Deseret News | Reader comments: S. California running back commits to BYU

Reader comments
S. California running back commits to BYU

He wants to play for a winner | 3:24 p.m. May 20, 2009

BYU has three straight top 25 finishes and three straight 10+ win seasons. He wants to play in front of 65,000 fans every saturday. He wants to play for a school that actually has a tradition with a heisman, davey o'brien, sammy baugh, doak walker, outland and a NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP trophy in the case. He wants to play for a team that has a football history farther back than 2004.

SoCalSports | 5:24 p.m. May 20, 2009

To DickHarmon--I guess I am being nitpicky but saying Murrieta High could use clarification as there are 2 soon to be 3 Murrieta High Schools...Murrieta Valley High, Vista Murrieta High, and soon to be Murrieta Mesa High. Also saying Murrieta Valley High in Riverside is like saying Bountiful High in Salt Lake City or Timpview High in Salt Lake City. Murrieta is a city by itself of almost 100,000 residents. The city of Riverside is 20-30 miles north.

re: Winner | 5:31 p.m. May 20, 2009

I'll take irrelevant BYU sports history for $100.

By the time he's back from his mission, Utah will have been to their 3rd BCS bowl game. And Bronco will still have an unfullfilled "Quest."

All these comments over a kid with a 40 rating from ESPN.

Comments continue below

Great pick up | 5:36 p.m. May 20, 2009

However, when does BYU effectively utilize their running game????

Renewed | 6:40 p.m. May 20, 2009

About six months ago I quit reading the comment section of the DN articles. Today I renewed my commitment for another six months.

Howard S. | 7:25 p.m. May 20, 2009

Did he have any other offers?

SoCalUteFan | 9:54 p.m. May 20, 2009

Another GREAT player missed by the YEWTS!!!!

No other offers, huh? | 10:25 p.m. May 20, 2009

Good get Cougs.

DearWow | 11:35 p.m. May 20, 2009

Wow from 5:46 PM thinks BYU is 1 for 3 in the Vegas Bowl. The real count is two losses (to Arizona in 2008 and Cal in 2005) versus two wins (over UCLA in 2007 and Oregon in 2006).

In other PAC-10 games during the Bronco era, BYU is 1-1 vs Arizona, 1-1 vs UCLA and 1-0 vs Washington.

Sum total, BYU is 5-4. So BYU should be about as relevant as Cal or Oregon, because that is roughly the PAC-10 record those programs have been averaging the past four years. That is nothing to be embarassed about. BYU has every right to say it has been the 2nd best team west of Texas in the past 4 years, behind USC. Oregon, Cal, Boise St and Utah can dicker over that claim, but is in the eye of the beholder on that one. What is clear is that Utah & BYU are ahead of programs like Arizona State, Colorado and UCLA.

Ernest T. Bass | 7:44 a.m. May 21, 2009

re: DearWow
You must work for FARMS to produce a spin like that one.
I'm going to be laughing all day.
2nd only to USC. So funny
Still can't beat a ranked team. So sad
No BCS games, it'll never happen either.

Rediculous | 7:47 a.m. May 21, 2009

How does beating 2 mediocre Pac-10 teams make us the 2nd best team in the west behind USC?

That's a rediculous claim.

Re:Wow | 7:52 a.m. May 21, 2009

I am not very good at math but last time I check BYU was 2 and 2 in the Vegas bowl over the last four years. Please tell me your a ewe fan and not a Y fan.

re: DearWow | 7:55 a.m. May 21, 2009

Why don't you ask someone from outside of Provo if Utah is a more prominent program the last 4 years than BYU? Maybe someone like Jimmy Johnson or Barry Switzer. Not only is Utah light years ahead of BYU in the past 5 years on a national level, Boise State is also ahead of the mighty Cougars.

Try accomplishing something other than the Vegas Bowl, then you can compare yourself to UCS. Until then you are stuck looking up at the Utes.

Good, but never great = BYU
Good, great twice now = Utah

Re:re: DearWow | 8:15 a.m. May 21, 2009

Man did you tee that up nicely for BYU fans. Nice try, but prepare to be beat down.

TBS | 8:20 a.m. May 21, 2009

Hope he can grow | 8:47 a.m. May 21, 2009

He appears to be a bit undersized to fill the shoes of Harvey Unga. I hope he's still growing.

Utah | 9:16 a.m. May 21, 2009

is light years ahead of no one and will prove that this year!

re: 8:15AM | 9:31 a.m. May 21, 2009

Um, was that a prelude to something you or another Cougar is going to post? Guess you figure you'll hit the ball off the tee some other time? Are you hoping someone smarter than you comes along and can come up with something to say?

Even if it's not true and completely ridiculous you should probably throw something out there after making such a bold threat.

