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Mike Sorensen: It's fun but too early for BYU fans to celebrate

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Ute Fan in MS | 5:42 a.m. June 8, 2009

Good article. Let's see Ben Olsen was a highly recruited QB coming out of High School, and how many BCS games did he win for BYU?

Anonymous | 6:24 a.m. June 8, 2009

i'm suprised sorensen, being the hught homer that he is, isn't pointing out that Heaps is the eighth rated qb of rivals scouting service. So I suppose that he is one of the lower rated qbs as well.

Nice try | 6:38 a.m. June 8, 2009

Good effort to throw a wet blanket on BYU's recruiting coup. This should please Ute fans, and that seems to be Sorensen's role at the DN.

Comments continue below

Observation-ist | 6:41 a.m. June 8, 2009

It's never too early to get excited. We BYU fans have alot to get excited about. We just need to stay excited and not become arrogant or rude about it.

We can start by ignoring the BYU-haters who will undoubtedly have something negative to say about BYU or this article. I'm still excited. Go Cougars!!!

Anonymous | 6:50 a.m. June 8, 2009

Celebrate success on the field, not any pre-game media hype.

Dave | 7:03 a.m. June 8, 2009

I guess if your a Koog you need something to try and get you excited about your football program.

So in other words... | 7:27 a.m. June 8, 2009

Disregard every article that Dick Harmon writes.

Magic Happens | 7:31 a.m. June 8, 2009

Whether we like the article or not, it does ring true. No other MWC school gets as much hype about its quarterbacks than BYU, yet how many of those can't miss stars really panned out. Some transfer, some don't perform, others sit on the sidelines and hold clipboards. There are those that produce great results, but the reality is high school rankings don't produce at the next level, talent combined with coaching does. Heaps sounds like the real deal, and hopefully he proves himself. Unfortunatlely there will be on the sidelines a group of other "can't miss" quarterbacks.

Bryce Harper | 7:37 a.m. June 8, 2009

I am pretty sure that Bryce Harper isn't LDS. By looking at some of the pictures in the SI article it is pretty easy to gather that he isn't. Just because he attends a religious class in the morning doesn't mean it is early morning seminary. Give me a reliable source.

Re: | 7:44 a.m. June 8, 2009

What about Matt Berry...that guy was as blue chip as it gets when he was in High School. Or Brett Engemen, or Danny Southwick? All those were busts...yet they were these big hailed qbs coming out.

Bear Laker | 7:46 a.m. June 8, 2009

You have to get bodies to field a football team. So you just as well start with the ones that perform well at the level that you recruit from. Yewts, I supose, go after the lesser players? C'mon!!! You go after the best you can find. If one doesn't work out you go to the next guy. That's why you recruit several at the same position. If you get a guy that is highly rated you cheer because that is where it starts, getting bodies to play.

DH | 7:46 a.m. June 8, 2009

The proof will happen on the field. Until then it's all speculation and really meaningless. Sports writers job, and the media in general, is to get people all excited about something so that they will buy their paper or tune in to their show but none of it has any meaning.

RockOn | 7:48 a.m. June 8, 2009

Relish ALL victories. To do less is to play the game of pessimists and negative people have never achieved anything. Their quest is to pull others down -- psychic vampires.

southernman | 7:50 a.m. June 8, 2009

I know he is LDS. Canyon View high school played his team Las Vegas High in the preseason. Canyon View coach asked Las Vegas head coach why he wasn't playing for powerhouse Bishop Gorman and his reply was it might have to do with the fact he is a mormon kid. The next fact is his Aunt also teaches spanish at Canyon View and she confirmed the FACT!

Dallas | 7:53 a.m. June 8, 2009

This article would have never seen the light of day, nor the thought through minds of any sports writer in Utah if these kids had committed to Utah in the manner that they did. Look, I have and despise playing the victim card... but this act of "putting BYU and it's fans in their place" is getting really old really fast! Let us have our fun, let us get a bit excited, even if reality says that they may not pan out as well as we all hope I think we are all very understanding of that.

With the newspaper business going down the crapper, you'd think that someone would be a bit brighter in the articles they choose to write.

half empty or half full | 8:12 a.m. June 8, 2009

Getting Heaps to commit to BYU is a great thing. Whether he pans out is much up to him, his dedication, his intelligence, etc.

If BYU hadn't gotten him, the press would be lamenting the loss. Since they did, the press now tempers the signing. Can't please the press.

