HB Arnett’s
801 372 - 0819
1391 West 800 South –
Vol. 35, Issue 22 – December 22, 2014
Click Here To Order or Renew Your Subscriptions
Christmas Cheers, Fears and Probably Tears
Cheers: Let’s start with lots of cheers for the BYU Women’s volleyball team. Their run as an unseeded team in the recently completed NCAA tournament was nothing short of remarkable.
In case you missed it, along the way they defeated Seton Hall, No. 11 seed Arizona, No. 6 seed Florida State, No. 14 seed Nebraska and No. 2 seed Texas. All of which put them in the championship final against No. 5 Penn State.
That’s a lot of wood to chop and the Lady Cougars made matchsticks out of it all except for the Penn State final in which they came up on the short end of the stick, losing 3-0 to the Nittany Lions.
As BYU fans, we love to fantasize how it would feel for our team to be a player on the biggest stages of basketball and football. The BYU Women’s Volleyball team made that fantasy a reality. We like how it feels.
Their play was stellar, the coaching superb and prospects for more to come in the future outstanding. Also outstanding, stellar and superb was the play of Jennifer Hamson, arguably, the best woman athlete in BYU history.
Fears: That would be football and BYU going up against Memphis today in the Miami Beach Bowl. The biggest fear in this matchup is the BYU defense. Nothing new there. It has been scary all season long.
Offensively, BYU thinks they can move the ball and score points. But can they score enough to come out on top of a pretty good Memphis offense.
For a win, the Cougar defense will have to play up a notch at the line of scrimmage. Memphis can run the ball and will try and do that against BYU. They have athletes and unless the Cougars can hold their own at the point of attack, it could go from scary to frightening really quick.
Offensively, BYU will have to rely on the passing game and the arm of Christian Stewart. If he is good, this could be a story book ending for him personally and a feel good story for Bronco Mendenhall and his coaching staff.
Again, if at the line of scrimmage, the BYU front can’t protect Stewart, this game will become frightening fast.
Despite being an underdog in the contest, I like BYU’s chances. For those chances to end in a win for the Cougars, this game needs to be in the 30’s. I call it BYU 34 Memphis 28.
Tears: Smokey Robinson sang it best in describing BYU when they face Gonzaga in the Marriott Center this Saturday with his song “The Tracks of my Tears” which include the lyrics below:
So take a good look at my face
You'll see my smile looks out of place
If you look closer, it's easy to trace
The tracks of my tears
Tom Hanks said in a movie that “There’s no crying in baseball.” There will more than likely be a lot of Cougar crying and tears shed when the Zags come to town to open WCC play for both teams.
Mark Few has a team that is absolutely loaded with talent. They currently are ranked No. 8 in both polls and I think that is too low.
Speaking of low, as in low post, that is where the Bulldogs should be dominant against BYU’s bigs. Gonzaga has three post players that they can go to that are productive.
For BYU to have a chance, they are going to have to be spectacular at shooting the ball from distance. They will get little to nothing inside against the Zags.
Tyler Haws and Kyle Collinsworth will be productive, as usual, but somebody else, preferably in the front court, will have to play out of his mind if BYU has any chance of winning.
This is a team that should have beat Arizona in their own gym and did beat UCLA in theirs. At least BYU will be in good company.
BYU Basketball Recruiting
Since BYU always drinks from the Utah recruiting trough here is a rundown of what is happening in the state when it comes to recruiting and BYU.
BYU already signed Zac Seljass, a 6-7 wing from Bountiful in November. There likely won’t be any more signees in April. Where it gets entertaining is for the next class in 2016.
It’s easy to pick the flashiest, most sought after and productive prep player in Utah this year. That would be Frank Jackson, the 6-3 junior guard from Lone Peak HS. He has an offer from Dave Rose on the table.
His star shone brightly in the Tarkanian Classic last week in Las Vegas when he dropped 54 points on Clark HS of Vegas. That star dimmed significantly a couple of games later when Bountiful held him to just 6.
He has caused BYU basketball fans and coaches some major angst and anxiety since he announced that he reopened his recruitment and is no longer committed to BYU. He is now looking at Duke, Stanford, BYU, Utah and Arizona. All of those schools had coaches in attendance at most of Jackson’s games in Vegas.
Gavin Baxter also has an offer on the table from BYU. He is a 6-7 wing from Timpview HS and has surged to prominence as a legitimate prospect after growing a few inches this past year. He still needs to get bigger and currently plays at 175 pounds. Think Lee Cummard with more athletic ability and speed. He can jump through the roof and runs the floor like a gazelle. He is getting recruited by Utah State, Gonzaga, Cal and Southern Utah, but his two favorites now are BYU and Arizona State.
While Jackson is the star of the class and a player BYU definitely wants to sign, if they don’t, it won’t kill the program. That’s because Rose already has a stable of perimeter players that can score in Nick Emery, TJ Haws and Jake Toolson. Jackson may be better than them all, but if he doesn’t pick BYU, the Cougars won’t be desperate for perimeter play.
That is why, in my opinion, the best recruit for BYU from this 2016 class would be Yoeli Childs, the 6-7, 225 post player from Bingham HS.
