Safety Luke Bryant Commits

[cj13]

From Olympus High School. Rated an 84 by 247 Sports, 25th in the state.

Bryant

[The Miami Ute]

Wow, don’t want sound mean, but we’re back to competing with Air Force, BYU, and Utah State for recruits? Was our time in the PAC 12 just a dream and I’ve woken up and we’ve never left the MWC?

[Central Coast Ute]

It appears so.

[//r00t4Utes]

I would say it’s more, our time in the PAC12 seems to have left some people a bit more arrogant or snobby towards recruiting.
Also, people seem to be grumpy towards the transfer portal.

[enigami344]

Remind me who else offered Cole Bishop? Duke, App State, Air force and Boston College. Utah thrives at finding these diamond in the rough, and hopefully Luke will turn out to be one.

Joseph from Utah Utes football digest usually is pretty accurate in analyzing recruits. Here is his analysis and seems like he is happy with this commit

[The Miami Ute]

I wouldn’t place much faith on anything coming from Utah Utes Football Digest. As a few people that post on this site have noted, according to them Utah has never made a wrong decision in its history. Any comment bordering on criticism towards Utah on their YouTube channel immediately disappears.

[Central Coast Ute]

GA Tech, Stanford, Duke, and Vandy. He was committed to Duke before flipping to the Utes.

[The Miami Ute]

Well now…that’s a little different roster of schools, isn’t it? Those four are some of the most academically prestigious schools in the P5.

[Central Coast Ute]

Yep, and he was rated .87 per 247. High 3 star is where Utah was and should still be recruiting.

[krindor]

We can (and should) take shots on lower rated kids who we believe in. That’s always been the case. As many point out, there’s plenty who exceed their rating or fail to live up to it.

In large quantities, the ratings end up VERY accurate. So the class should mostly be higher rated guys, but there will be low rated upside types either way. A signing like this (low rating, staff believes in him) doesn’t tell you anything about where we are in recruiting unless you look at the whole to see how many we have like that.

I’ll write up an analysis later (after signing day), but my guess (before running all the numbers) is that you’re kvetching about something that’s always been the case. Even in classes where we had highly rated recruits, we had some lower-rated under-the-radar types as well

[X723]

How high was Scalley – Sylvester — plus a lot of others ??????

[2008 National Champ]

Wilmore, Tuttle, Costelli – plus a lot of others???????

[The Miami Ute]

Costelli was the 27th ranked QB out of the 2021 class. Riley Leonard, who just committed to Notre Dame, was the 47th ranked QB in that same class. The shocking thing about the ratings is how many five and high four star QB recruits never amount to anything.

[2008 National Champ]

oh sure, ratings aren’t perfect. I believe that only half of all 5 stars (not just QB’s) end up getting drafted. Still, that’s a lot higher hit % than 4 stars and way more than 3 stars. For those people that want to point out someone like Devin Lloyd, yes, he made it. Something like 97% of 3 stars don’t.

The blue chip ratio is also a real thing. Having > 50% of your roster be blue chips doesn’t guarantee you a National Title. However, no team since the advent of the composite has won a title without being in the club. So if you want your team to do more than compete for conference championships, you need to load up with the highest rated recruits you can. If your goal is to have a winning record every year and maybe once or twice a decade make a run, then load up on low to mid 3 stars and hope you can keep them around long enough for the stars to align.

I have nothing against this kid personally, or as an individual recruit. And I know that the staff does their own evaluations on players instead of relying on the sites. At the same time, he wasn’t on the visit list until this month so he wasn’t a priority recruit. And that is my issue. Is it a reaction to both Vaki and Bishop leaving? Seems like bringing in someone from the portal who is game ready from the minute they step on campus would be a better idea for a team with playoff aspirations than what seems to be a project.

[Central Coast Ute]

Exactly. For every Devin Lloyd, there are 1000 others that never see the field.

[2008 National Champ]

I thought that was a true statement. But based on the number of downvotes I’ve gotten, apparently Utah should concentrate all of their recruiting on kids rated around .82 in the composite since the staff will make all of them into Devin Lloyd.

Utah just needs to quit wasting time recruiting blue chips and everything will work out perfectly.

[Rick]

I love this commitment. May be able to play both safety spots. No one will outwork the kid. Wants the U on his chest. We couldn’t let Luke go North or South. I think he’s as close to a sure thing as the higher rated safeties in this class.