Any Cougar fan knows that the fact that he is highly touted is no guarantee for collegiate success. It does, however, help in the recruiting process of other players.

Bottom line: I'd rather have the top-rated QB and take my chances with him than not to have him.

Let them celebrate | 8:14 a.m. June 8, 2009

They haven't anything to get excited about in a long time.

Ernest T. Bass | 8:19 a.m. June 8, 2009

But with brocno coaching he'll win a few national championships.
There so dang good already and now they finally get a good qb

GBR | 8:24 a.m. June 8, 2009

Harrison Beck got "CRUSHED" in Callahan's attempt to find a QB at Nebraska.

He was thrown into a meat grinder as a Freshman and then thrown under the bus when he proved he was not the second coming.

Thanks for the "star"!

wallofvoodoo | 8:24 a.m. June 8, 2009

This Ute fan is waiting with baited breath for these guys to come in a couple years. Hopefully they will dominate everyone (except the Utes) on the field. Go cougs! GO UTES!

Me Myself and I | 8:36 a.m. June 8, 2009

I can see it now! After his mission Heaps will end up transferring much like Ben Olsen. Where? You ask. A little closer to home maybe? The University of Washington? Laugh all you want, but if former BYU great Steve Sarkesian can turn around that program and BYU continues to struggle down the stretch and in bowl games it could happen.

Just a request for fairness | 8:39 a.m. June 8, 2009

When the Utes recruit a highly regarded player from HS, the fans rave about how much of an impact he will make. When BYU recruits a highly regarded player, the Ute posts are all about how you can't trust the ratings.

How pathetic that Ute hatred for BYU runs so deep that kudos can't given when kudos are due.

Heaps may be a bust, but so can every one of Utah's recruits. So give the Cougars some credit for getting three highly regarded recruits last week.

Only time will tell how any recruit will pan out, but that is no reason to flame the kid or the university.

Ute fans, it's OK to be a Ute fan, but show some perspective and some class. It also wouldn't hurt to show some fairness in your rants.

perspective | 8:51 a.m. June 8, 2009

Memo to silly y haters. We're not celebrating a national championship, we're celebrating landing a serious #1 recruit! Which fan base wouldn't be doing cartwheels! Relax and stop being so green.

Not what this site is about | 8:58 a.m. June 8, 2009

To "Just a request for fairness": This blog, and the one on the other newspaper's site, is not about fairness. It has been taken over by a group of idiots who have nothing better to do than make outragious, baseless comments just to get a rise out of the other side. Best to ignore them. One good thing about the other other newspaper is that it gives you the option of ignoring those contributors who have nothing important to say.

Never too soon | 9:01 a.m. June 8, 2009

It's NEVER too soon for zoobies to win national championships in the preseason. Therein was born the "Quest for Perfection." I LOVE IT.

It's also NEVER too soon for Ute fans to laugh at zoobies for failing to live up to their own preseason hype. And it's NEVER too late afterward either. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

Ute fans WILL remember all those "Heisman" awards and "National Championships" zoobies have been talking about since Heaps signed all throughout the remainder of Heaps High School and collegiate years. And we WILL laugh at every failed "Quest".

Go zoobs!

Anti-Mike Sorensenite | 9:03 a.m. June 8, 2009

It's sad that Mike Sorensen has such a compelling need to put Cougar fans in their place. What, they stormed the field when they barely beat UCLA in the LV Bowl? Well, they shouldn't!! And on and on...

Don't cheer or support your team without first considering how a Ute fan might perceive you, you doggone Cougar fans!!

The Utah local media is a joke | 9:22 a.m. June 8, 2009

Including the local newspaper hacks and local radio hacks. They are all hacks. Had Jake Heaps signed in Washington, the media in Washington would have been writing positiving articles on the signing and pointing out the pros of the signing. It doesn't work that way in Utah, where the media just has to bash something positive, serve as a buzz kill and try to bring everyone down in general. It really doesn't matter if BYU would have signed Joe freaking Montana, the local hacks would have bashed it as usual.

Re: half empty or half full | 9:24 a.m. June 8, 2009

Good comment. I think what many people are overlooking is the affect that this has on recruiting as a whole. Really, it is not a big deal to get this one recruit because he is still a good four years out from being on the field (unless he doesn't go on a mission which sounds likely at this point). The thing to get excited about is that it raises the profile and gets some excitement around the program. A lot of people are pointing out that he might not work out. That is very true, but the better the recruits overall, the better chance you have at success. Really it is just a judgement of raw talent, which can be easily squandered.
I personally think this recruitment stuff is kind of a joke because it is so much hype over nothing, but it does help the school out overall. Let's just wait to see how he does when he gets to campus.
Do you think Riley Neilson is annoyed at this news?