Re: re: 8:15AM | 10:18 a.m. May 21, 2009

I'm actually a Ute fan, but what was said in that post was an embarrassment. I agree that Utah is the premier non-BCS program at this point, but to say that the cougars have NEVER been great is silly. That is exactly the type of argument that annoys me so much about BYU fans. They fail to recognize the accomplishments of others. You go on to then brag that the Utes have had 2 great seasons. Um, even a Ute fan can recognize that BYU has had more "great" seasons than the Utes. I personally think that it is enough that the Utes have a great program NOW, but frankly, it has not been anything to be proud of until the last decade. The point that Utes should argue is that the programs (Utah and BYU) have basically switched places from a few decades ago, and now the BYU fans are envious of what we've accomplished. The tradition of BYU isn't relevant to current greatness, but I recognize it as being much more impressive than Utah's.
Saying that BYU has NEVER had a great season makes you no better than they are. Denying reality.

tradehead7@hotmail.com | 11:10 a.m. May 21, 2009

Anyone know what Curtis Browns' forty time was. Was he faster than 4.5. It seems 4.5 is not fast to me, thanks.

Re: hope he can grow? | 11:24 a.m. May 21, 2009

NO! You're missing the whole point. He doesn't need to grow, he needs to be fast. Harvey is a great back in a unique mold who has great size and decent enough speed to run off tackle and around the edges at times. This kid has SPEED, something that more of the younger backs are finally bringing to the table.

Anyway, my thoughts on this kid are that we can use him, and the coaches are saying he'll play RB, but that's not a position we need right now, and with the continued depth may not ever need at least for a long time. We already have Harvey Unga, JJ DiLuigi, Bryan Kariya, Malosi Te'o, Tucker Lamb, and Mike Hague back from a mission who have all shown they are capable in spring camp. Aside from that BYU doesn't run the ball that often. We have PLENTY of depth at RB, almost too much. It almost scares me because some kids may not play and want to leave. I think Mike Hague might want to switch back to safety to get more playing time.

Besides defense, this kid could make a good slot receiver.

RB | 11:59 a.m. May 21, 2009

It wouldn't matter if BYU had Barry Sanders (or today Adrian Peterson or LT), BYU doesn't like to run the ball. Even if those guys averaged 15 yards per carry, their OC wouldn't care.
BYU likes to see how many INT's their QB can throw in 1 game.

Re: 11:10 a.m. | 12:02 p.m. May 21, 2009

Curtis Brown was a 4.6. That's actually the same as Harvey Unga, believe it or not. If Curtis Brown looked faster it was because he was smaller, quicker, and more maneuverable. If you look purely at stats, though, Harvey has been more productive and will likely take the new BYU all time rushing record that Curtis just broke in 2006.

P.S. And no, a 4.5 is freaking fast. If you think it's slow try running one sometime. Even a 4.6 is decent enough. 4.4's, 4.3's, and 4.2's are obviously faster but that seriously does not make a 4.5 a slow time by any stretch of the imagination.

Re: RB | 1:36 p.m. May 21, 2009

You are basing your reasoning off of 2 whole games. Coach Anae has had games where he ran the fooball a lot. In 2007 Harvey rushed for 177 yards against UNLV and 161 yards against SDSU. For whatever reason against TCU and Utah he didn't stick with running the football.

It's a game management problem. When you're down against a good team you don't have time to run the clock down, you have to get quick points without killing time, and the best way to do that is to pass. So a lot of factors play into it. In the case of the Utah game, Utah had a game plan to take Max Hall out of the game. Coach Anae played right into their hands and Utah won the game.

The best way BYU could have dealt with that game would have been to keep running the ball, but that would have killed a lot of time. The defense didn't control Utah's passing game well enough, and BYU found themselves in a hole early. They really didn't give themselves time to run the ball, and that obviously becamse a serious problem.

4.5 | 2:36 p.m. May 21, 2009

4.5 is not FREAKING fast. It's above average runningback speed, but definitely nothing to drool over by itself. Those numbers aren't all that persuasive, either. I hope this kid is shifty, tough and can catch the ball out of the backfield if he expects to make an impact, because it typically takes a dominant high school athlete to make a decent college athlete and 7 yards per carry, while excellent for college statistics, isn't quite as dominant in high school. When you consider they pass the ball enough for him alone to gain 600 yards, not counting the other players, if he's as good as he's made out to be, I would hope for upwards of 9 yards a carry in a spread offense.

Ute Fan | 2:43 p.m. May 21, 2009

I think a back with 4.5 speed will be great for BYU. The problem will be, as with many of the BYU players, that you won't really know for about four years because of his mission. If you want to identify when BYU's sports programs faded from greatness, it can be tracked back to when the Church began pressuring BYU athletes go go on missions. BYU's "national championship" in football and its last Elite Eight in basketball both occurred when athletes like Danny Ainge and Robby Boscoe could hone their skills for four consecutive years and the program enjoyed the continuity that entailed. That isn't to say that many returned missionaries have great careers--it's simply a fact that there is always a decent chance that athletes like this new running back will find that their priorities change during two years without sports. That isn't a bad thing--there are many things more important than football--but it is tough for sports fans. Good luck.

