BYU football: Cougars land local defensive back commit

BYU landed a commit today from Lone Peak's Micah Hannemann. His older brother, Jacob, signed with BYU in 2010 and is currently serving a mission.

For Micah Hannemann, it was his dream since he was young to play for BYU.

"I'm so excited right now, I can hardly believe I have the chance to play for BYU," said the 6-foot-1, 185-pound defensive back. "I've wanted this for so long, and now that it's finally going to happen, I just feel so blessed."

Hannemann received his offer after a few days of performing at camp. He was then able to meet with head coach Bronco Mendenhall and inform him of his commitment.

"We visited for almost an hour," he said. "We talked about everything. I love Coach Mendenhall and how he is. He's very easy to talk to, and you can tell that he cares a lot for you as a player."

Hannemann had been receiving a lot of recent attention from the University of Utah after some standout performances at its camp. The Ute coaching staff told him they wanted him as a wide receiver and were deciding between him and two other wide receiver prospects.

"I like Utah, but BYU has always been my first choice, so when they offered, I knew immediately what my decision was," he said. "I love everything about BYU. I love the atmosphere, the coaches, everything. It's the perfect school for me."

He had recently received an offer from Southern Utah and had been attracting a lot of interest from Utah State.

Hannemann won't receive a scholarship his first year since he'll gray-shirt during the 2012 season. As a gray-shirt, he'll underenroll in school so it won't count against his eligibility and attend team meetings, but he won't be eligible to practice with the team until spring practices the following year.

"I'll probably sign a letter of intent with BYU in 2013, and not in 2012," he said. "After I play in 2013, I have plans to serve a mission."

Although he's capable of playing wide receiver, BYU offered Hannemann as a defensive back.

"I'll play either boundary corner or free safety," he said. "I love playing defense. I love to hit guys and to play aggressively, so playing defensive back is perfect for me."