Get the latest word straight from the coaches about the recruits who have committed to the various teams at Southern Utah University.Live on December 20, 2023 from the Starlight Room in the Student Center at SUU.
Ch you charging music too oh the bright lights the bright lights hey good evening everyone wow great great to have such a nice turnout tonight we appreciate you all coming over I know it’s a busy time of the year right preparing for holidays preparing for travel PR preparing for
People to come visit you right you have family coming to visit right all the all the uh the craziness of the holiday time so we appreciate you coming over tonight this is a big deal for us right uh recruiting Signing Day um celebrating this is a big deal for schools all
Around the country it’s a time when we sort of celebrate our coaches work uh our coaches have been working for months and months and months traveling all around the country on phones and texts and emails talking to uh potential student athletes uh all around the country talking to parents and coaches
And uh this is the culmination of that effort and so we like to celebrate it and I know this has been something we’ve done in the past uh having a signing day party and I’m pleased that we we could bring it back I’m pleased that we can do
That you know the previous iterations of of signing days was always early in December right it was always the first Wednesday of December traditionally and now it’s moved back a little bit so it’s it’s a little bit harder for us but we really in future years we’re going to
Ask you to lean on your friends and family like we always do uh to get more people here we want to make this a big event every year and um make sure we have a great party and celebrate all the success ESS not only of our coaches work
But of the student athletes that’ll be joining the the t- bird family so um so thank you again for being here tonight this is a big deal for us and I also want to thank a few other folks um and I’m not sure if I think he stepped out
To take a phone call but our Provost was here John Anderson and that’s that’s a big deal if you guys don’t the Provost is the um I think second in command at the university is the highest ranking academic official for the University and for us uh John Anderson is a te- bird I
Mean he is a sports fan uh he loves what we do he supports what we do um he loves coming to all of our events and activities so I was pleased to see John here tonight U I think he had to step out for a second but um John thank you
For being here um we also have one of our Deans I love seeing our Deans at events and uh and and you know uh Shauna mandini she comes to everything I mean the huge huge T-bird fan I’ve been a t- bird fan for a few years now right a
Couple years um but the dean of uh College performing and visual arts do I say that correctly I can that’s a never get this college of performance and visual arts right uh so so we appreciate you being here shaa and and bringing the guy that’s sitting with you and Ricky’s
He’s been around a few years too and part of the t- bird family so we love seeing you um we also have one of our our dear friends who’s a a state senator Evan Vickers is here Evan thank you for being here thanks for all your support
Uh t- Birds I know we see you at all the events and activities and games and and Evan so like sort of non-descript he sits up high and sits by himself sometimes and it’s always fun seeing you that stuff so thanks for coming tonight as well uh I also want to thank uh
Where’s stie stie Spencer where are you stie oh right there thank you so much for being here tonight and bringing your squad it’s so cool to see them and sort of the welcoming committee uh it it brings a different level of spirit and energy when the cheerleading team and
The spirit team’s here so uh thank you so much for for being here tonight um and then obviously uh behind the scenes but we’re streaming this event tonight because we want we want our signes to know how much they’re loved we want our signes the recruits to know uh that tber
Family is ready to welcome them so we’re we’re streaming this event tonight uh so each of our coaches can talk about and tell us about the great recruits that we’re signing that are join the T-bird family but it’s also a great opportunity for our coaches to um to be able to say
Uh why these recruits are important why maybe they’ve chosen uh Southern Utah and U and I think it’s good for the SES and their families around the country maybe around the world to be watching tonight to be part of this celebration so uh thank you all for who everyone
That’s home watching right now for joining us tonight so all right so each one of our coaches is going to come up and and talk about the signes um some of our teams have signed a few people and we’ll sign a few more later uh in the
Signing period and and others might be done with their signing class and they’ll talk about that when they come up here so unfortunately a couple of our coaches couldn’t be here right had some travel plans uh some holiday plans in the mix already but um representing a