THis kid is legit | 3:29 p.m. May 21, 2009

He had a great game against Corona centennial in our area and rushed for over 100 yards that had 6 D-1 players on it. If this kid lived in Utah he would be a 3 to 4 star recruit possibly. But there is so much talent here and the schools are so talented rich down here.

Re: 2:43 p.m. | 4:20 p.m. May 21, 2009

That's part of the good and bad about BYU's program. On one hand we've recruited awesome players over the past few seasons, but these players are on missions right now. The nice part is though that those players are finally starting to come home from missions, and they are the best players BYU has recruited this decade. So even though 11-2, 11-2, and 10-3 have been done with "sub-par" players, the "more talented" recruits that are waiting in the wings are about to have their turn over the coming seasons, which makes the future really exciting.

Spudman | 5:25 p.m. May 21, 2009

The Utes have never beat the Broncos. Even at home.
Utah doesn't hold a candle to Boise State. Don't flatter yourselves.

Carrots and Spuds | 11:25 p.m. May 21, 2009

Sound like a great pick up for BYU Kids a little undersized but quick and can obviously catch out of the back field

BCS Proposal | 12:53 p.m. May 23, 2009

I've heard rumors of the NCAA considering, due to the strength of the top WAC and MWC teams lately, inserting the champion of either one conference or the other as an automatic bid in the BCS. My proposal: create a MWC-WAC championship game and the winner of that receives an automatic bid. For instance, Boise State (befoe they blew it against TCU) were sore because they went undefeated and weren't given a bid. So last year Utah would have played Boise State in a neutral championship location (perhaps somewhere in California or Nevada)and the winner of that game (which almost undoubtedly would've been Utah) would have advanced to the Sugar Bowl. Any feedback?

TheHailstorm Re:BCs proposal | 5:07 p.m. May 23, 2009

And in other news YBU was eliminated early in the MWC baseball tournament . Utah seeded 6th. upset # 10 in the national rankings TCU, and then defeated San Diego State in the championship game to move on. BYU, on the other hand, loses early and Utah wins and moves on.
What's new ? Same story, different sport, and just as off topic as the Blue bloods falling on the past performances of 2 decades ago.
Get up to speed with your cat scat Ynners this is a new year and a new season. Kindly live in the world of today. I know it will be a struggle for all of you coming from where ,"The World is our Campuss", but you can do it. We're all in this together. Just try hard to remember this is 2009 and Robbie Bosco is not your quarterback anymore.

RE:BCS Proposal | 5:19 p.m. May 23, 2009

From--- The Hailstorm--
Great Idea.
I would love to go to that game. Think of the press and pressure that the conferences would get and the pressure that would be put on the BCS farce. I think we should not count out the other schools from these conferences.TCU has mad a big dent , San Diego now has defensive minded Rocky Long as defensive coordinator , Mike Sanford at UNLV has done some good recruiting this year, Colorado State came on strong at the end and scared a few MWC teams and even lowly Wyoming went to Tennessee and beat the Volunteers on their own turf. Too many of the post here count out the other teams in the MWC but all that TCU, BYU, and Utah have done is move into the sights and range of the other schools who are gunning for us. A slip up or taking a school for granted could be the difference for the MWC championship. Next year I would love to see a playoff game between these two conferences with the winner moving on. Even Obama would be happy with that progress.

re: Winner | 5:31 p.m. | 12:27 a.m. May 24, 2009

utes will not go back to another BCS game, they just saw their last trip there in january.

RE: re: DearWow | 7:55 a.m. | 12:32 a.m. May 24, 2009

What happen in between those great years?

A: Mediocre
B: Losers
c: Overrated
D: Underachievers
E: All the above

Answer: "E"

To Ute Fan 2:43 | 12:03 p.m. May 25, 2009

"If you want to identify when BYU's sports programs faded from greatness, it can be tracked back to when the Church began pressuring BYU athletes go go on missions."

First, I would argue your contention that BYU sports programs have faded from greatness. What is your definition of greatness, and by what definition have they faded?

Second, the Church has not "pressured" BYU athletes any more than any other college athlete, or regular college students, for that matter.

I think your theory has a lot of holes and poor assumptions in it.

Add your comment

Comments are monitored. Any comments found to be abusive, offensive, off-topic, misrepresentative, more than 200 words or containing URLs will not be posted.

Words Remaining

E-mail address: For internal use only. We may want to contact you to publish your comment (not your e-mail address) in the newspaper or for a separate story idea.