Couple Interesting Portal Updates

[KoolWhitt]

Some news on two possible Utah portal targets:

One of the 0n3 reporters has just in the last hour or so singled out Utah as a team to watch on former 5 star CB Cormani McClain (CU transfer). I thought we were out of the running on him last week when he named a half dozen or so official visits and we weren’t on the list. However, it seems we might be back in the running, along with USF and UCF (he is a Florida native). USC was initially in but is apparently now out. This is a very weird situation and no one seems to have any idea which way McClain is leaning, but unless the On3 reporter is pulling this info completely out of nowhere, it seems like Utah is at least interested and maybe that interest is mutual?

Stud Utah State running back Davon Booth just tweeted a pic from Starkville, MS. I really want this guy to be a Ute and at least initially it seemed very likely he was going to stay in state (the D News even reported that). However, if an SEC team comes calling you have to check it out. Just seems weird that we haven’t seen anything happen on the RB front when a VERY good one is available and already in our backyard. And then Curry, a guy who played regularly when healthy even with JJ the clear RB1, goes into the portal today. Are we set with the guys we have? Has someone really impressed and the coaches are just being quiet about it? Or is someone else coming in that just hasn’t been announced yet?

[RedUte14]

i would love to get Cormani.

[MDUte]

I saw the report about Cormani McClain and don’t want to get my hopes up. But it would make all the sense in the world for him to come to Utah IMO. He’s gone from 5* to bust after a failed season at Colorado. And Deion did everything in his power to trash the kid on his way out the door, calling him lazy and entitled.If Cormani truly wants to resurrect his career and prove to the world he’s a legit NFL DB, there’s no place better to do that than at Utah under Sharrieff Shah. Nobody pushes players harder and gets the most from his kids than Shah.But who knows, maybe Cormani is just looking to chase down the highest NIL deal he can get and believes it doesn’t matter where he plays because he’s talented enough to shine anywhere he goes. If that’s the case, good luck to him…but he’ll likely just end up solidifying his status of being a 5* bust. OR….maybe he doesn’t care as much about NIL at this point and only wants to secure his future of playing on Sundays. If it’s the latter, IMO one phone conversation with Jaylon Johnson is all this kid would need to come sprinting to SLC!I would love to see Cormani in a Utah uniform. Give Shah that level of talent to work with and develop and the sky’s the limit! Go Utes!!

[KoolWhitt]

Agree 100% with everything you said. Hopefully, though, his experience at CU has taught McClain that despite his unbelievable talent, he can’t just shine anywhere and thus just get the best NIL deal he can get and go wherever. He needs to be coached by someone who turns raw talent into NFL corners.

Would be rad if McClain got a call from Jaylon and Clark.

[MDUte]

Agreed about Davon Booth. I heard when he initially entered the portal he was wanting to come to Utah. IMO he’d be a perfect fit for us.

Maybe Utah got in the mix with an even better RB which led Booth to start looking around? Or maybe Booth started receiving interest from other big-name programs which caused him to pause on committing to Utah and explore his options?Either way, Utah has always been an attractive program to RBs. If we don’t end up getting Booth I feel confident the coaches will land another highly talented kid to bolster the RB room.

[NorthernUte]

On3’s article more less just throws Utah’s name out there, saying immediately after that we have no scholarships available at the moment. Hopefully we could find a way to land him, but I won’t get my hopes up unfortunately.

[KoolWhitt]

I’m completely ignorant of how the scholarship process works, but from a pure numbers standpoint, I don’t understand how we could possibly be out of scholarships.

We brought in 15 freshman this year, but we graduated and/or lost to the NFL more than that, didn’t we? I know we also hold scholarships for mission kids, but do we really have that many out on missions right now?

Even if we are in the negative there, we have brought in 11 guys from the portal but we’ve lost 24. Unless most of who we lost are walk ons, which I don’t think is the case, that has to open up some spots, doesn’t it?

The On3 video was filmed before Curry entered the portal. Doesn’t his departure alone open up a scholarship?

