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The University of Utah Athletics
Utah Football Program Announces 2005 Recruits
1/31/2005 12:00 AM | Football
Feb. 2, 2005
Utah head football coach Kyle Whittingham received 19 signed National Letters of Intent today, bringing the total number of players in the 2005 Utah recruiting class to 24. Completing the list and already enrolled in school are three returned missionaries, a mid-year junior college transfer and a freshman who originally signed in 2004.
Whittingham's first class as a head coach contains 18 freshmen and six junior college transfers. Leading the way was Utah's defensive secondary, which claimed five of the new recruits. The defensive line and linebacker positions gained four newcomers apiece, and the offensive line added three. Wide receiver, quarterback, tight end and running back were each bolstered by two signees.
The newest Utes hail from seven states, including nine players from California and five from both Utah and Hawaii. Whittingham's staff received two commitments from Arizona and one from Texas, Nevada and Minnesota.
Already registered for classes are returned missionaries Semisi Livai, Kyler Rushton and Andrew Smart, as well as mid-year junior college transfer Brian Hernandez. Tony Bergstrom and Grayson Dart are "sign and sends"--recruits who will serve LDS church missions prior to college. New to Utah's scholarship rolls, but not to the team, are receiver John Madsen and defensive lineman Kite Afeaki, one-time walk-ons who will both be seniors next fall.
Some of the more heralded new Ute recruits include Tolifili Liufau, a defensive lineman out of Fresno City College, and four freshmen: quarterback Kevin Dunn (Santa Barbara, Calif.), defensive back Brice McCain (Terrell, Texas), wide receiver Marquis Wilson (Salt Lake City) and offensive lineman Tyler Williams (Mililani, Hawaii).
However, Whittingham is pleased with his entire class. "We're always looking for the best football players available and we feel that we accomplished that with this class. We're excited about every single one of these guys. We didn't just take someone in order to fill a need. I don't believe in taking a lesser player at one position over a better player just because of numbers. You need to be willing to move people around.
"With that said, I think we did a good job of addressing our immediate needs--namely getting a couple of good quarterbacks into the system. We picked up one JC guy (Brett Ratliff) and one high school player (Kevin Dunn).
"Overall, I think the class is very athletic and we definitely improved our team speed. As always, it's predominantly a high school-oriented class, but we signed a good mix of high school and junior college talent. Obviously, our assistant coaches got a bit of a late start (with the change in staff), but I thought they did a fantastic job of making up ground and allowing us to come away with an excellent recruiting class. No doubt, our success this past season helped us get into more homes."
Players Mentioned
LB
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