BYU locks up most of state's top football recruits

BYU's banner year on the gridiron carried over to the recruiting trail.

When the state's top high school football players sit down this Wednesday to sign their national letters of intent, most of the premiere athletes will be sending those coveted documents to BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall.

"They've been by far the top college going after our kids," said Bingham coach Dave Peck, who has two players committing to BYU. "I can't speak for other high schools, but BYU has totally outrecruited. They know our kids inside and out, and they were the first to offer our kids."

In fact, Bingham's Jordan Pendleton was the first player who verbally committed to BYU more than a year ago.

In all, nine Utah prepsters are scheduled to sign letters of intent with BYU this Wednesday, whereas the University of Utah is expecting letters from just three local players, and Utah State anticipates only a handful as well.

While most local players will end up signing with in-state schools, several have found a home in the Pac-10. Cottonwood defensive lineman Simi Fili and Judge linebacker Cort Dennison, who wasn't recruited by Utah or BYU, will sign with Washington. Park City running back Jared Tew will sign with the Air Force Academy.

With so many players scheduled to sign with the Cougars, however, the 2007 recruiting class may ultimately be judged by BYU's success in the coming years.

Of the nine future Cougars, the two highest rated players by rivals.com are Highland tight end Braden Brown and Bingham defensive lineman Star Lotulelei. Peck did confirm, however, that Lotulelei is on the bubble of qualifying academically, and if he doesn't end up qualifying, he'll sign with Snow College.

In addition to Pendleton, who recently decided that he's going to play defensive back at BYU, the six other BYU-bound local players are Timpview offensive lineman Famika Anae, Jordan wide receiver Scotty Ebert, Timpview lineman Eathyn Manumaleuna, Timpview offensive lineman Houston Reynolds, North Sanpete linebacker Austen Jorgensen and Spanish Fork wide receiver Jordan Smith.

Smith's teammate, quarterback Griff Robles, will be signing with the University of Utah.

During his senior season, the 6-foot-4 Robles completed 47 percent of his passes for 1,631 yards and 17 TDs. Even though his stats were fairly average last year, he performed very well at the Elite 11 regional workout in Las Vegas and was being recruited by Arizona, BYU, California, Colorado State and Oregon.