Just got off the phone with three star offensive lineman Troy Fautanu from Henderson, Nevada. He's a big boy at 6-foot-4, 260 and is getting recruited on both sides of the ball by schools, but said that Utah wants him on the offensive side. Specifically, he said that both Justin Ena and Jim Harding have visited him and watched some of his spring volleyball games, but that Harding is "selfish" about wanting him to play offense for the U and told Ena and Fautanu that he wants Fautanu to play guard at Utah. He plays volleyball to keep agile, because he doesn't just want to sit around in the spring and wants to stay active.
He said he has plans on unofficially visiting Arizona State and possibly Colorado in the summer, and has already unofficially visited Cal and Utah. Fautanu said he saw similarities in Cal and Utah in that both of their head coaches are down to earth guys that preach family values and everyone in the program is welcoming.
Fautanu said that the schools that are recruiting him the hardest right now are Utah, Cal, Vanderbilt and Duke. Duke has been on par with Utah in terms of getting in contact with his parents and getting them on board with the program. His mom is really big on academics, so he's really interested in Stanford and Notre Dame, who both haven't offered but are going to be visiting his high school in the coming weeks to take a closer look, so those offers appear pretty imminent. He wants to study engineering (he says he's really good at math and that his mom is his math teacher) or business in college.
He said that he sat down with his high school head coach before the season and they spoke about creating a top 3 schools list that he really wants offers from. Utah, Cal and Notre Dame were on that list. Utah was his first offer and he really enjoyed his unofficial, and he's interested in Cal and Notre Dame due to their prestigious academic programs -- he said that he doesn't want to go to a school to just play football, he wants to get a good degree that will set himself up for life after football (he said he really likes Cal's "Life After Ball" program).
Fautanu said that he feels closest with Jim Harding out of all of the coaches recruiting him, followed by the staff at Cal and Duke. Harding in particular has always vested an interest in him and is always in contact with Fautanu.
He's taking a "wait and see" approach and waiting for spring offers before hammering down where he wants to take official visits, but Utah is likely going to get one of them. He spoke most brightly about Utah out of his offer list, but if Notre Dame ends up offering, they might be tough to beat out. Still, Utah has done all the right things, getting the inroad with the parents and sticking with him throughout the process.
More soon...
He said he has plans on unofficially visiting Arizona State and possibly Colorado in the summer, and has already unofficially visited Cal and Utah. Fautanu said he saw similarities in Cal and Utah in that both of their head coaches are down to earth guys that preach family values and everyone in the program is welcoming.
Fautanu said that the schools that are recruiting him the hardest right now are Utah, Cal, Vanderbilt and Duke. Duke has been on par with Utah in terms of getting in contact with his parents and getting them on board with the program. His mom is really big on academics, so he's really interested in Stanford and Notre Dame, who both haven't offered but are going to be visiting his high school in the coming weeks to take a closer look, so those offers appear pretty imminent. He wants to study engineering (he says he's really good at math and that his mom is his math teacher) or business in college.
He said that he sat down with his high school head coach before the season and they spoke about creating a top 3 schools list that he really wants offers from. Utah, Cal and Notre Dame were on that list. Utah was his first offer and he really enjoyed his unofficial, and he's interested in Cal and Notre Dame due to their prestigious academic programs -- he said that he doesn't want to go to a school to just play football, he wants to get a good degree that will set himself up for life after football (he said he really likes Cal's "Life After Ball" program).
Fautanu said that he feels closest with Jim Harding out of all of the coaches recruiting him, followed by the staff at Cal and Duke. Harding in particular has always vested an interest in him and is always in contact with Fautanu.
He's taking a "wait and see" approach and waiting for spring offers before hammering down where he wants to take official visits, but Utah is likely going to get one of them. He spoke most brightly about Utah out of his offer list, but if Notre Dame ends up offering, they might be tough to beat out. Still, Utah has done all the right things, getting the inroad with the parents and sticking with him throughout the process.
More soon...