It does make me wonder if the Bountiful kid may be committing elsewhere. I hope not.

[The Miami Ute]

No one will outwork the kid.

I get it Rick. We all want diligent, hard-working players that want to play for Utah. However, it’s extremely rare, if not impossible, that a less talented, diligent, hard-working player will be able to outplay a more talented, also diligent, hard-working player. As others have mentioned here, should we start to get concerned about the level of HS talent that’s coming to play for Utah in this era of college football? I don’t know what else to think when people here are excited about a recruit who, besides Utah, was only recruited by a mediocre P5 program, two G5 programs, and a FCS program.

[Rick]

Miami,
I guess I’m being a little cliche with that statement. I have a little inside info on Luke and some bias as well. The Cole Bishop comparisons are real, according to my connection. As you know, talent evaluators miss sometimes and these young people mature at different times. I think we may have a good one here.

[The Miami Ute]

OK…let’s see what happens…

[cj13]

What is there to be concerned about? We just pulled the best class ever last year. Scalley can decide take a shot at a kid like this. Not sure if you have memory loss because we are in a great era

[Central Coast Ute]

Not sure about your memory, but one of the best players in that class hit the portal just a few days ago.

[cj13]

And what does that have to do with “the level of HS talent coming to play for Utah”? Miami Ute is bringing up a concern about High School recruiting because we offer one under rated kid when if you look at the most recent history of the program we are recruiting the best high school talent ever. It shouldn’t be a concern until we have a bad class. Yes I agree the portal sucks but that’s not what I was talking about.

[2008 National Champ]

It’s not a coincidence that the last 4 players to commit are also the 4 lowest rated players in this year’s class. The staff is on plans D, E & F at this point because they couldn’t get the one’s they really wanted. And for the most part, the only kids who are even showing interest this late in the game are all in-state.

I want Utah to get all the in-state blue chips. If the 25th rated in-state kid wants to come as a PWO, I don’t have a problem with that. But I’m not going to clap like a seal when that is the best option to fill out this year’s class because that is a recruiting failure.

[The Miami Ute]

If the 25th rated in-state kid wants to come as a PWO, I don’t have a problem with that. But I’m not going to clap like a seal when that is the best option to fill out this year’s class because that is a recruiting failure.

LOL… mike drop…

[cj13]

Again, I’m going to wait until the class is over. We start slow every single year. I’m not an insider that knows what every recruit is thinking. Hopefully we continue to finish with a top 35 class 🤞🏽

[Central Coast Ute]

And what does last year have to do with this year? Miami was speaking about the direction of this year’s class you brought up last year, so I made a point about it.

[The Miami Ute]

What is there to be concerned about? We just pulled the best class ever last year.

The fact that any player can leave at any time. The fact that the portal can take away your best player with you not being able to do anything about it. The fact that we’re in this year and not last year. The fact that having a bad or mediocre recruiting class puts you behind the curve and forces you to try to pick through the portal for reinforcements. That’s all.

[cj13]

The level of talent coming out of high school has been awesome. I am surprised you are already counting this class as an L when it’s not finished (do you not remember how last year we started slow — pretty much every year). Yes, the portal is a concern but has nothing to do with Luke Bryant committing at Utah and nothing to do with your original point lol.

[The Miami Ute]

I’m not counting this class as a Loss. The point of question was why you specifically were so excited about a low three star recruit who only had offers from schools well below Utah’s demonstrated level.

[cj13]

Where did I ever say I was excited about him? Just explained why Utah has been trending up, not down 🤷🏽‍♂️. The stats don’t point that we are in a “bad era” or are struggling with recruiting high schoolers. Can’t make that conclusion until after the class is over.

[2008 National Champ]

Interesting. I’ve never heard of a statistical model that ignores the most recent data when trying to identify trends.

[cj13]

I forgot you read my mind and I said to ignore it that’s my bad.

Anyways, all I’m saying is we always start slow and we have a few sub .86 recruits every year. I just think it’s too early to jump the gun and say our recruiting is dipping. You can think our recruiting has taken a blow but if you look at what we usually do, it’s too early to make the conclusion that we are straying off that path. We very much could be once the class is finalized. But to me, it seems people are just a little emotional with the portal.

