Boylen dips into MUSS for 2 walk-on players

University of Utah head men's basketball coach Jim Boylen has added two walk-ons to the Runnin' Ute program. Additionally, Boylen has awarded former walk-on Sayre Brennan a scholarship.

After walk-on tryouts Sept. 24, Boylen invited Jonathan Downie (Bountiful) and Tre Smith (Magna) to join the team.

Downie is a 6-foot 8-inch forward and will be a sophomore. He missed his senior season at Bountiful High School with a back injury but was a starter as a sophomore. Downie also played on two state championship football teams at Bountiful in 2002 and 2003.

Smith is a 5-9 freshman point guard who attended Cyprus High School. Smith was a second-team all-state selection

"I said I wanted to take a walk-on from the student body — from the MUSS — to add some depth," Boylen said. "We ended up taking two — a point guard and a big guy. The tryouts went very well ... there was a lot of interest in the program."

Brennan, who was a walk-on with the Utes last season, will graduate in the spring. Boylen said he earned the scholarship.

"Sayre has done a great job in conditioning and taking ownership on and off the floor," Boylen said. "We had a scholarship left to give, and I was glad to do it for him."

With the addition of the walk-ons and Brennan's scholarship, Utah now has 15 student-athletes on its 2007-08 roster, 13 on scholarship.