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Tyler Haws went alone into Dave Rose's office Wednesday and committed to play basketball for the Cougars. He will sign his letter of intent in November.
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I talked with Marty Haws tonight and he told me Tyler is "excited and relieved." He says the family is "glad it's over," calling the recruiting process a "long deal." Marty says he is "excited and happy" for Tyler, who will now focus on winning a third straight state championship with Quincy Lewis' Lone Peak Knights. I am scheduled to interview Tyler first thing in the morning, and the audio from the entire interview will be posted in the "Cougar Cuts" box on this page as soon as it is uploaded.
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Clearly, BYU's successful recruitment of Haws is a significant feather in Dave Rose's instate cap. The coaching staff will now focus its attention on Provo High star Brandon Davies, whose teammate Kyle Collinsworth is another high profile target on the Cougars' radar screen. The addition of Haws would ostensibly aid in those efforts.
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Tyler says BYU probably worked the "hardest" in the recruiting process, and I think one of the untold stories is how much BYU coaches had to do to really get on the Haws family radar. While many assume BYU had an inherent edge in this recruiting battle (due to Marty's BYU history, proximity, Lone Peak player precedence), BYU may have had some intrinsic hurdles to overcome, if for no other reason than Tyler and his family were going to make sure they explored every possible option--beyond BYU.
Either way, Dave Rose and his staff never took Tyler for granted, and ultimately proved they wanted him most and had the most to offer. And to that end, it bears noting that BYU as an institution and BYU Basketball as a program indeed have a lot to put on the table. Tyler told me he is getting at BYU everything he wants out of a college education, and in particular, he's getting everything at BYU that he would have gotten at Stanford (the only other school to survive Tyler's "final cut").
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Tyler tells me he plans to play a year and then embark on an LDS mission.
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While he has some work to do to catch up with Lee Cummard, Tyler Haws will be asked to do much of what Cummard does now, and his addition potentially makes for a seamless transition on the wing in 2009. Of course, he will be the low man on the totem pole at that time, but Haws is a special talent who appears to be up to the task of becoming a 4-year college starter.
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