Matt previews the bowl matchup in Vegas:

As you all know, Alex has close ties with some of Ephraim’s close family. We don’t expect him to announce Utah today. Alex is choosing to not dive down the reasons why he expects that and I think (and hope) we can all respect him for that.

I will say from people I’ve talked to that there are a combo of two things… Utah did back off a little recently, but Ephraim (Fatboy) has always been willing to break away and create his own path. I know Alex and I both can agree that we’re happy for him regardless, because he still gets to live his dream.

Alex, do you expect some portal signings that the program has managed to keep silent or are we pretty much hearing about them as they come?

I’m starting this thread so there doesn’t end up being a ton of them. Along with me posting about tight end Carson Ryan, also keep an eye on Jalin Conyer, a former top 10 TE.

There could be other Arizona State players to keep an eye on too from what I’ve heard.

I keep seeing everyone QT’d Jackson’s X post from a few weeks ago with gifs and other things that seem to be implying he may be joining the portal?! This would be a huge loss.

This made me laugh and roll my eyes…

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whoops

Bryant is being recruited as a safety, but he did a little bit of everything at Olympus:

I’m not surprised by this. It’s unfortunate for the team and they’ll have to be extra cautious of these transfer situations going forward.

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This is a nice pickup in the portal:

I’m burnt out. Going to recuse myself for a while and see what the final product ends up being. Not angry with the transfers especially JJ. Dude gave us everything he had week after week and was probably wondering when it was his turn to get paid. Loyalty and such is easy to talk about when you don’t have money. I wish him the best and will cheer for whatever my team is next fall.

Bryant committed while finishing his Utah visit this weekend. He’ll immediately serve an LDS mission. His dad played at BYU in the late 80s and early 90s.

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The Utes beat UVU by a sizable margin, but it was much closer than the final score. Here are the takeaways:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/takeaways-utah-beats-uvu-76-62

Today’s starting five:

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Utah gets a good impact player at corner:

Awesome to see and hopefully this pays off for him:

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The announcement today at the Huntsman Center was for SUV and truck leases provided to men’s and women’s basketball, plus women’s gymnastics.

Pretty awesome announcement! I’ll have more on this later.

He battled some injuries this season at BYU, but don't be fooled - the potential for Daley is sky high:

I’m currently driving… More to come:

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And here’s a name I talked about recently… Daley will need to put on weight, but the potential is enormous:

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Utah has some noticeable recruits with strong offer sheets. What is troubling are the numbers of those who don't at a position of need.

Utah has had great success putting Corners and Safeties into the NFL. Since December began, Utah has had three commits, all players aimed to bolster the secondary (positions of need).

Let's look at these three recruits.

Quimara Shemwell (December 1st): Utah got him to flip from Arizona. The rest of his offer list is Connecticut, Idaho, SDSU, San Jose State and Wazzu.

Maurice 'Rabbit' Evans (December 9th): Utah got him to flip from Louisiana Tech. His offer sheet besides the Bulldogs is as follows; Coastal Carolina, Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, Georgia Southern, Jackson State, Massachusetts, Memphis, Sam Houston State, Southern Miss, Southern University, Temple, Texas Southern, Texas State, UTSA, UAB, Utah State, Wazzu and West Virginia.

LaTristan Thompson (December 10th): let's also look at his offer sheet. The rundown list is Austin Peay, Incarnate Word, Louisiana Tech, Texas State and Texas Tech.

Conclusion.

Offer sheets and star ratings are NOT the be all and end all to define future productivity. However, it's a telling factor in overall odds relative to talent and success. Sure, Utah has long done more with less, shown projected vision where to use a player and has been able to develope who they have on the roster effectively. Nevertheless, these offer sheets and Utah's recruiting class is shaping up to look more like what they were doing in the MWC. It doesn't look good.

With the obstacles that Utah faces with NIL and the transfer portal, if they can't sustain the recruiting levels that they have reached with the positive trajectory of the previous 8-10 years, then to me, I see a significant step back for Utah as a program. This is not a good looking recruiting class even by BIG 12 standards.

Southern Utah, Baylor as a non-conference due to the late changes, and Utah State. Nice to have the Aggies back in the schedule.

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Ryan played 365 snaps this year and 466 career snaps. He was rated 71.6 this year and 83.3 last year by PFF. His career numbers are as follows: 19 catches on 24 targets (79.2%) for 287 yards (15.1 ypc) with 3 TD and only 1 drop.

So here's what we know so far:

Coming back to Utah:
QB Cam Rising (1,653)
CB Zemaiah Vaughn (1,532)
LB Levani Damuni (1,846)

Out of Eligibility:
TE Thomas Yassmin* (650)
RB Chris Curry* (318 but only 82 at Utah)
CB Miles Battle (1,258 but only 415 at Utah)
WR Emery Simmons (1,335 but only 67 at Utah)

Transferring:
CB JaTravis Broughton (1,535)
QB Bryson Barnes (740)
CB Faybian Marks (534)
WR Makai Cope (370)
WR Mikey Matthews (345)
QB Nate Johnson (262)
LB Justin Medlock (87)
CB Kenzel Lawler (34)
S Jadon Pearson (22; 13 at Utah and 9 at Air Force)
TE Hayden Erickson (19)
TE Noah Bennee (4)
DB Jocelyn Malaska (0)
DB Darrien Stewart (0)
LB Owen Chambliss (0)
QB Mack Howard (0)

Leaving Early:
OL Sataoa Laumea (3,016)**
OL Keaton Bills (2,624)
WR Devaughn Vele (2,198)
S Cole Bishop (1,726)
S Sione Vaki (998)

* Both Yassmin and Curry played 6 years, so they are both RS SRs including the Covid year. Both suffered season-ending injuries this year, but I believe both happened too late in the season to apply for a medical RS for a 7th year. I may be incorrect in this belief.

** Laumea is playing in an all-star game, but has not officially announced he's leaving for the NFL. He cannot play in that game without officially declaring, but until that game happens he could come back.

I won't speculate about kids who might transfer, but kids who might leave early have to declare by January 15, so still about 6 weeks. Potential players still on that list are:

DE Jonah Elliss (1,085)
TE Brant Kuithe (1,802)

There are always surprises, but right now we have Rising and Vaughn back, which is a very good start, as it means we won't have to find 3 new CB starters next year.

Anyone heard how ticket sales are going?
From some I’ve talk to there doesn’t sound like a lot of interest.

2nd tier bowl game at a bad time two days before Christmas. Multiple players out.

Doesn’t sound like Utah will even sell their allotment