Comments about ‘Reaping the fruits of their labor: Nearly 500 Utah high school players net college scholarship’

Very good article and very well resarched.

A nice companion piece to Amy Donaldson's report on open enrollment.

Just goes to show that it is a small minority that actually play D1 sports.

A child is better off excelling in the classroom if they are looking for a scholarship.

I'd like to see an article on that to go along with this one.

Very interesting.

Congrats to all of those kids that earn a scholarship no matter how it is done.

It is good to see that more students are leaving Utah for their college education - it is a great opportunity for them to get out and look around at the world and see that Utah is not representative of the rest of the country and world (for good or for bad).

With places like USC, Standford, and Virginia heavily recruiting, someone please tell me why Collinsworth went to BYU?

Very interesting. I'd like to know how many or what % of all these scholarships are full ride or partial scholarships? I was told that very few baseball scholarships are full ride? I also heard that a lot of scholarships (especially full rides) are a combination of scholastic and athletic. Saying 8.8% of participants receive scholarships in a given sport is misleading if those scholarships only pay for books, or are tuition only scholarships? The other one to be cautious about is that 8.8% doesn’t mean 8.8% of each team gets scholarships, which would be very encouraging since that represents 1.4 scholarships per team of 16 members, but this 8.8% is only the seniors on the team so it really translates to just over one scholarship for every three high school teams with approx. 5 seniors per team and 16 total players per team. Would love to hear from Mikki Jackson on some of those recruiting services out there, so many are just after the money and don't really pay off. Great article!

napolien dynomite.... why would he choose USC when there team is banned from post season for a couple years and standford not been good in about 5 years, and virginia is in a loaded ACC.....SO WHY NOt staying at BYU in your hometown, coming into a team that has won 28 games 5 years in a row and getting better, and will start right away because taylor haws is leaving!!! simple as that!! athletes want to play and not redshirt and leave families, ESPECIALLY mormon kids!!!

Great article by the way!!

No baseball scholarships are full rides. The highest are around the 80% of total cost. Most will come in around 50% and they are year to year. I know people that had their scholarship cut in half even thou they are the ace of their staff at a very big DI. Football can give 100% because they have the most to give. I played college baseball and every school is different but we had 8 scholarships to split bewteen the team. When a good player can get an academic scholarship that is a great thing for a coach. Each school will have a different number of scholarships to hand out. I have heard JC have the most. Mens gold has 3 scholarships compared to 8 for womens golf. I think it is easier for girls to get full rides and more money because at the big universities football takes up so many scholarships that the girls have more full scholarships in their sports.

Good article.

By the way oregon State did not go to the College world Series and you call yourself a sports writer. Give me a break.

Calculate how much money is spent on sports camps, gas driving to and from practice, money for equipment, etc., and how FEW student athletes, percentage-wise, actually get a scholarship, you will quickly see that spending so much time and money in that direction NOT cost-effective.

The majority of scholarships are for $500 and less, the same as the cost of playing high school sports and attending the camps for about one year.

It's far more logical to bank that money.

And having taught college freshmen for over ten years in public and private universities, I can tell you that the surest way for freshmen students to fail in college is by playing sports. There simply isn't enough hours in the day for these kids to study AND condition AND travel AND practice . . . we're setting most of these kids up for failure, and for what, just a little bit of sports glory?

Sad.

binghamalum: Don't mix your apples and Oranges, USC Basketball isn't banned from anything Football Yes.

I am sure Collinsworth choose BYU so his Parents could come watch him play for the next 4 years of Basketball, and I think the kid is a pioneer, he wants to be apart of The BYU program that is on the cusp of being a perennial Sweet 16 team every year. With the talent Rose is recruiting he is almost there.

"Orem Parent" has it right, lots of studying will more likely pay for college than athletics, but we have to remember the Ego of Athletes and their parents. One also must remember allure of going Pro and 6. 7 and even 8 figure contracts. The NCAA has it right too, that far more athletes will go Pro is something other than athletics.

But as Fan and sports official at the High School level it is so fun to see these kids excel. Even if that kids doesn't get a college scholarship, he/she learns so many things to help them succeed in life that you can't get from simply reading a book.

Oregon State won the College World Series in 2006 and 2007.

We can not measure the self esteme of a boy who can excel in sports when he is always struggling in the classroom. Once he or she has the opportunity to find something that motivates him, it can transfer to everything else in his life. My second son could not do well in the class. The teachers wrote him off, he stuttered, was shy and was chubby. He started wrestling as a freshman in High School and it changed his life. He is an Eagle Scout, graduated with a B average and is preparing for a mission. Don't assume children don't need High School sports.

