Utah Utes football lands Syracuse prospect Hunter Dimick

SYRACUSE — Hunter Dimick grew up wanting to play football for the University of Utah. So naturally, after the Ute coaching staff came forward with a scholarship offer, he quickly accepted it.

"I love Utah, and it was my childhood favorite school and always have been my favorite school," said the 6-foot-4, 250-pound defensive end. "I'm so excited right now, it's really a dream come true for me to play for the U."

Dimick led the state prep ranks in sacks last season while earning himself first-team, all-state honors.

Dimick was first offered by BYU before Utah matched the offer based on his camp performance. Other schools were beginning to show a lot of interest, but he decided to cut his recruiting process short.

"I just thought that it wouldn't be right to waste anybody's time," he said. "I wanted to be Ute, and I didn't want to be part of any other program more than I wanted to be part of Utah's, so it made complete sense to me to just commit."

Utah had been showing Dimick a lot of interest leading up to his scholarship-clinching camp performance this week. While he wasn't completely sure they'd come forward with an offer, he felt that it was a strong possibility.

He dominated the Ute camp sessions, reportedly going undefeated in one-on-one drills against competing linemen.

"Coaches said they were really impressed with how I did," he said. "That meant a lot because I absolutely love the coaching staff. The main reason why I committed to Utah was because of its coaches. I love Coach Whittingham and I love Coach Kauha'aha'a, who is just a real fun guy and someone I already love playing for."

The other big reason for his commit was Utah's future affiliation with the Pac-12 conference.

"It's such an exciting time at Utah, and just being there you want to be a part of it," he said. "It's just all so perfect for me. Playing for my childhood favorite, loving the coaches, playing in the Pac-12. I really couldn't ask for anything more."

Dimick was being pursued heavily by BYU and felt the university would have been a good option for him.

"The LDS thing wasn't a factor at all," said Dimick, who is not a member of the LDS Church. "I love BYU and the environment down there. I really love and respect Coach Mendenhall, Coach Howell and Coach Kaufusi, and I would have done great committing there and playing down there, but Utah was always my first choice."

Dimick hopes to continue in the great tradition of defensive linemen Utah has established over the years.

"Watching the Krugers play, Christian Cox and others, man, I really want to just try and play like they did," he said. "Playing defensive end at Utah, it doesn't get much better than that. They've put a lot of their defensive linemen into the NFL, so that's something I really like about them as well."