Will Latu status?

[Dresden_Stormblessed]

A couple weeks ago, all signs pointed to him being a Utah lean. Now, however, all signs point to him being a Washington lean. 

What happened? Anyone have any insight?

[Onlyu]

It’s been discussed a little here. Ultimately there is a major question about his body type. Most P5 schools except for Washington have backed off because of his increased weight OR the potential for him to outgrow the LB position.

In a position of need we can’t really take the chance of bringing in a LB who balloons to a DE or DT and be left thin at LB.

A few other concerns as well but we’ve basically informed him that we don’t have room on our roster for him to play here. We’re pretty set on the D-line and are still involved with some very talented LB recruits so the staff chose to move on from Latu.

[Dresden_Stormblessed]

Really great insight! Thank you so much! I absolutely trust the process here at the U with slow, sustainable progress in the right direction that compounds on itself over time. I just hate to see quality players slip through our fingers (Jayden Daniels and Daniel Ngata have been the most painful to me).

As a side note, is it too much to ask what happened to these two? I am (obviously) out of the loop on most recruiting situations and only see the results. Losing both to the other TDS was painful.

[Tony (admin)]

Use the search feature and you’ll find a lot of discussion. 

[Onlyu]

Daniels was a family/parent conflict. He loved it here (doubt he does after this past year) but there were family influences that made it easier for the kid to choose ASU. Nagata was just a kid choosing something other than what we hoped he chose.

[CB]

That’s really interesting news. I was assuming it was partly because of the Morgan Scalley news, because I think the day after the news came out is when all of the experts changed their crystal balls for him to Washington. That’s good info to know.

[User Suspended]

What are the “few other concerns”….

[Central Coast Ute]

Anything else is irrelevant on a fan website. Someone from within the program shouldn’t give any more details than that. It could be damaging to the kid and to the university to spread things around. Speaking about his size and where he projects to play is fine because that is something anyone can see. In other words, none of your business, Pace.

[dystopiamembrane]

Pace’s question is acceptable and not overstepping bounds in any way, Central Coast Ute. I had the same question.

[Central Coast Ute]

Wrong. What’s going on with a player is not up for public discussion unless that player personally makes it public, so it’s NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS, dystopianmembrane.

[dystopiamembrane]

Agree to disagree. PS Why didn’t you jump on Dresden_Stormblessed for asking the question or confront Onlyu who reveals things about players?

[Central Coast Ute]

Dresden wasn’t asking for personal info. OnlyU didnt provide any. Simple.

[dystopiamembrane]

Semantics

[Yergensen]

I appreciate all that OnlyU brings to this board and don’t mean to bite the hand the feeds, but it doesn’t make sense to me. A week ago we’re in Latu’s final two and now we’re moving on from him because of fit? We find fits for talented players all over the field. This development coincides with the Scalley news. To me, it looks like Latu is moving on from us and not the other way around. Flame away and thumbs down all you want, but it won’t change how this looks to me.

[noneyadb]

Agreed. This is a terrible spin. Tupai they didn’t turn away and say “we don’t have room for you because your not tall enough for DE and not big enough for DT.” 

Utah is thin at 4* players. “Other concerns” must be severe.

[User Suspended]

yep, damage control…

[mfaulk80]

From what I understand, recruiting at some schools (not sure about Utah) works in terms of phases.  The primary recruiter identifies players and  evaluates talent, then brings that back for everyone to weigh in on whether an offer is warranted or not.  After an offer is given, then the primary recruiter pushes to get a commitment.  Once a commitment appears imminent, the coaches regroup and reassess whether they’ll accept the commitment.  Assuming that’s how Utah does things, then this is obviously where Latu’s offer would’ve been pulled.  

When explained in that light, hopefully it makes a bit more sense….

[EagleMountainUte]

He just said nothing will change his mind. When it comes to racist outrage little will. 

[Yergensen]

Racist outrage? Is that what emanated from my post? Because I’m blind with rage I will need you to walk me through how you reached that conclusion.

[EagleMountainUte]

Onlyu posted and I believe him.

You did say flame away so I did. 

[Yergensen]

Predictable on both counts.

[User Suspended]

The “we didn’t want him anyway” response. I personally think a program like Utah has no business turning away 4 stars.

I have a feeling the “we didn’t want him anyway” excuse (which I’ll call WDWHA going forward) will be used a lot this year.

