Utah Utes football: Utah cashes in on unbeaten season

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah coach Kyle Whittingham says recruiting seems to get easier after each undefeated season.

He'd love to have one or two more to confirm his theory.

Whittingham said Utah's perfect season had a definite impact on this year's recruiting class, which he released Wednesday. The Utes went 13-0 and capped the season with an upset of Alabama in the Sugar Bowl and finished the season ranked No. 2 in the nation.

Whittingham said a few recruits signed the day after the Sugar Bowl and he expects the 2008 season to continue paying dividends in future classes. He said that was the case after Utah went 12-0 in 2004. The difference is four years ago Whittingham was taking over for Urban Meyer and trying build his new staff and capitalize on the BCS Busters' success at the same time.

And now nobody can call the Utes a one-season wonder.

"'This is a one-time shot. Forget about this happening again.' That was what other schools used against us," Whittingham said. "Now there's more continuity and people understand that we're for real. I think it's a big difference this year as far as what we had to go through in '04."

Utah received 17 letters of intent on Wednesday, giving the Utes 23 newcomers including junior college transfers. Whittingham felt it was the best of his four recruiting classes, although whether that's true won't be known until they're actually playing for the Utes.

While going unbeaten twice in five seasons has definitely bolstered the Utes' image, Utah is still not among the heavyweights whose classes were billed as the tops nationally by scouting Web sites.

"Where we are in the recruiting chain, there's some schools that select who they want. They don't recruit. They just choose. We're not in that category right now," Whittingham said. "We have to work our tail off to get these guys signed."

Two of the recruits are quarterbacks and both will participate in spring practice. Terrance Cain transferred from Blinn College in Texas and enrolled in January. Freshman Jordan Wynn graduated high school in December so he could start school in time for spring practice.

The Utes need to replace three-year starter Brian Johnson. Cain, Wynn, and redshirt freshman DeVonte Christopher will compete with Corbin Louks, Johnson's backup last year, for the starting job.