I agree with Mom of 8, at least on the cost of summer club teams. My daughter played on a club team last summer and it cost almost $4,000. And aside from making some good friends and practicing regularly, it really wasn't worth the expense. I'm sure the Collinsworths spent a lot more than that sending Kyle all over the country to Nike tournaments.

Let's do a little math. BYU tuition for 2010-11 year is $4,420. Add another $2,500 for room and board and you get $6,920. I would estimate the Collinsworths spent more than that per summer. So to say that they made out big, is a little disingenuous. But I'm sure he had a lot of fun.

About every single scholarship except maybe in football and men's basketball is a partial of some kind. For example, UVU wrestling I think is allowed 10 scholarships for its program. That is divided among 25-30 athletes. I think baseball is in a similar situation though a baseball program will even have more athletes than a wrestling team where scholarships will have to be broken up into parts.

But 500 is a significant number but I would still tell parents to have their kids hit the books, many more scholarships available that way and indeed many athletes do get combo scholarships for athletic AND academic prowess, so again doing well in school is crucial and will ultimately lead to more money.

altahoops, I couldn't agree more. I am the father of an 11-year-old girl who already stands 5'10" and checks in at a solid 175#, but when I looked into the cost of playing volleyball, I just about choked. In order to participate (which can only essentially be accomplished via the club system), she'd need a scholarship just to get through junior high! This girl will be a killer on the basketball court (MVP of her last camp), but volleyball is OUT. I bought her a shotput, instead, to give her something to train for in the offseason.

Just because wrestling is the forgotten sport but perhaps Utah's best overall sport. Here are some scholarship athletes from wrestling:

Colby Barlocker--Enterprise, UVU
Spencer Brown--Cottonwood, University of Chicago
Colby Christensen--Uintah, UVU
Jonsen Crandall--South Summit, Air Force Academy
Kamron Day--Northwest Wyoming College
Bryson Foy--Altamont, UVU
Carson Kuhn--Alta, Boise State
Thomas Linton--Juan Diego, Marian Military Academy
Raider Lofthouse--Mountain Crest, Iowa
Derek Malan--Weber, UVU
Kade Moss--Bingham, Boise State
Taylor Savio--Lehi, Southern Virginia
Jordan Shroeder- Murray, Western Wyoming
Cody Thornton--South Summit, UVU

So you know, Utah has only one in-state college program, UVU. UVU is a Division I program. Iowa is the returning national champion. Boise State took 11th in the NCAA champions. Kuhn placed second in the nation. Moss and Lofthouse were four-time state champions. I believe Brown, Shroeder, Crandall and Thornton were Academic All-State.

Most teams and parents make sure their athletes keep up their grades in order to play. Its not like in the old days. In our school all our sports the average grade point average was higher than a 3.0 and most starters were 3.5 or higher. Two years in a row 4.0's for several kids. So be thinking athletes are not hitting the books!

Just because wrestling is the forgotten sport but perhaps Utah's best overall sport. Here are some scholarship athletes from wrestling:

Colby Barlocker--Enterprise, UVU
Spencer Brown--Cottonwood, University of Chicago
Colby Christensen--Uintah, UVU
Jonsen Crandall--South Summit, Air Force Academy
Kamron Day--Millard, Northwest Wyoming College
Bryson Foy--Altamont, UVU
Carson Kuhn--Alta, Boise State
Thomas Linton--Juan Diego, Marian Military Academy
Raider Lofthouse--Mountain Crest, Iowa
Derek Malan--Weber, UVU
Kade Moss--Bingham, Boise State
Taylor Savio--Lehi, Southern Virginia
Jordan Shroeder- Murray, Western Wyoming
Cody Thornton--South Summit, UVU

So you know, Utah has only one in-state college program, UVU. UVU is a Division I program. Iowa is the returning national champion. Boise State took 11th in the NCAA champions. Kuhn placed second in the nation. Foy, Moss and Lofthouse were four-time state champions. I believe Brown, Shroeder, Crandall and Thornton were Academic All-State.

BYU, Utah, USU, UVU, and Weber all need to add men's soccer as an NCAA sport. Soccer is the most played sport in the US now and they dont see a need to have a scholarship in that sport. Dont give me the whole equity argument either. Those schools have mens cross country, swimming, tennis, and other such sports. They need to come out of the dark ages. At least BYU has a pro team that pays their players. Kind of a back door scholarship program.