From Deseret News archives:

Star LDS class of '02 trying to live up to hype

Here's a look at where they are, what they're doing

Published: Thursday, Nov. 16, 2006 9:22 a.m. MST
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
Carter's career at Florida was cut short by injury. He missed his freshman year with a separated shoulder and played two games his sophomore year and three as a junior before a back injury forced him out of football. He had surgery to repair his fourth and fifth lumbar vertebrae and was ordered to avoid contact sports the rest of his life.

"I miss football, of course," Carter said on Wednesday from his home in Tampa Bay, Fla. He is married and is expecting his first child in June. At 22, he owns his own real estate marketing company, an affiliate of OBEO.com, which is based in Salt Lake City.

Carter is still a Gator and loves Urban Meyer. "He's done wonders for the program. He's got the team all fired up," Carter said.

Olson was an Elite 11 Quarterback, all-CIF and listed by several recruiting services at the top high school quarterback in the country at Thousand Oaks High School near Los Angeles.

Olson signed to play at BYU and redshirted his first year before accepting an LDS mission call to Calgary, Canada. Upon returning from his mission, he chose to finish his career at UCLA, where he was named the starter.

Olson played outstanding in the Bruins' 2006 opener against Utah, throwing for 318 yards with a 75 percent completion rate. It was his best game.

Story continues below
The Bruin QB passed for 124 yards against Rice, 135 in a loss to Washington, 219 against Stanford and just 26 against Arizona before injuring his knee. Olson has been declared fit to compete for his job with Pat Cowan, who faced the toughest part of UCLA's schedule.

Olson told reporters this week he expected to get his starting job back; that starters should not lose jobs due to injuries.

A Daily Breeze reporter wrote: "Cowan has had moments when he's looked good or better than Olson, who had a brilliant game against Utah but then struggled his next two games, one a costly loss to Washington."

J.T. Mapu was a 6-foot-3, 275-pound defensive end at Kahuku High School in Hawaii. There, he received first-team all-America honors from Parade Magazine, PrepStar and SuperPrep.

Mapu saw action in all 11 Tennessee games as a freshman, finishing with nine tackles in 2002. In 2003, he started 10 of 11 games for Tennessee, playing both defensive end and tackle.

Mapu went on an LDS mission to Houston after his sophomore season and returned in time to play this season for Tennessee.

Tennessee's defensive front has struggled this season and Mapu has been absent. This led Tennessee Scout.com writer Jeffery Stewart to write Nov. 13, after a loss to Arkansas: "The last time J.T. Mapu was spotted was on a milk carton."

Highland High's Ngata has made the biggest splash in football, garnering national awards at Oregon.

Comments

You can be the first to comment on this story.

previousnext

Latest comments

Hot Rod behind mic for Lakers

It will be good to hear "real play by play or even as analyst with Joel...

i hope hot rod gets confused while doing the play by play and thinks he's...

The BCS bowl team match-ups aren't what you think. First, yes the top two...

Even Ed Gein was found competant to stand trial.

BYU football: Bronco weighs in on Hall

So Bronco's okay with the churches "standard bearers" spewing hatred. Wierd....

Non-BCS schools not given fair shot

By putting TCU & Boise together that means that the other 3 BCS games will...

Ticky... Tacky...

High school girls soccer: All-region

The DNews requests the lists from the region coaches. Ask your coaches why...

Flash apologize, offer refund

This story brings back memories of an Ogden base ball team, who promiced if a...

GO UTES!!!

Advertisements