I love to know more about this because I genuinely don’t know how it works.

[2008 National Champ]

The biggest problem is that there isn’t a good resource to find out how many scholarships a school currently has allocated. 247 tries but they struggle, especially right now when a portal window is just closing so you have to do your own homework. Even if you ignore errors for which class kids should be in on the link: Smedley is in the portal and I don’t think he was ever on scholarship, Bernard isn’t listed with the RB’s, I believe all of the Pututau’s have either exhausted their eligibility or medically retired.,,

So the short answer is that only the Shadow knows and each school has until the start of the season to be under 85.

[2008 National Champ]

Follow up: I think Utah is between 80 and 83 scholarships using the current roster and expected enrollees/transfers that will happen for fall. Any errors are mine but it’s the best I can do from 30,000 feet.,,

QB (3) – Rising, Rose, Wilson
RB (6) – Bernard, Glover, Woods, Mitchell, Randle, Stanley
WR (10) – Singer, Calderella, Zipperer, Washington, Lyons, McLain, Pittman, Parks, Alford, Za. Williams
TE (7) – Kuithe, Ryan, Jacobsen, Bentley, Suguturaga, King, S. Clegg(?)
OT (7) – Ze. Williams, Olson, Kaumatule, S. Fano, Lomu, Togiai, Garcia
IOL (7) – Mokofisi, Maea, Moea’i, Alderman, Lotulelei, Kump, Harrison
Edge (9) – Akana, L. Fano, O’Toole, Fillinger, Daley, Lae’ea, Fitzgerald, Dillon, Elliss
DT (6) – Tanuvasa, Tafuna, Vimahi, Taufatofua, Fotu, Pepa, T.Fotu
LB (10) – Barton, Damuni, Calvert, Reid, Andrews, Lopes, S. Fotu, Reynolds, Anae(?), Ofahengaue(?)
CB (9) – K. Johnson, Davis, Vaughn, Blocker, Snowden, Calhoun, Hunter, Shemwell, Thompson
S (7) – T. Johnson, Gilman, Hall, Ritchie, J. Davis, Bryant, Evans
K (1) – Becker

The 3 that I put ?’s next to I couldn’t find anything definitive and Davis Andrews is supposed to be an immediate mission.

[Charlie]

The missionaries coming and going are hard to track. Some play a year then go, some go right away, birthdates may have something to do with it. Some missionaries return as planed, some return early, some do not return, some come in that were committed to other schools. Higher profile guys or guys from Utah are reported better than others. Sometimes coaches provide insight to specific questions by reporters when asked but not likely to otherwise point it out. Sometimes questions like ‘tell us about the depth at LBer’ provides some insight. In the old days, the hard copy of the media guide in early June was a solid checkpoint but now I suppose there can be changes right up to fall camp. I think walk-ons can pretty much come and go with the only requirement to register for classes. As a practice, there should be a spot or two held back for WOs to compete for thru fall camp or a bit into the season. It is arithmetic but complex arithmetic.

[LetItRide]

[LetItRide]

Everything Sanders says is what we are known for.

[Utah]

I don’t get why anyone gives Deion the time of day. Dude is a blow hard who has accomplished absolutely nothing. It’s really pathetic when you look at what he’s done at Colorado:

No draft picks.
One PAC-12 win.
Blames everyone but himself.

Dude is a loser. Why any recruit would go play for him is nuts. He doesn’t get you drafted. He doesn’t improve your play. He doesn’t get you ready for the NFL. And when he fails, because he does nothing, he will blame you.

F**k that.

[2008 National Champ]

It’s a little early to call him a failure at Colorado. He improved over the previous season across the board: sellouts at a place that previously couldn’t give tickets away, much improved roster, 3 more wins, national attention. He has made Colorado a destination for recruits instead of an afterthought.

Hunter and Sanders (maybe both) will be drafted next year. Before, Colorado kids were transferring so that they could get enough attention to get drafted.

