High school football: Timpview players make Div. 1 school choices

Louis Wong says he's only carried on the tradition of Timpview football from Chad Van Orden — getting football players to develop their potential.

This recruiting season, Wong's 4A state champions will place at least four prospects in Division I programs and two could make an immediate impact.

One, Utah's Mr. Football, is BYU-bound safety Craig Bills. An injured senior lineman, Tui Crichton, also pledged to BYU. Heralded offensive tackle Xavier Su'a-Filo, who attracted USC's Pete Carroll, LSU's Les Miles and UCLA's Rick Neuheisel to his home the past week, remains undecided. The fourth is receiver Travis Van Leeuwen, who will sign with Utah State.

The handiwork is evident. The Thunderbirds have won three-straight titles with these guys.

I asked Wong, who is interviewing for the vacant O-line job at Utah, to break down these prospects and why they may make an impact at the next level.

Bills caught Wong's eye as soon as he arrived as a freshman and moved into a backup role as safety for the T-Birds.

"He had very good size and athletic ability. He was very aggressive and liked to hit people. For a young guy coming in, they can sometimes be intimidated but Craig never was; he wanted to play as soon as possible. He's intelligent and probably the most competitive kid I've been around. He's worked on his speed and has done a good job with track. He might be getting too big to play safety and could possibly be a linebacker in BYU's scheme. He has all the tools to be where he's at."

Bills committed to BYU way back in June 2007, a different road than that taken by Su'a Filo, who has been courted the past two years and remains one of the last five-star recruits uncommitted. It is likely he will sign with UCLA or Utah.

Did his early decision for BYU hurt the attention Bills may have received had he waited to announce?

Perhaps. At one point, seeing all the attention dumped on others in the 2009 class, Bills considered de-committing and playing the recruiting game.

"He always wanted to go to BYU where his brothers played," said Wong. "Deciding early allowed him to focus and not get distracted compared with Xavier, who has a tough choice to make. I told Craig he could only go to one school and if it was BYU, what did it matter."