MiP | 9:28 a.m. June 8, 2009

Ryan Perriloux was a freshman phenom at LSU and helped them win a national championship the year before last. He flamed out because of problems off the field, not his QB talent. Now he's washed up, but nobody denies he helped the Tifers his freshman year.

Another "star" please, Mike.

Exciting possibilities for BYU | 9:30 a.m. June 8, 2009

It's about optimism. You get a good recruit you should be excited about it. Even hopeful. If hopes aren't realized, oh well. BYU doesn't expect a National Championship anymore than our rivals do. But it's fun to be excited about the possibility all season long, rather than wait all season and only celebrate when my team goes undefeated.

Some fans cheer for what their team did the previous year, and some fans get excited for the year to come, but as for me I cheer for my team year round. It was hard to watch BYU for about three years in the last fifty, knowing during those few years that we couldn't hope (or expect) for greatness. But other than, BYU fans have been excited for their team, knowing that it could be a great year. We're spoiled! And, I love it!

The percentages actually are good for a highly touted quarterback when you consider all the people in the world who will never take a snap in college football. He has a better chance than the rest of us armchair quarterbacks. BYU fans are more than happy to see what he can.

Wait... I'm confused. | 9:36 a.m. June 8, 2009

It seems like every positive BYU article is followed by a bunch of other people saying stuff like "I guess if your a Koog you need something to try and get you excited about your football program" or "They haven't anything to get excited about in a long time" or "BYU continues to struggle down the stretch and in bowl games."

Now this is where it gets confusing. It seems like the focus is on the recent past, but so many have very short memories. Since 2006, BYU has won 11, 11, and 10 games each season and finished in the top 20 of the BCS rankings each year. During that same span, BYU has gone 2-1 in bowl games and 2-1 against Utah. In both 2006 and 2007, BYU lost two early non-conference games and then ran the table. That's not exactly "struggling" to close out the season. Now they did struggle late in 2008, but Utah and TCU were better teams and then BYU flopped against Arizona.

RE: Never too soon | 9:40 a.m. June 8, 2009

At least we have a NC and a Heisman. I guess being ute makes it too hard to dream of those things.

Re:The Utah local media is a jok | 9:42 a.m. June 8, 2009

The downside of recruiting Joe "freaking" Montana, aside from the fact that he's over 50 years old and doesn't have the same zip on his passes, is that not only has he already used up all of his eligibility to play NCAA football, but he also signed with an agent. Bummer eh.

Self-Serving Media | 9:44 a.m. June 8, 2009

Interesting that the media fanned the flames of all the hype around these players, and now the same mob is acting taken aback about the fan reaction they helped create. Stating the obvious - that there's no guarantee how they'll perform in college - is weak journalism...so glad you brought that to my attention. Winning recruiting battles is about more than individual athletes, but I hope these players do well and don't care what the media or the rest of the MWC think about it.

jefe57 | 9:53 a.m. June 8, 2009

Sorensen is right. It's too early to tell the impact of Heaps and company. Still, I think it's safe to say that the three committments marks this as the best recruiting day in BYU history. Nothing I can remember compares to it, and I wonder how many other top recruits will be brought in by these three to strenghthen the Cougs.

Boise Cougar | 10:09 a.m. June 8, 2009

Great job Bronco and crew. Keep up the good work getting talented, intelligent, faithful kids to come into the system. Regardless of what the future winning percentage may be, BYU has won by getting great kids to come, learn, grow, and play at the Y.

Just wondering | 10:11 a.m. June 8, 2009

Kyle Whittingham would have sold his future grandkids on E-bay to get a whiff at ANY of the three recruits that just committed to the Y. It's tough to swallow, but it's true.

There may be long odds that Heaps will become a star at the Y but there is NO chance he'll ever star at the U and that bugs the Ute fans as much as their sugar bowl bugs the Y.

Whitt is LDS, encourages missionary service and like the Y, is running a perenial top 20 team. Yet in spite of his two BCS busting performances, he is not getting in the mix for the top LDS athletes on a national scale. It is true that he gets his share of Blue-chip mormon kids here in Utah, but the national scene is pasing the Utes up.

