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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah football program signed one of its best recruiting classes in program history Wednesday as part of college football’s National Signing Day.
Utah added 19 new athletes to the program, following its 9-4 season and Foster Farms Bowl win over Indiana, focusing primarily on its line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and the defensive secondary.
Utah signed six, four-star recruits, including safety Corrion Ballard, cornerbacks Tareke Lewis, Jaylon Johnson and Javelin Guidry, linebacker Marquise Blair and wide receiver Tyquez Hampton to give Utah its best national ranking in program history. At the time of this writing, the Utes finished with a ranking of No. 33 by Scout, No. 30 by Rivals and No. 37 by 247Sports.
Utah did, however, lose out on its top priority recruit, Jay Tufele, a five-star defensive lineman from Bingham High, to USC. Tufele took his final official visit to Utah as the coaching staff did its best to keep the local talent in the state. Leading up to signing day, Tufele had narrowed his decision down to USC and Utah but ultimately decided to go out of state.
Despite losing out to Tufele, head coach Kyle Whittingham said: “I feel great about the guys we signed. We got five (defensive lineman) that we signed, but we feel like we came out with an outstanding class of defensive linemen and we have a strong class coming back.”
Utah rounded out its recruiting class with 13, three-star recruits to give the program an average star rating of 3.30, which ranks 23rd nationally, according to Scout. The 2016 recruiting class, which had several freshman have a contributing role on the team throughout the season, was the first Utah class to have an average star rating over 3.00. The 2017 recruiting class is the first year in program history that Utah has not signed a recruit lower than a three-star rating.
“The star system and the evaluation system done outside are done better now. They’re far more accurate and they have more validity to them,” Whittingham said. “That system and how the players are ranked is light years away from where it was a few years ago. Whoever is doing that is doing a great job.”
Utah's yearly recruiting rank, according to scout.com.
Utah's average star ranking for each recruiting class, according to scout.com.
Since joining the Pac-12, Utah has seen a steady increase in talent attracted to the program, most noticeably from wide receivers and offensive linemen in this recruiting class with a new offensive coordinator, Troy Taylor, on staff. Whittingham said Utah would likely only get “10 percent” of the players it was able to recruit for the 2017 recruiting class had it not joined the Pac-12 six years ago.
Utah added to its depth and versatility at wide receiver with the signing of Hampton, Jaylen Dixon and Bryan Thompson. Additionally, Utah’s offensive line should remain a stronghold unit of the offense with the signing of offensive tackles Jordan Agasiva, Nick Ford, Michael Richardson and Mo Unutoa, and offensive guard Orlando Umana.
"With this offense, the receiver becomes a bigger focal point," Whittingham said. "As a whole, we think we really helped ourselves. We’re just elated at the three guys we got. There’s a chance we might get another one."
Not to be outdone, the defense seemingly closed the gap in the secondary with the signing of Ballard, Guidry, Johnson and Lewis. They add three-star safety Taniela Pututau to the mix.
Utah lost several starters on both offense and defense following the 2016 season and will be looking to utilize many of the players that committed Wednesday, particularly those in the offensive line, secondary and wide receiver corps. Whittingham said the players coming in are "high-caliber" athletes that bring "speed and athleticism" to the program.
Whittingham said two or three players will likely serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints before joining the team. Included in Utah’s recruiting class, for scholarship purposes, is Bapa Falemaka and Julian Blackmon, freshman last season, and Chayden Johnson, who will return in the summer from his LDS mission.
To see bios and videoes of each player, go to the Utah Recruit Central page.