 

 

 

 

[Dresden_Stormblessed]

That makes total sense. Due to limited spots on the team and an unknown of what prospects will commit, it makes total sense to regroup after we’ve gotten “soft” commitments to determine who we should prioritize. Thank you good sir.

[mfaulk80]

Onlyu isn’t the only place where I’ve read Latu is really only in contention with Washington at this point.  If you look at his 247, he received offers from USC and Michigan….but only 11 offers and mostly from slightly less respected schools.  If he was a true 4 star, then I think you’d expect more offers from big time schools.  Van Fillinger was hearing from LSU and Ohio State at this point.  If hometown Washington (who missed on a lot of DL prospects last year) is the only major player left, then isn’t that a pretty strong indicator that Utah is making the right choice?  Some here think we shouldn’t pass on “4 Star” talent….but it may be that Latu isn’t actually 4 Star talent.  Let’s see where things sit in 6 months (ignoring potential pandemic repercussions… )

[noneyadb]

USC, Stanford, UCLA, UW, and many others passed on the 4* QB Costelli, should Utah drop him as well?

[mfaulk80]

No, I expect Utah to drop recruits based on their talent evaluations and needs.  I don’t expect them to drop them becuase the recruit doesn’t have enough offers.    

I used the offers as an indirect way to show that talent evaluators at other big schools may be seeing the same things as Utah.  Unless we’re in that recruiting room, we don’t know the real reasons behind these decisions.  All we can do is form some conjecture based on what we actually know.  I may be completely off base, but the theory at leasts holds a bit of water….

Also, Costelli is a poor example.  Costelli has 19 offers which includes offers from Oregon, LSU, and Louisville, Washington State.  All of those programs have had some great QBs in recent years.

[Yergensen]

Dresden and MFaulk, both rational and objective perspectives and comments. However, I don’t think this approach applies to 4* recruits targeted by Utah. I believe barring behavioral issues that might pop up during due diligence, we’ll take any 4* talent that we offer and begin the process with…just one fan’s 2 cent opinion.

[Onlyu]

I think we can all agree that we’ve been thin the last few years at LB. We always seem to have 2-3 very good backers and then are either very young or somewhat less talented behind them. An injury last year to Lloyd or Bernard would have been devastating. The year before it was Chase and Cody. Either of those guys go down early with Francis still learning the system would have been a major challenge.

LB is one of the last positions where we have lacked Pac12 depth but that is changing quickly. We have commitments and underclass talent already here and will receive more this cycle. Coach Swan is doing an excellent job there.

That said, we’re still young so can’t afford a miss for another cycle, maybe even two. We’re in serious contention for other 3 and 4 star LB’s that have fewer questions than Will has currently. There are reasons that Washington is the only school left engaged…it might be that they’re a little thin on the D-line so if he ends up there they can make that work. Who knows what they’re thinking. These reasons might not be crazy serious but enough to create doubt. All I can tell you is that Utah (and other programs) have decided, sometime in the last few weeks, that there is too much uncertainty with this particular player and they’re not willing to risk that when there are other kids in play with VERY similar talent. Stars or no stars. We have mission kids coming back on the D-line as well. That’s not to say Will doesn’t figure it out and have a great college career. Hopefully for his sake he does….But this one has 100% nothing to do with Scalley.

No reason for me to sugar coat that…recruiting rankings are improving almost yearly and 4 star recruits are definitely in play at a higher rate that at any point in our history. My guess is that in 5 years we’ll have 20-30 4 star kids on our roster at any given time…maybe I’ll be wrong on that and while I’m wrong plenty in my life I rarely, if ever, provide inaccurate info here.

[Yergensen]

OnlyU, regardless of my different take on this, I appreciate you taking the time to share info on this topic and others.

[GameForAnyFuss]

OnlyU is a treasure and is clearly the nicest thing we’re allowed to have around here.

[GameForAnyFuss]

On a slightly related note, I would kill to have a basketball version of OnlyU. We have way more BS in basketball than football, and it would be so nice to have someone to cut through that BS. I’m 99% certain that there’s more going on than meets the eye with almost everything happening within the basketball program.

[Central Coast Ute]

Normally I would agree with you if it were any other position than D line. If he would project more as a safety for example, maybe you still take him, but DL at Utah is set.

[noneyadb]

Obviously didn’t watch the final two games if you think Utah is “set” at D-line.

[Central Coast Ute]

Actually I did. And if you did you’d knownthe DL was playing lights out. The issue in those games were many. Mainly OL and safety after Blackmon went out. After awhile the DL gave up too.

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