With a few Teo-like exceptions, for most LDS kids outside of Utah it is BYU or Stanford. With a chance to play for an LDS coach on a top twenty team in a great state with quality facilities, most don't even leave the Utes in thier top 5.

Could it be the Fans?

To re:Never too soon | 10:13 a.m. June 8, 2009

Let me know when BYU gets a #1 pick in both NBA and NFL drafts. Dream on.

2010 | 10:29 a.m. June 8, 2009

The excitement is not about what may happen in 2012 or 13 as this article stated. Heaps has stated he will enroll early next spring to compete with Nelson and a returning Lark for the starting job as a true freshman. All three said they are hoping to play in 2010 (only one will probably serve a mission). Graduations will open the door for all 3 to see major playing time next season!! Go Cougs.

Sorenson acquaintance | 10:33 a.m. June 8, 2009

Being that I know the author - Sorenson - to be a major league UTES fan, I take this whole thing with a grain of salt.

Anonymous | 10:48 a.m. June 8, 2009

This recruiting coup isn't about Heaps or how he'll do as a QB. It's about BYU's ability to draw top high school LDS athletes away from top tier BCS teams. Ain't nobody at ESPN talking about Utah's recruiting this year. Sorry, fellas.

Re: To re:Never too soon | 10:49 a.m. June 8, 2009

LOL!! Let me know when Utah gets #1 drafts picks that don't turn out to be complete busts! I'm not sure Utah should be so quick to bring up Smith and Bogut to show their superiority at the next level, just like BYU shouldn't do the same in regards to, say, Shawn Bradley and his high draft pick status and supsequent NBA career.

Y fans... Why all the vitriol? | 10:57 a.m. June 8, 2009

Seriously. Sorenson, while a bit of a homer (but admittedly not anywhere close to Harmon in that regard), makes a good point. It's just a recruit.

What is wrong with the message here? Congrats on a great group of recruits. Now, let's see if they materialize into anything before getting too excited.

Re: To re: Never too soon | 11:01 a.m. June 8, 2009

Let me know when a #1 pick from Utah actually does anything.

RE: Just Wondering | 11:04 a.m. June 8, 2009

Last time I checked, most of the top athletes out there weren't LDS. It's nice when a kid now and then is able to perform on that level, but the college world, NFL, NBA etc... aren't exacltly dominated by LDS folk. I think I would focus my efforts on getting the best athletesm whether they are LDS or not.

Just a reality check, but
LDS != good kid, and
non-LDS != bad kid...

Anonymous | 11:08 a.m. June 8, 2009

Yeah we may have landed a top recruit but we still have a coach who won't change his game plan even when the other team has figured out the exact play we are about to call.

To re:Never too soon | 10:13 a.m | 11:26 a.m. June 8, 2009

Please, let me know when BOTH players have had success that measures up to being a #1 pick.

RE to re to re, never too soon | 11:50 a.m. June 8, 2009

Thanks for making the point I knew you would and that most of the people on this blog site are saying. Just because you are picked to do something great doesn't mean it will happen.

I dna flesyM eM | 11:56 a.m. June 8, 2009

First off there are fans on both sides of the fence who talk trash. Some fans on both sides of the fence hate the others team with a passion. Some fans on both sides of the fence say stupid things that have no relevance to the topic being commented on. Some fans on both sides of the fence think their school is being unfairly persecuted by the other schools fans and media. Finally some fans on both sides of the fence are classless! If you can't or refuse to admit that what I've posted in this post is about as accurate of an assessment as can be given then do the world, your family, friends, and sports fans everywhere a favor and disappear!

Secondly why are some people allowed to post a million times on one topic and I have to spell my screen name backwards to get a second post up?

To REjust wondering | 12:04 p.m. June 8, 2009

Keep your "reality checks" to yourself and re-read my post!
You have missed the point of my post entirely. It was not about "good kids" or "bad kids". It was about why, with all the advantages that playing at the U seems to offer to LDS kids like Heaps and Apo and others, they aren't giving the U the time of day.

Focus on athletecism is fine, but the three the Y just signed are legit athletes. Apo was a soft commit to Texas (they don't offer to just any reciever) and the Linebacker had offers from Pac ten schools.

They are athletes, and the fact that they are ALSO LDS is a commonality that Whit ought to be taking advantage of. The U has great facilities, excellent coaches who understand the LDS athlete and a chance to grow a beard.
With that and the BCS busting, Why is it that these kids aren't even considering the U?

Either Whit isn't doing his job and they aren't getting offered; or the kids see the U as a non option.

Why?

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