Couple of our coaches tonight is one of our our our great administrators you all have met him and heard from him and I’m excited to have him come up and talk tonight so representing volleyball soccer and softball uh is Dr Cedric Brown our senior associate athletic director so please welcome Cedric up to
The [Applause] microphone I am excited to um be here this evening and represent the three teams that I support um as their administrator so we’re going to start first with softball and um some of these names are pretty hard to uh pronounce but um I uh went on
Google and I looked at them and heard and hopefully I get them correct so we’re going to first start with soft bar softball signes Mikela Salva tieri Mikel is from San Diego California and plays travel ball for the corona Angels she is an outfielder a triple threat hitter she
Has continuously been a contributor to her team success she was named the all tournament on the all tournament team for the alliance Nationals both in 2022 and 2023 she will be a force on the base paths for the te- birds Maddie Marino is from Fullerton California and plays for the corona
Angels travel organization Maddie is a right-handed pitcher with a dominant rise ball and change up in 2022 Maddie was named the alliance Nationals all tourn on the on the the Nationals tournament team uh look for Maddie to be an important member of the t- birds pitching staff in
2025 next we have Tony moeri she is from Peoria Arizona and plays Trav and plays travel softball for rogue out of Phoenix Arizona she is a dominant infielder who can play anywhere you put her on the field a great athlete with a lot of pop in her back Tony was named First Team
All region in her High School Conference in 2023 next we have Michelle De La Cruz from Las Vegas Nevada she is a powerful player with a ton of pop in her backat Michelle plays travel ball for the Athletics Marcato out of Dallas Texas she was a member of the Polynesian
National team in 2021 and played All Region for a high school conference in 2022 and last but not least Izzy knight from West Jordan Utah she is a true utility player who can play anywhere you put her on the field she plays travel softball for USA Athletics out of Salt
Lake City Izzy is was named the All State on the All State team in consecutive Seasons 2022 2023 she also was named first team All Region for her High School Conference and those are your SES for your 2024 softball T-bird uh Team um now Kai told me to say that I’m
Cedric I’m not Kai okay so 20124 soccer SES Morgan Halverson Morgan is a box-to-box mid middle fielder with quality ball striking ability we have tracked Morgan from a couple of years after she attended multiple camps of ours she will be enrolling early and have the opportunity to compete against some of the good
Opponents this spring we look forward to Mor Morgan developing in our in our environment while also bringing her competitive Spirit to our group Laura puis Laura is a very competitive holding middle fielder we were able to see her at the junior national championships where we saw her competing her
Competitive Spirit her ability and her desire to uh to connect out of pressure and her defensive ability to break up plays coming as as a midyear transfer will be a great will be great as it provides us with an opportunity to work with her for the semester before our
Fall matches also Laura is joining us from France she will add a diverse personality to our team Lucia Rivas Luci is a skilled Striker who is very good with the ball at her feet with the capability of scoring in a variety of ways bringing her Love of the Game from
Madrid Spain also uh further uh further diversifies our roster and adds a punch in our front line Daria musali Daria was the starting goalkeeper at the division 2 National final four program she brings great experience and a competitive attitude that will raise the level of our goalkeeping unit as a
Spring enrol Le being able to work with Daria this coming semester is exciting some of you may know this name Ryland TBS Ryland is athletic and competitive with the ability to play many wide positions adding a top local talent is also great for the community as she follows the hunt twins who played
Here last year also from Cedar City High her dedication to developing her game is evident through commun through commuting three plus hours to play with her club team in Salt Lake City being a discovery player in different ecnl and girls Academy teams and training on her own Ryland will jump
Start her career by enrolling at suu and starting her experience this January we look forward to watching her develop quickly this spring Chelsea loser Chelsea is a talented two-footed ball Striker who can score goals and play people in into great positions she has a high soccer IQ and a great motor she has
The talent and the drive immediately to impact to have impact results in the whack playing at a club level playing like a club like West Coast girls Academy with coaches such as Doug and pl Lai has helped raise her IQ along with the demand to compete at a high
Level Stacy baresi Stacy is competitive and a and an athletic goalkeeper who wants to win and is willing to do what it takes she can make the big save as well as start the attack she has an infectious personality paired with a drive to compete at the highest level we