Since he is from Bingham, think Ken Roberts, only bigger, stronger and more athletic, but without an outside jumper. Childs won’t be a secret much longer. Bingham won the Premier category of the Tarkanian Classic this past week and he was voted the Most Outstanding player of that division.
That award was probably based on Bingham’s 76-71 win over Durango HS when Childs scored 32 points, had 20 rebounds and 5 blocks.
Don’t know if BYU is in the picture here or if they want to be, but with a dearth of low post scoring on the current roster, here is what Josh Gershon, a scout and writer for Scout.com, said about Childs.
A strong, physical and undersized post player, Childs is an aggressive player that competes in the paint. He certainly doesn’t shy away from contact and is a very good area rebounder. Childs also possesses very good hands and has good scoring touch around the goal. Childs connected on four right jump hooks. He also scored off putbacks and by bullying his way to the rim and finishing with his right hand.
Childs has already been offered by Utah State, Arizona State and Idaho State. Others showing interested and keeping tabs on him are Utah, Stanford, Cal, Oregon and Oregon State. He has already made a visit to ASU.
Football Recruiting
It’s been a couple of week since we published BYU’s latest list of football commits. There have been some recent additions.
The biggest name to say he will be a Cougar is offensive tackle Kieffer Longson of San Ramon (Calif.) Dougherty Valley HS. He chose BYU last Monday over Ohio State, UCLA and Utah. He reportedly is a candidate for serving an LDS mission before enrolling in the school of his choice. For more details this prospect click on his name here: Kieffer Longson
Also committing to the Cougars last week was Micah Simon, a 6-0, 175 pound athlete from Bishop Dunne HS in Dallas. He played quarterback as a prep but BYU has him ticketed as a wide receiver. Click here to watch his highlights
BYU and Utah State made a straight player trade this past week. The Aggies got Dallin Leavitt, who will transfer from BYU to USU, while BYU turned previously committed to USU recruit Zayne Anderson to say that he will now sign with the Cougars.
Anderson is a 6-3, 195 pound defensive back from Stansbury HS in Utah. Click here to see highlights.
And here is the latest from Trent Hosick, the Juco QB from Arizona Western College. Lots of interest from high profile teams for a few weeks, but currently, the only two offers he has on the table are from San Diego State and BYU. The Cougars tell him they are recruiting no other juco quarterback besides him.
There might be another offer in the wings soon from Ole Miss. The Rebels signed a QB last week, but he was arrested in a bar in Buffalo incident. Ole Miss may looking for another QB and since they showed early interest in Hosick, it might be him.
Complete list of Commits
Beau Hoge, QB, Highland High School in Fort Thomas, Kentucky. Ft. Thomas is a suburb of Cincinnati and just across the Ohio River. Hoge is 6-1, 205 pounds. Click on his name Beau Hoge to get a better description of what BYU is getting in the son of Merrill Hoge, the former NFL player and Idaho State graduate.
Kody Wilstead. A senior at Pine View HS in St. George, he will head out on a mission early next year and then come back to play as a Cougar QB. Video
Tanner Mangum. Not a recruit, but will be back this spring from a mission and in the program in the fall. This guy is a special talent. If Robert Anae wants to get BYU back in the passing game business, then this is the go-to horse. Video
Jeremiah Ieremia, LB, Hurricane HS, UT…Video
Tevita Mounga, DL, Vista Murrieta HS, CA…Video
Akile Davis, WR, DeSoto HS, TX…No Video Available
Riley Burt, DB, Box Elder HS, UT…Video
David Lui, DL, Pittsburg HS, CA…Video
Khari Vanderbilt, DB, San Jose City JC, CA…Video
Devin Kaufusi, DL, Timpview HS, UT…Video
Will Sedgwick, LB, Laguna Hills HS, CA…Video
Mika Tafua, DL, Kamehameha HS, HI…Video
Dayan Lake, DB, Northridge HS, UT…Video
Losing Legacy?
There are at least three legacy recruits that remain in limbo for BYU in this recruiting class. That includes Britain Covey and Gabe Reid, both from Timpview HS and James Empey, from American Fork HS.
Britain Covey, An outstanding athlete and led his team to third straight state title. Video.
Gabe Reid, A DL/LB on same Timpview team. Video
James Empey, OL, from American Fork HS. Dad was former coach under Gary Crowton. Video
TV Timetable
BYU vs. Memphis (Miami Beach Bowl)
Monday, December 22 at Miami
Kickoff: Noon MST
TV: ESPN
BYU vs. UMass
Tuesday, December 23 at Provo
Tipoff: Noon MST
TV: BYUtv
BYU vs. Gonzaga
Saturday, December 27 at Provo
Tipoff: 4:00 pm MST
TV: ESPN2
BYU vs. Portland
Monday, December 29 at Provo
Tipoff: 7:00 pm MST
TV: BYUtv
BYU vs. Santa Clara
Thursday, Jan 1 at Santa Clara
Tipoff: 3:00 pm MST
TV: BYUtv
If you also want a PDF copy of this issue, email and request it.