I’d argue that the “culture” of Utah’s football team is exactly what keeps us competetive. We won the south this year with an extremely difficult schedule. How? We have a competetive team that works extremely hard and puts the team first. In other words, a winning, team-oriented culture.
By many accounts, we are the favorite to win the south this fall. Why? Player development, recruiting, and the tough-as-nails winning culture.
We may not land all the high schoolers that we hoped to land, but let me just list a three five and one four star athletes who did sign with Utah to play this fall:
5* Bradlee Anae
5* Leki Fotu
5* Zach Moss
4* Julian Blackman
(Those stars are based on a comment Bill Riley made when the news surfaced of their return. He referred to all of them as 5*; I’ve downgraded Julian to a 4* seeing his struggles last year.)
Who could we possibly recruit and sign this period that would have a greater impact on our team next year than these four? And why did they decide to come back to Utah? I’d argue that it is because of the culture of the team. We’ll be competetive next year. They want to win the Pac. They know Coach Whitt doesn’t mess around; he’s a straight a shooter as they come. And they know where they stand with him.
Don’t tell me these players don’t count in recruiting. Recruiting these four back was as important as recruiting high school kids that may or may not play a down this year. And we scored BIG-TIME!
We’re the favorite to win the south! We have as good shot as any to win it all this fall. If you think I’m being a red-goggled homer, just ask President Moss.
“Trust the process.”
“Family on Three!”
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