Look forward to watching her grow and develop in our comp our competitive goalkeeping group and last but not least Miss yui yui Fuji UI is a dynamic and exciting attacker attacking player with a wicked left foot she can score goals and play and plays a quality first ball
Uh to get assist when a clean with a clean first touch and her ability to combine people she consistently unlocks attacking a attacking space coming from Japan she brings a high soccer IQ along with a great discipline and her movement to get open adding a talented attacker like UI will add value
To the final third of the soccer field and those are your 2024 soccer [Applause] signes and last but not least this is from uh Casey na thank you to all those who in the wonderful community of Cedar City who supported us this season in 2023 volleyball is excited to announce we have 13
Returning returners for next fall we added a few student athletes to round out our roster which will include a couple of transfers along with Marley Irvin Marley is an incoming freshman out of the class of 2024 in oala Nebraska she is a four-year starter from aala high school who brings a sense of
Calmness and consistency Marley is a well-rounded outside because she is SM a smart attacker a calm passer aggressive server big blocker and consistent Defender she will be able to contribute with her level of play right away to our to our season gym Marley will do anything to get
Better which includes driving 4 and a half hours one way to compete at her Club the Nebraska Juniors she has been awarded both allc conference player and all area player three times and was ranked by prep dig magazine as one of the top players in the state of Nebraska
In her class she’s a five sport winner in volleyball basketball tennis track and dance where she is the co- captain of the team we are excited to welcome Marley this fall to Southern Indiana and those and that is your final S I mean Southern Utah I AP I apologize Southern Utah thank [Applause]
You um typically our our recruiting last all year long so T at this time of the year we really don’t sign a lot we have to wait a lot of times through the state track championships and so our big signing class normally takes place in
May and June um but we do have three that we’ve signed that we’re really excited about that I think will help continue us to be a power in the conference uh both in track and field and in Cross Country um and so here are here are four of the signes we’ve we’ve
Picked up already the first one is edra uh Nelson from Skyridge High School from uh Lehigh town of Lehigh he’s a distance Runner he’s one of the top distance runners in the State uh he’s about a 44 Miler um that was as a junior and we
Hope that he’ll be well under 410 uh and coming into this conference you need to be under 410 to be competitive right off the bat and so here our hope with him he’ll bring that strength and that uh when you can win at the state level um
And you know how to win it it the transition into college is a little bit easier uh in competing so we’re really excited about him adding him to our our our men’s program our distance program which will also boost our cross country along with boosting our indoor and
Outdoor track uh uh strength um on the Sprint side um uh Andy rasmason uh from eastn Colorado eastn High School uh 2023 Colorado state champion in the 400 meters uh she went 5605 that’s uh seconds once around the track that’s why she won the state championship but she did that as a
Junior so we’re hoping she’ll be well under 55 if she is under 55 in the quarter coming in she’ll be an instant scorer for us in the waack championships and so we’re really really excited so she’ll bring strength and replace one of the seniors we have and we’re hoping to
Transition her into the multis and so we’re hoping to make her a strong multi athlete for us too uh Sabrina Wright uh out of Salt Lake City Highland High School another 400 meter Runner our 400 team and our 4×1 team on both sides have been pretty strong in the whack we’ve
Been in the top uh three uh almost every year uh that would have been just last year I guess uh and so we’re hoping again this year uh that would be every year uh and so she she brings more strength and some youth to the program
And uh we do lose a few uh seniors this year but we’re being a we’re able to replace them with some very quality uh young athletes coming in and on the throw side uh Jaye ghard gandert uh will be coming in she’s a javelin thrower and a discus thrower she threw 135 she
Finished third at New Mexico state championship as a junior so we’re hoping she’ll be up around the 140s and if she is she’ll be an instant scorer for us uh in the javelin um and then just a side note with her she’s about uh 128 PBS in
Her division in the deadlift and she deadlifts 320 lbs and so uh when she came into my office and wait you’re a thrower and she’s just like a solid muscle walking into the office uh and then her deadlift was insane so we’re hoping to see good things out of her and
Uh we’re hoping we have a a number of athletes about nine athletes coming off of missions that will fill some of the roster for next year also and so um it’s looking to be a pretty good season for us [Applause] thanks hello I am Tara Oglesby I’m the
