Wasatch Academy 4-star forward, BYU transfer among latest in Utah Valley rebuild

OREM — Osiris Grady's development from high school prospect to Division I athlete was sparked in three seasons at Coronado High in Henderson, Nevada, but developed heavily in a year at Wasatch Academy in rural Sanpete County.

His next step won't be as far of a journey.

Grady has committed to Utah Valley and new coach Todd Phillips, he announced Thursday on Instagram Live surrounded by friends and family in Las Vegas in picking the Wolverines over West Virginia, Texas Tech and Southern Miss.

The 6-foot-8, 215-pound big from Henderson, Nevada, also had interest from USC, Nevada, Howard and others before he whittled down his list to four main targets last month.

So what kind of a player are the Wolverines getting in Grady?

"He's so versatile," said Wasatch Academy coach Paul Peterson, who coached Grady this past season in the National Interscholastic Basketball Conference. "He can play from the wing, or go up and over on the inside; I think (Phillips and UVU) want to play a little faster and have more unicorns on their team. That's what Osiris is. Being able to rebound and push the ball opens up a lot of avenues for everybody.

"His athleticism on the defensive end is off the charts. He jumps really high, off one foot or two feet. I'm excited for those guys to put the final piece to the puzzle, which is his body and helping him to put on some weight and teach him the game even more."

The four-star recruit and No. 32-rated power forward in the Class of 2023 by ESPN averaged 5.5 points on 50% shooting with 2.92 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game for the Tigers last year in NIBC play.

While there, Grady teamed with Kansas State signee RJ Jones, South Carolina-bound post Collin Murray-Boyles, and a pair of local signees in Southern Utah's Chilaydrien "C-Bo" Newton and Utah's Jerry Huang to lead the Tigers to a 7-5 record in the transcontinental basketball league that also features national powers Oak Hill, IMG Academy, Long Island Lutheran and La Lumiere.

Grady is just the second four-star commit to arrive at UVU out of high school in the program's Division I era, and the first since Wyatt Lowell back in 2015 prior to serving a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and finishing his career with stops at BYU, Snow College, Portland and Division II Chaminade.

But Grady is more than a number on a stat page, especially on the defensive end. Grady had a huge impact in the Tigers' 73-66 win over national power Benedict Prep, Peterson was quick to point out.

"He's played with some really good guys in his career," Peterson said. "But I think the biggest thing about him is that he's understood his game for a while. He's always had a motor, and he's been able to add things to his game — without forgetting that."

The strong, athletic forward is the second high school recruit to commit to new Utah Valley coach Todd Phillips since Mark Madsen left to become the new head coach at Cal. The other won't be joining immediately, though, as former Corner Canyon guard Jaxson Roberts will first serve a two-year church mission in Spain prior to enrolling for the 2025-26 season.

Roberts averaged 15.3 points, 4.0 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 2.6 steals per game while helping the Chargers to a 25-3 record and the 6A state championship with tournament MVP and 6A all-state honors by the Deseret News.

But Phillips, along with assistant coaches Todd Okeson, Louis Wilson and Rosbie Mutcherson, have also been actively combing the transfer portal to replace Aziz Bandaogo, Le'Tre Darthard, Justin Harmon and the rest of the departed transfers.

That includes Drake Allen, the former Westlake High standout and junior college All-American at Snow who earned All-WAC Newcomer team honors at Southern Utah while averaging 11.0 points, 3.6 assists and 3.4 rebounds in 37 games for the Thunderbirds last year.

Most recently, the Wolverines added BYU transfer Tanner Toolson, the 6-foot-5 son of former Cougar star Andy Toolson who played in just six games as a freshman while dealing with a foot injury. Tanner Toolson's older brother Conner also played for Phillips at SLCC, winning the 2016 NJCAA national title before finishing his career at Utah Valley.

Here's a look at the rest of Utah Valley's transfer additions between Allen and Toolson, including former Utah State 7-foot center Trevin Dorius and five Division I transfers to go with a junior college standout and Swedish youth international:

• Drake Allen, G, Southern Utah (Westlake HS, Eagle Mountain, Utah)
• Simon Akena, G, McCook Community College (Tibble Gymnasium, Stockholm, Sweden)
• Trevin Dorius, C, Utah State (Wasatch HS, Heber City, Utah)
• Caleb Stone-Carrawell, F, Austin Peay (Cox Mills HS, Concord, N.C.)
• K'Mani Doughty, G, New Orleans (Florida Prep, Melbourne, Fla.)
• Tanner Toolson, G, BYU (Union HS, Vancouver, Wash.)

Phillips is a junior college player, coach and recruiter, in many ways. The former Snow College star made his name as part of two national champions at Salt Lake before making the move south on I-15 to University Parkway, and he's recruited out of the JUCO ranks as much as anyone in the country.

He also isn't afraid to use the transfer portal, which has become a staple for many programs with more than 1,000 players entering each year in Division I men's basketball. But Phillips knows the heart of recruiting still revolves around high school prospects.

Anything, really, to get the players that fit the program, the culture and the system.

"I think the high school ranks are a bit untapped. There are some really good high school kids that are getting overlooked," Phillips said. "If you look 10 years ago, some kids were definitely Division I kids. Those are both types of players that we're looking at; we made the comment the other day, if we need to chase in a different direction at times. And we definitely will."

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