I’m not a 17 year old kid but it’s obvious that a large part of that population values flash. And the African-American recruits are all able to look at what he accomplished as a player and believe that he can be the roadmap for them which is huge. As a mid-50’s white guy, I’m not the target audience for who Sanders is trying to attract. I also don’t find the 793 combinations of green/yellow that Oregon uses to be a selling point but that hasn’t stopped kids from going there.

Instead of putting down something you don’t agree with, why not try to figure out why a lot of people like it? There might be something in there that you would want Utah to incorporate because Whitt doesn’t have 5 stars knocking down his door even with his sustained success.

[MDUte]

Well said Champ! Deion is a MAGNET! What he did in 1 year to put Colorado back on the map of relevance from literally being dead and buried with no hope of ever coming back to life…that was mind blowing! He might not have turned in the on-field results everyone looks to in order to call him one of the top coaches in CFB. However, he sucked all of the national attention and spotlight away from the blue bloods and shined it squarely on Boulder throughout most of last year. That attracts top talent, it attracts boosters to invest records amount of money, and it attracts massive fan support that Colorado hasn’t seen since their Rashaan Salaam days.Another year or 2 of attracting top talent to Boulder and Deion could have himself a contender. As successful as Utah has been over the past decade, we still have yet to see a 5* recruit sign on to be a Ute. Definitely some of our best players who ended up being high 4* status qualify as being every bit as good as the 5* kids across the country. But technically speaking, we’re still waiting for the day that a legit 5* kid commits to Utah. Deion’s already checked that box both at the FCS ranks and now at Colorado…that’s incredible! At the end of the day you could be the best coach on the planet but you won’t win anything if you don’t have talented players. Players win games and players win championships. And assuming Deion continues to upgrade Colorado’s roster, their win totals will only go up. Lastly, Deion’s style might not be for everyone and his flashiness might turn a lot of people completely off. But he’s a marketing genius and absolutely knows what he’s doing. He’s explained in interviews (you can find on YouTube) that his style we all see on TV isn’t really who he is. It’s just a persona he’s created for marketing purposes, because he learned early on as a player how he could attract the most eyeballs and attention to his personal brand. He leveraged this attention as a player, coupled with his on-field success, to maximize his own personal earnings from additional endorsement sources. Now he’s taking all of those learnings and applying them to the world of coaching in a unique way we’ve never seen before. I find it fascinating, especially when you see him pull in TV ratings for a game like Colorado vs Colorado St, in a terrible late night TV time slot, that’s on par with a NY6 game…it’s unbelievable.I understand why many might be turned off by Deion. And I also understand why many believe it’s just smoke and mirrors that will soon fizzle out. But he’s never been anything but wildly successful at every step of the way through his career and I wouldn’t bet against him. He’s surrounded himself with talented coaches to get the players what they need to be successful. And he does a great job being a figure head and staying in his lane where he can add the most value to the kids, the program, the boosters, the fans, and the media. He knows what he’s doing and just needs to get the players/roster and Colorado will be another juggernaut out West.

[Utah]

Yeah, Deion attracted so much talent to Colorado…he took them from one conference win to…

drumroll…

ONE CONFERENCE WIN!!!!!

Holy s**t!!!! End football, we have a champ!!!! Deion did it!!!! He discovered the cheat code to college football. Watch out!!!!

He may improve!!! Colorado may get TWO conference wins this year!!!!!!!!!

HOLY S**T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Zigziggler]

I know, I know that we love to hate Colorado. However, the process underway in Buff land is a process. A lot of developing a market type talk, and mixed outcomes on the field. Sanders will find his rhythm and build Colorado into respectable if he stays. However I don’t believe he will. I believe he may stay one or two more years after Shaddeur. Then the slow process starts over.
Utah has developed a culture that is consistent. That is why we have been so successful. Buff land is trying to develop a steady culture. But Sanders has to get to a level where he can begin to build. With the NIL and the portal consistency is very hard. You almost have to play Rent-A- Player and hope for a decent record to then gain momentum. Then year after year build on that momentum to the point of a consistent culture. Anyhow Good Luck Buffs on trying to achieve what Utes already have! Go Utes

[UTE98]

Look at the Spring game numbers from last year, a sellout with no actual scrimmage but more skill players playing 7 on 7.