[Charlie]

Well, you are both right and wrong. You are correct the recruiting class is not done and Utah is often most active in the back end. That is because we mostly fill in after schools ahead of us in the picking order fill their key spots. There are a few exceptions.

However, you are wrong about this year. It is coming together more slowly than past years and it clearly has the feeling of a bit of a step back. Some is expected because the previous two years included a Pac championship. I think you are missing the idea that this year is very much unlike the previous 13 years and really does not have others to compare against. This if the first year without the benefits of Pac partners and it is truly unknown how much those benefits are greater than the new and unknown benefits provided by the Big 12 minus Texas and Oklahoma. That gap is there and only the future will provide the answer as to how great it is.

I can agree to chill and hope for the best. Some need to recognize the angst in the room that feel the gap is significant. There once was many elements impacting recruiting in addition to money like conference affiliation. Currently, money has become a much greater impact element. The college football landscape is like a large piece of paper. All the football teams sit on that paper but under each is a magnet of different sizes which is their bag of money to offer recruits. All the recruits are like metal shavings that will be scattered over the piece of paper. Next, you may notice the recruits will have a very high affinity for some of the spots on that paper. The portal and NIL will help us notice this much more than past trends would have predicted.

[Tony (admin)]

[PNWUte29]

Man…some of ya’lls look on recruiting is brutal haha I get it, we want higher stars and better offers for our commits but Utah has proven to develop and find absolute diamonds. I wonder what you guys thought when we stole Kuithe from Rice haha just chill and trust in the coaches defensive process.

[Larry B]

Utah has proven to develop and find absolute diamonds.

You’re right, but we will now develop these type of players for bigger programs. We’ll coach them up and turn them into NFL caliber players and then teams like Michigan or USC will hand them a bag of cash to go play for them.

[The Miami Ute]

You’re not far off Larry. I do think that scenario is much more likely with non-Utah recruits. You know, guys that aren’t from here and don’t have a local connection to the area, like a Jackson or a Vaki. Guys like Barton and Wilson will be harder to pull away, especially if Utah remains a solid program with enough NIL money to go around.

[Central Coast Ute]

Larry is stating the issue many Ute fans want to ignore. Someone mentioned our great class from last year while the best WR in that class just hit the portal. This is the new norm for B12 teams. It’s not just a Utah problem, though. The entire conference is going through it.

[//r00t4Utes]

I posted this in another thread, but Georgia has lost 16 kids to the portal. U$C just lost last years #1 ranked QB to the xfer portal….

[The Miami Ute]

Are you taking about Malachi Nelson? There were rumors all season about his talent level. He just wasn’t looking very good in practices and scrimmages.

[Utah]

.

[Utecity]

Does no one remember Devin Lloyd’s recruiting ranking? Have just a tiny bit of faith that the coaches know what they are doing with recruiting

[Central Coast Ute]

Devin Lloyd was rated an .87 per 247. He was a bubble 4 star prospect which is exactly where he fit in. He was undersized as a freshman and therefore couldn’t contribute right away. He took time to develope. High 3 star and 4 star is where Utah should be recruiting. It seems most people on this board think Devin Lloyd was a low 3 star recruit. That’s completely false.

[2008 National Champ]

I put the link to Devin Lloyd’s 247 page above. He was a 79 for 247 and .8219 in the composite. Bartle admitted years ago that it was a huge evaluation miss. Part of the problem with evaluating Lloyd was that he played WR and S in High School. He wasn’t a prospect at either of those positions. Much like Covey wasn’t a prospect as a college QB, no matter how many state championships he won in HS.

The staff saw something they liked with Lloyd and it worked out great. But you (the collective you, not you personally) can’t claim Lloyd as evidence of how good the staff is at identifying and developing without considering all of the higher rated talent they’ve brought in which amounted to roster filler at best.

[UtahMan17]

Some of yall really need to chill out. He’s a missionary, he’s not going to be part of this class, and a lot can happen in 2 years.

He’s listed at 6’2, 195, hits hard, runs well, plays WR, has smooth pick-6’s, well built kid, and will come back in 2 years. That is a take. If he can’t move well enough for safety he’ll get a shot as an athletic LB.

This is not one to get mad about.

[2008 National Champ]

Doesn’t sound like one to get excited about either

[Author]

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