Morning News subscribers enjoy evening with Meyer

Though he admires and respects Lance Armstrong and his accomplishments, Utah football coach Urban Meyer said he's tired of reading about the Tour de France.

"It's time for some football around here," Meyer told several hundred Deseret Morning News subscribers and special guests at a gathering Wednesday night at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

"A night with Urban Meyer," sponsored by the newspaper, allowed fans to interact with the coaching staff, view the 2003 highlight video and participate in a prize drawing.

Nick Tonge, a 13-year-old student at Clayton Intermediate School in Salt Lake City, won the grand prize. At season's end, his family will join Meyer's family for dinner at a restaurant. The ninth-grader wasn't sure where they'd go, but his grandfather Glen Tonge, a U. alum and longtime fan from Bountiful, said it wouldn't be McDonald's.

Dale Morey of Salt Lake City won an all-expenses-paid trip for two to the Sept. 11 game at Arizona. Sideline passes, scholarship box accommodations and suite tickets were among other prizes awarded to guests at the event, hosted by Deseret Morning News publisher Jim Wall.

The highlight video drew big applause from the crowd when Bryan Borreson's game-winning field goal against BYU was shown.

Meyer, his wife Shelley and assistant coaches Kyle Whittingham, Gary Andersen, Dan Mullen, Mike Sanford and Chuck Heater then followed with brief remarks.

"We love Utah. We love Salt Lake City. We love it," said Shelley Meyer. "It doesn't hurt going 10-2 and winning the bowl game, either."

Before the night was complete, Urban Meyer answered several questions from the crowd. He acknowledged that Morgan Scalley will be among those returning kicks this season and noted that the Utes are actively recruiting areas such as Hawaii, American Samoa, Texas, California and Utah.

During the offseason, he noted, members of the coaching staff also visited with NFL coaches in San Francisco and Minnesota to stay on the cutting edge of things.

"There's no such thing as luck," said Meyer, who assured the fans that no one would outwork his team. "There's a big word called investment."

Meyer encouraged those in attendance to return Sept. 2 when the Utes host Texas A&M on ESPN. He's working to have it declared "Utah Day" and is hopeful the community puts its "best foot forward" for the national broadcast.

"This is what college football is all about," said Meyer.

CAMP FOR KIDS: Meyer and the Utah coaching staff will conduct a free camp for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Salt Lake this morning. It continues a tradition Meyer began while at Bowling Green. Participants will tour the football facilities, run through drills and have a discussion with Meyer.

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E-mail: dirk@desnews.com