfield JC in California. He has yet to play a game for the Renegades this season, but he is already being recruited.

Besides Fresno State, Boise State, Utah State, Cal and Nevada, Wisconsin is now in the picture. The Badgers have a coach who recruited Bower a few years back out of high school when that coach was at Oregon State.

Bower will reportedly make a trip to Madison for an official visit during the weekend of their game with Iowa.

LIST IS NOW LENGTHY

Since we last updated the early recruiting commitment list for BYU, it has doubled in size. All are LDS.

The most recent commits include the following:

Kevan Bills 6-3, 225 LB, Timpview HS, UT...Played defensive end last season, but will be moved to linebacker this year at Timpview

Jesse Taufi 6-5, 330, OL, Long Beach City College, CA...Returned LDS missionary who prepped at Carson HS in CA

Masi Tuitama 6-2, 210, LB, Pacifica HS, CA...A late qualifier from this past recruiting year, he won't enroll until January of 2008. Hawaii also offered.

Michael Alisa, 6-2, 210, LB, Timpview HS, UT...Will be one of the premier running backs in the state next season, but BYU likes him at LB. A very good athlete.

Atem Bol, 6-2, 205, WR, Bell HS, TX...Originally from the Sudan, Bol had recruiting interest from Kansas, Missouri, Baylor and Tulsa.

Michael Yeck, 6-8, 260 OL, Keller HS, TX...You could see this one coming a mile away. Kansas State and Utah were the other two schools involved.

Other Early Commits

Tolu Moala, 6-1, 230, LB, El Camino JC, CA, Returned LDS missionary

Tevita Hola, 6-1, 310, DT, Snow College, Returned LDS missionary

Jerry Bruner, 6-3, 225, RB/LB, Evergreen HS, Vancouver, WA

Daniel Sorensen, 6-1, 200 Safety, Colton HS, CA

Cameron Comer, 6-1, 180, DB, Springville HS, UT

Justin Sorensen, 6-2, 215, K, Bingham HS, UT

Austin Holt, 6-5, 230, TE, Bingham HS, UT

BASKETBALL: ONE MORE GOING AND ONE MORE COMING?

Since our last newsletter, what we said would likely happen in BYU basketball recruiting, is now official.

A few weeks back Dave Rose announced that Archie Rose and Michael Lloyd both had signed letters of intents to play for the Cougars this coming year.

He also announced that Jean Carlos Otero, an early juco signee from Florida, would not be enrolling at BYU.

What he didn't announce is that Jordan Cameron, the 6-5, guard who redshirted last year, has been given his release and will transfer to USC. He won’t be playing basketball for the Trojans, but will pursue a football career. He was a Division I athlete in both basketball and football coming out of Newbury Park HS.

We have also heard that there is another guard that most likely will be in the program this fall.

The word we hear is that it is about 80% a done deal that this guy will transfer to BYU from another Division I program. So it looks like it will be an even trade. This new guard will have to sit out the mandatory year for the transfer and wasn’t going to have a scholarship for this coming year. With the departure of Cameron, however, it now looks like one will open up. Either way, he will have a grant in aid the following year.

We know who this guy is and he is a proven player and led his team in scoring last season. We will not release his name yet because while we expect him to be here this fall, it is not a done deal.

From comments we received after we published that BYU was trying to sign Michael Lloyd, the high school guard from Palo Verde HS in Las Vegas, many wondered why this guy was still around the last few days of the signing period.

If he was any good as BYU says he is, why was nobody else gobbling this guy up?

We did some checking with some very credible sources. Okay, this is coming from other Division I coaches that are not employed by BYU.

The word from them on Lloyd is that he is extremely quick, can defend, handle the ball and penetrate and is a very good basketball player except for one area. He has no outside shot.

Think of him as a Matt Montague with much better quickness.

These same sources had an opinion on Jimmer Fredette, the 6-2 shooting guard from New York.

In their opinion, he will play this season for BYU and have an impact.

They say he is a scorer and will be the same at the Division I level. He is the exact opposite of Lloyd in that he can shoot from outside.

There has been some who are wondering if he is as good as his gaudy stats because they question the high school competition in upstate New York where Fredette played. The coaches we heard from said that Fredette proved himself during three springs and summers of AAU ball against any and all competition.

The best news for BYU fans is that these same coaches said that Fredette will definitely be able to create his own shot at the Division level. Unlike most BYU players who need help from schemes and screens, Fredette can manufacture his own opportunities to score.

The official press release announcing the signings of Michael Lloyd and Archie Rose were informative, but not all inclusive. Here is some information that wasn't included.

Rose's mother, Deborah, is an attorney in the Bahamas who represented Virgie Arthur, the estranged mother of Anna Nicole Smith in the custody proceedings regarding Smith’s baby after her death.

Rose's uncle played with Dave Rose at the University of Houston.

It was mentioned in the release, but worth repeating. Lloyd's father played at UNLV in the '70s. He also has two very talented younger brothers who will be prospects down the road. They both are at Bishop Gorman HS in Las Vegas. The coach at Gorman is Grant Rice, the brother of current Cougar assistant coach Dave Rice.

In basketball recruiting, BYU has already been on the road for spring evaluations at AAU tournaments and open gyms across the country. They will be back on the road in July for more AAU evaluations.

They are always looking for bigs and this year is no exception.

Dave Rose and company have been following Ben Aird now for three years. The 6-9 center is at Bountiful HS and plays the AAU circuit with Utah Pump 'N Run.

The Cougars have also spent a lot of time in the gym with Michael Boswell, the 6-9, 210 pound center from Aloha High School in Beaverton, Oregon. He plays AAU ball with the Oregon Rebels and had a nice spring. It was good enough that it attracted the attention of BYU coaches.

Boswell saw Cougar coaches at almost all of his spring AAU games. Besides BYU, Fresno State, Utah, Weber State and Oregon State are all in the hunt. If Boswell plays well during July, his stock could continue to rise.

Both Boswell and Aird are LDS and both will be seniors this coming year.

Another big man that BYU is after is 6-9 Jeremy Olsen. He also is LDS, but will only be a junior this coming season. He plays at Collins Hils HS in the Atlanta area and for the Worldwide Renegades AAU team.

A 4.0 student, Olsen has already made an unofficial trip to Texas, but BYU has been hot on his trail. Because he is LDS that means Utah is also trying to get in the picture. Other schools recruiting him are Clemson, Xavier, Auburn, Georgia and Ole Miss.