High school athletes broaden their horizons by playing at out-of-state programs

Editor's note: This is the second in a three-part series on high school athletes and college athletic scholarships.

A football coaches' clinic in Missouri became a perfect ticket for former Highland quarterback Mason Keller to vault into the collegiate ranks.

After his high school coach, Brody Benson, attended an option-offense seminar held by the football coaches at Lincoln University, Keller's interest in the NCAA Division II college grew by leaps and bounds. Keller asked Benson to send footage of him to the Blue Tigers' coaching staff.

Lincoln head coach Nathan Cochran immediately saw that Keller's abilities were a perfect fit for his team's option attack and wasted no time offering him a football scholarship.

"I really know what to do with the offense," Keller said. "Once they saw that, they thought I was a perfect fit for them. They really started going all out recruiting me."

Both Keller and Rams teammate Andre Coleman ended up signing with Lincoln and will relocate to the school's campus in Jefferson City, Mo., in time for the 2010 season.

They are just two of a large number of local athletes who looked outside of Utah to continue their athletic careers at smaller colleges and junior colleges.

In many cases, a local connection to these schools in other states has helped to introduce local athletes to new athletic possibilities.

West Jordan's Dustin Christensen found out about the baseball program at Pacific University, an NCAA Division III college in Oregon, mainly because Nate Rasmussen — son of Bingham High girls basketball coach Rand Rasmussen — already played on the team.

Sam Wunderli, a former Brighton standout, was introduced to Western Wyoming Community College because his high school coaches personally knew the coaching staff of the Mustang men's basketball team.

There were other important factors beyond these personal connections, though, that sealed the deal for each of these athletes.

For Wunderli, who also looked at CEU, SLCC and Dixie State, going to Rock Springs to play for Western Wyoming offers a chance for him to expand his game as a basketball player.