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Kyle Collinsworth's parents have known for years that their son's outstanding abilities on the basketball floor would eventually lead to a free college education. With schools like USC, Stanford and Virginia knocking down his door, the Provo High point guard opted to cash in on his talents and play at BYU.
For the Collinsworth family, the time and money spent chauffeuring their son around to practices and games from an early age paid off in a big way.
The same can be said for nearly 500 other families in Utah.
After contacting every high school and college in the state, the Deseret News put together a list of the estimated 490 seniors from the 2010 graduating class who received an athletic scholarship. Of that number, 226 have signed with Division I programs and 202 are heading out of state.
For some, the payout isn't huge. Books might be their only freebies.
For others, like Alta soccer star Kealia Ohai and Weber tennis star Mary Anne MacFarlane, their talents landed them full rides to some of the biggest universities in the country.
Regardless of the dollar amount, with rising tuition costs and a struggling economy, 490 seniors have made their parents very proud.
"They work hard and you always hope they have the ability to accomplish what they like to accomplish, and he's worked hard since he was a little boy," said Jeff Collinsworth, Kyle's father. "Now he gets to continue to work hard and play at the next level."
Collinsworth is one of 264 boys from the 2010 graduating class who received a scholarship, compared to 226 girls.
With participation numbers that dwarf other sports, more than a third of the total boys scholarships went to football players.
Highlighted by Rickly Heimuli's signing with Oregon and Bronson Kaufusi staying close to home to attend BYU, 101 seniors earned college football scholarships — roughly 4.5 percent of the estimated 2,225 seniors who played high school football in Utah last fall.
Only 28 of the 101 are heading to Division I programs, 1.2 percent of the total participants.
Bingham coach Dave Peck has seen a steady rise the past few decades in the number of high school football players from Utah who are moving onto the next level.
"I think a lot of people are taking notice that there are a lot of good athletes and good things going on in the state of Utah. It doesn't surprise me. Every year I've been involved, it just keeps getting better and better," said Peck.
Playing for the big boys is every player's dream, but Peck believes a free or discounted college education at places like Snow College or Dixie State is still a great avenue for many athletes. Snow College, in particular, has become a mini feeder system to bigger universities, and the 13 seniors who signed there this year hope that trend continues.
Overall participation numbers were provided by the Utah High School Activities Association. The 2009-10 school year numbers aren't available until later this summer, so for comparative purposes, the 2008-2009 numbers were used instead. Senior estimates were calculated at 27 percent of the overall participation numbers.
Of the 10 sanctioned UHSAA boys sports, baseball had the highest percentage of seniors who earned scholarships. Of the 803 estimated seniors who participated this past school year, 55 (6.8 percent) will continue playing ball in college.
Most of the 55 will be attending smaller in-state and out-of-state schools like Southern Nevada Community College and Salt Lake Community College, but not all. Spanish Fork star Adam Duke signed with Oregon State, which made its third straight appearance in the College World Series earlier this month.
Duke was also recently drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 16th round of the MLB draft, but he's undecided about the avenue in which his baseball career is headed.
After baseball and football, there was a significant drop in the percentage of boys who received athletic scholarships.
Golf was third with 3.2 percent, followed by soccer (2.4 percent), cross-country/track (2.2 percent) and basketball (2.1 percent). Only five of the 19 boys basketball scholarship recipients are heading to Division I programs, which confirms the notion that the 2010 graduating class was quite diluted.
When it comes to boys soccer, scholarships are even tougher to come by. Despite Real Salt Lake's presence and respectable success at regional youth tournaments, only two in-state colleges field men's soccer programs. As a result, only 20 seniors received scholarships, and 17 of those were to non-D-I programs.
With eight schools fielding girls soccer teams, those limitations aren't there for the girls.
Of the estimated 740 high school seniors who played girls soccer last fall, 66 (8.9 percent) received an athletic scholarship.
"Almost 100 percent of the girls that have some ability, some commitment and are well-coached can get some type of scholarship," said Mountain View soccer coach Mark Graham. "Very few of the boys will. More boys have the ability to get scholarships, but most of them will have to go out of state or go to NAIA schools to get them."
Even with plentiful opportunities locally, some girls prefer playing out of state, including Ohai, who signed with North Carolina's storied women's soccer program; and East's Tessa Nicolaides, who is heading to St. Mary's University in California.
Forty-eight of the 66 scholarships for girls soccer are to Division I programs, the highest percentage of any sport in Utah.
Softball wasn't far behind with 53 girls (8.8 percent) earning scholarships. Only 13 of those are to Division I schools, which confirms Bingham softball coach Mikki Jackson's thoughts that there are plenty of opportunities out there if the girls are willing to explore them.
"There's a lot of recruiting services out there to help them find schools they might not know exist. Especially if the kids open their mind to other opportunities besides D-I schools, which might not be the best option anyway," said Jackson.
With weather preventing Utah athletes from practicing year-round, Jackson said local kids need to be proactive with the recruiting process because their peers in warm-weather states are at an advantage. College softball coaches are more inclined to spend their recruiting budget on trips to California, Arizona and Florida.
Of the 53 scholarship recipients for softball, 16 are getting their education paid for out of state.
There were plenty of scholarship opportunities for indoor sports as well. Thirty-four volleyball players signed to play at the next level (4.4 percent), while 31 (4.1 percent) girls basketball players did
Overall, 87 of the 125 high schools in Utah that field varsity teams had students earn athletic scholarships. Lone Peak led the way in total scholarships with 21, followed by Alta (20), Bingham (19), Juan Diego (18), Pleasant Grove (16) and Judge Memorial (16).
e-mail: jedward@desnews.com