This year the attendance was way way way down. Could have been the “weather” or it could have been even the fans have become numb to his blathering. He tries to come off as a great mentor/coach, but word on Sports Talk radio in Denver is he’s out for him and his kids. Once his kids “go to the NFL” he’ll likely get out of coaching. It’s a two or three year experiment for him. His kids got bags more money than anybody on the Utah roster last year. Like so much money his kids bought him some very expensive gifts. The Colorado Buffs crazy train is going to derail again soon.

[Utah]

Hunter and Sanders were always going to be drafted. They came draft ready. And how have they improved under Deion? Hunter is still a twig. As gifted as he is, if he can’t stay on the field, he can’t play. And his kid…he holds the ball longer than Fields did. How has he improved?

Look at the NFL. The new offenses with the RPO and quick passes are making DE’s irrelevant. If you get the ball out in 2 secs or attack the DE and leave him in space to make a decision…then he isn’t that great.

How does Sanders take advantage of that?

Sure, Deion makes Colorado money. That’s great. Hell, he may even make you, the player, some money. But the real money is NFL money. And Deion hasn’t put a single kid into the NFL. And outside of Hunter and Sanders, who anyone could have put into the NFL, he doesn’t look like he has anyone else lined up.

I’ll say it again:

If I’m a kid, why the hell would you consider Deion. He won’t help you. He’s shown that. He is there for Deion. He won’t get you to the NFL. He won’t help you improve. Hell, you can argue Hunter and Sanders haven’t improved. He won’t build you up. He won’t take you from a third round pick to a first round talent. He won’t develop you.

And when he wins 2-3 games this next year…he will blame you and kick you off the team.

The only thing Deion can show to Whitt is how to be Deion. And that’s all hype. If Deion wanted to come to Utah and be a hype man, not a coach, not have access to the players, training, facilities, etc, but just run his mouth and hype things up, I’m all in.

But would anything Deion is doing help Utah become a better program?

I don’t see it. Deion helps Deion. That’s it.

[chinngiskhaan]

sounds like an awfully strong take against a guy that, from everything I’ve seen, seems to genuinely care about his players and seems like an overall good person.

Saying he’s accomplished nothing is far from the truth. Is he a great football coach? I don’t know, but he has accomplished more than most people do in their lives. He seems like a good man and a good father.

I have my doubts about his ability to resurrect CO football, but personal attacks are completely unwarranted.

[RustyShackleford]

That’s not what former players are coming out and saying against him

[Charlie]

What you may not like about Sander’s hype is more than made up for by his discipline off the field. I love how he insist that players take class very serious. He understands not all go to the NFL.

[Utah]

I love this from Deion. He brings in a player under the guise that he will get them to the NFL and that’s the most important thing.

When the player doesn’t get better on his own, cause Deion ain’t got time to help a player develop, Deion calls the kid a talentless scum that needs to get good grades because the NFL ain’t in his future (even though Deion said it was) and he’s a moron for thinking he could make it to the NFL.

Deion can’t lose! Even when he loses, it ain’t his fault.

[Caliman]

DON’T SLEEP ON Elijhah Badger. COMING TO UTAH

[Tednab]

.. I don’t waste a second on what you report

[Caliman]

IT MUST HAVE TAKEN YOU AT LEAST A SECOND TO REPLY, SO YOU DO TAKE AT LEAST A SECOND TO WHAT I REPORT, MAYBE EVEN 2 SECONDS.

[KoolWhitt]

Davon Booth committed to Mississippi State. Bummer. I really hoped he would be a Ute.

McClain has hired an agent for NIL purposes. Also reportedly drawing interest from a number of SEC teams. His plans are still a complete mystery but those two things cause me to think Utah has a remote chance, if any, to land him.

[MDUte]

Bummer! I was hoping to see him in a Utah uniform. Oh well, on to the next…

[Author]

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