High school juniors in the fall of 2004 must have been paying attention to Utah’s undefeated run to the Fiesta Bowl.
Although former Utes coach Urban Meyer now collects four- and five-star players for Florida, Utah still is reeling in the top recruits in the Mountain West Conference. The Utes were ranked No. 53 by Rivals.com Wednesday night, best in the league.
Utah’s class includes the MWC’s only four-star high school recruit, 6-foot-2, 300- pound defensive tackle Joseph Faifili from Hawaii. The Utes signed nine three- star high school recruits.
Next highest ranked in the MWC was league champion Texas Christian (61). All but two prospects the Horned Frogs signed are from Texas.
Brigham Young followed at No. 67 nationally, but the biggest recruiting news involving the Cougars centered on the area prospect who got away. Stanley Havili of Salt Lake City, the third-ranked fullback in the country, signed with Southern California.
BYU picked up five three- star prospects in Bronco Mendenhall’s first full recruiting season as Cougars coach.
If there was a signing-day surprise in the MWC, it was Nevada-Las Vegas, which zoomed up from 97th a year ago to a tie for 73rd on the appeal of four-star San Francisco City College transfer wide receiver Aaron Straiten.
San Diego State, which trailed Colorado State until Monday, barely pulled ahead at No. 86. First-year Aztecs coach Chuck Long, who vowed to build a “wall around San Diego,” harvested Colorado for Cherry Creek quarterback Kelsey Sokoloski and Arapahoe linebacker Andrew Preston.
The Aztecs signed a San Diego-area linebacker, Marcus Yarbrough, who was heavily recruited by CSU. The Rams slipped to No. 87 in the Rivals.com rankings.
New Mexico, which hasn’t made a signing-day splash since getting in-state Parade All-America running back DonTrell Moore, who completed his Lobos career last season as the MWC’s all-time leading rusher, was ranked No. 92. Wyoming was ranked No. 102.
CSU coach Sonny Lubick dismissed the rankings.
“Someone told me if some kid signs or commits at Florida, he’s a four-star,” he said. “If he goes somewhere else, he’s a two-star.”
