Comments about ‘Brad Rock: JonRyheem Peoples waffling simply a teenage thing’

Utah going after Peopless is as unethical as BYU going after Utah commit Fakailoatonga:

"BYU is actively recruiting 6-foot-4-inch, 215-pound Cottonwood High School tight end/wide receiver Siale Fakailoatonga. Cougar tight end coach Lance Reynolds is actively recruiting the LDS prospect... “BYU is telling me just the usual things, like it would be a great school for me to go to,” Fakailoatonga said." -- Scout

It's not unethical, it's college recruiting and it goes on everywhere all the time. It does seem though that many of these players Utah has no interest then once an offer is made they come in after that. I can see if they were looking at the kid before, but it didn't seem like they had any contact, then all of the sudden they do. So I guess the coaches themselves are the only ones who could answer that question, because if the only reason there offering is because there rival offers than I think thats really not ethical. And that goes for both schools.

This kid's hair has got to go...

This kids cool hair has got to stay. Maybe he'd be beter off at the U?

dnay- "It's not unethical, it's college recruiting and it goes on everywhere all the time." But... "if the only reason there offering is because there rival offers than I think thats really not ethical." Huh? It's not unethical. It's called playing hard ball. It's called messing with your rival. It's actually a big compliment. A big annoying compliment. It says that the Utes think the cougars are good talent evaluators.

Uteology: "Utah going after Peopless is as unethical as BYU going after Utah commit Fakailoatonga"

If you kept reading from the same article that you quoted, it says "Currently, Fakailoatonga has offers from BYU, UCLA and Utah. He committed to Utah, but said he felt pressured to do so, so now he's backed away from that and has opened up his options".

I don't have a problem with Utah recruiting Peoples, and I don't know any Cougar fans who think it is "unethical", just a little comical in its repetitiveness. However, unlike Peoples, Fakailoatonga officially re-opened his recruiting. Should BYU just stay away regardless? He could end up at UCLA. Should UCLA just back off even though the kid essentially de-committed from Utah?

Looks like the Utah crowd beat me to the polls this morning.

Is it unethical? No. On this I think we can both agree. Is it a waste to go after a kid who is TRULY committed? Yes, but still not unethical.

Is he a beast? No one will know for sure till his playing days are under way, maybe not until they're done. But two Div I coaches within 50 miles of each other think so.

Business as usual. That IS why Bronco doesn't like the whole recruiting game. But you gotta play to have a chance to win.

Funny how utah fans have no problem with Whittingham going after a BYU commit, but when a returning missionary wants to go to BYU - OH THE HUMANITY!

Actually the hue and cry against Missionaries returning and then transferring to BYU only happens AFTER they have enrolled at College A, B, or C and lifted and practiced part of a year before going on their two year mission and returning to BYU's open arms THREE recruiting cycles AFTER they left High School.

SOMEtimes even after PLAYING a year at the College level..... and sometimes after NOT being recruited by BYU at all.

Surely you can see the difference?

Now as far as recruiting? It's the Wild Wild West and ANYthing goes until the ink is dry the first week in February. Just the way it is, the surprising thing to me is the fact that this is even in the news. Haven't ANY of you guys been paying attention to recruiting? EVER? This is standard procedure. To think it is anything else is just uninformed.

Sound like standard recruiting practice to me. Frustrating, yes. Goes both ways, yes.

Hopefully he signs with the Y and turns himself into a great player.

IDC - "Hopefully he signs with the Y and turns himself into a great player" -- or he could sign with the U and have great coaches that help him become a great player and have a shot at the NFL.

@Cougar in Texas

Where does it say that Fakailoatonga contacted BYU after he "re-opened his recruiting". And if he did de-commit then why does both Rivals and Scout have him listed as "Solid Verbal" for Utah?

The point is there's nothing unethical about what Utah did, nor what BYU is doing by contacting Utah commit Fakailoatonga. It's win-win for both kids, there's nothing wrong with having options.

This story is irrelevant.

Did Urban Meyers teach these two how to recruit?

@Veracity

These two? No. But he certainly taught Kyle a thing or two.

It truly doesn't go both ways. Everytime BYU finds a recruit like this, Utah suddenly shows interest...

I don't think there is anything unethical about what Utah did. With that said, I'm still wondering if Utah even knows how to identify talent on their own. Seems like they only know how to piggyback off of other schools recruiting efforts. It would be very interesting to see what percentage of current Utah players received their first offer from Utah.

Funny how utah fans have no problem with Whittingham going after a BYU commit, but when a returning missionary wants to go to BYU - OH THE HUMANITY!

EdGrady, whatever your crazy mind thinks. If you're Mormon, you outta be ashamed for telling that lie. Unless you can give me a name of a committed Ute returned missionary going to BYU instead, you be lying. I can name you two commits off the top of my head that switched from BYU to Utah. Zach Lindsey and Jake Murphy (returned missionary b/c BYU had no scholarships so move to your rival...Utah). NO HUMANITY PROBLEM HERE!

Uteology:

From Fakailoatonga's own mouth, he has BACKED AWAY from his committment to Utah because he felt like he committed to them under pressure. If Scout found this out then I am sure UCLA and BYU can at the very least read about it themselves. Has he now recommitted to Utah? Perhaps Scout should interview him again to see where his committment is now.

I agree there is nothing unethical about recruitig a kid who is verbally committed to another school, however I disagree that the Peoples and Fakailoatonga situations are identical. Peoples never indicated he was backing off his commit before Whit invited him to visit the U. However, in fairness, maybe Whit did not know since the commit was so recent.

I have a family member who committed to BYU football a full year before the signing date and made it clear it was firm. Utah coaches had to have known this. Still, they tried to initiate recruiting contact with him months after he committed.

It just seems like Utah does this a lot, probably no more than most other schools, but certainly more than BYU.

Zach Lindsey's grades had dropped and he would not have been admitted to BYU with his final GPA. I'm sure BYU's coaches were fine with him opting for Utah where they accept a lower GPA for their recruits.

Jake Murphy's scholorship was for the Spring/Winter of '11 because he was scheduled to come home from his mission in the fall of '10. He ended up coming home that summer and was disappointed that BYU didn't have one for that fall for him. He then contacted Utah and they offered one for the fall of '10. Besides his younger brother had not received a BYU offer and ended up walking onto Utah's team that year. He later said he was excited to get to play in the same program his brother was in.

I don't blame either guy for switching schools. I was hoping that both would play at BYU though.

@Cougar in Texas

First off the Fakailoatonga article you quote is from TrueBlueSports is part of Scout.

Second, I am assuming that Fakailoatonga would have told Utah that he de-commited. Therefore, one would assume that story would be on one of the local newspapers like Deseret News.

"Peoples never indicated he was backing off his commit before Whit invited him to visit the U."

Did you talk to him? Did he tell you that?

Not according to Dan Sorensen:

Peoples, who initially met Utah coaches at last weekend's All Poly Camp following his commitment to BYU just days before, took an unofficial visit to Utah this morning and received his first Pac-12 offer.

"I just got done at the University of Utah talking to all of the coaches. [Coach Whittingham] offered me a full ride and asked if I'd like to become a Ute and I told him yes. He asked if I was committed or not. [Me and my family] are talking about it right now. It's just a hard decision to make and we're weighting it out right now," he said.

Uteology:

In your first message you quoted from the same TBS Scout article to support your point. So the article was a good source when it seemed to support your viewpoint, but is a bad source when it does not? I am sorry, but you cannot have it both ways.

Why would Fakailoatonga backing off of a commit be in a local paper? Did they talk to him? Are there ANY reports at all of his recruiting in the local papers from the last 2 months, or did you get everything from the aforementioned wonderful (or was it horrible?) Scout article?

Your quote from Sorensen says nothing about Peoples backing off of his BYU commit prior to Whit inviting him to visit Utah (the invitation was extended at the All Poly Camp, prior to which Whit hardly even knew Peoples existed). Where does it say that he backed off of his commitment prior to the camp? It doesn't. Your are grasping.