Head women’s golf coach and this is my first year here at suu and this recruiting class is really special to me because it’s my very first recruiting class as a head coach so as you may or may not know our golf team is very International we have players
From all over the world and we are excited to continue that so our first sige for next year is coming all the way from Thailand and her name is Orchid I’ll try to say her last name w n and she is coming from Korat Thailand and she played for
Pluke PA school and she is a very very talented player we are very excited to have her join our team and hopefully just take us to the next level and our next player is coming from the other side of the world from aahu Hawaii Pearl City from kameha Maya school and it’s
Kirsten Hall and I had the chance to go watch Kirsten play in Hawaii a few months ago and she is just such a talented player and what I really loved about her is even in adversity she just kept her composure her dignity great sportsmanship and I
Think she’s just going to bring a really great positive energy to our team she’s played in many national tournaments and has H ranked really highly in them so we’re excited for these two ladies to join our team next year thank [Applause] you I’m Tracy Mason I’m the women’s
Basketball coach here uh just want to thank you all for being here this is a very exciting event um we have three players that we’re going to add for next year um I’m super excited about this class I think it’s one of the best classes that we’ve had since we’ve been
Here so I’m really looking forward to getting these three in here um the first one I’m going to start with is Sierra Chambers um she’s a 58 shooting guard point guard from Sam San raone Valley High School in Danville California um I’ve seen her play probably for the last
Four years she’s played for a club team that actually my daughter played for and um is kind of right in the the neighborhood of where I grew up so I’m super excited to have Sierra join us um she plays for the cow Stars one of the
Top Nike e ebl teams in the country um last year she received numerous first team accolades as a junior um she averaged over eight assists per game as a junior this season she’s averaging over 20 points per game so she’s a dynamic shooter she handles the ball
Really well um she’s played at a high level and just super excited to have her her join us the next one is Denver Anderson um Denver is from Illinois and kind of a unique story she actually reached out to us um her family her mom
Has a grant to work um for the Native American tribe and so they’re trying to figure out somewhere in the west coast to move to and so they reached out and she visited schools and we were able to see some film on her and then see her in
Person and we scored with this one um just super excited about her an amazing family amazing girl um she’s a 6-2 wing but she really could play any position on the floor um She was recently named Max prep’s wbca which is the women’s basketball coaches association player of
The week after scoring 39 points in a game she broke her own School record scored 39 that week she had scored 25 31 and 39 so a pretty good average for the week um and a pretty big time award um right now she’s currently averaging 21 points eight rebounds and five assists
Per game plays for a great club team again another player who’s just super competitive um just a great human being and all three of these are I’m just really excited about this group the last one um we actually signed her the last day of the signing period so she made a
Campus visit and we kind of said you know you want to do this and she brought her mom out her out here with her she’s from Hawaii um we had some great help with Joe who got to spend some time with her and um get to meet her her family
And her mom and um she’s incredible just an incredible athlete uh her brother plays football at UCLA I think she’s the second there’s 10 in the family and they are all just athletes so um she’s a 6′ one forward last year she was the league
Player of the Year took her team to the first ever state championship um she was volleyball player of the year this fall for her volleyball team she’s averaging 22 points a game and shooting 70% from the field which is a pretty incredible feat um just a wonderful another
Wonderful human being and just three super quality people that we’ve added that I think are going to help us instantly and um you know push the people that are here and really contribute for us this year so super excited about these three thank you it’s short enough oh gosh we’ll go up
High sorry this just dropping um Scotty apologizes that he could not be here I’m Jamie weong the associate head coach for gymnastics so I had to make a joke because cool said they had a guy go 410 in the mile or something am I right there where we have a 410
Athlete so that’s what 410 means to us so and I think that she’s kind of pushing it when she says 410 so we actually have four athletes coming in this year we’re excited about uh the first athlete we have is Mia Hampton she joins us from Meridian Idaho out of
Bronco Elite Gymnastics and she’s actually been attending our gymnastics camps I’m going to say for 5 years now so we’ve had a really great opportunity to get to know her and spend some time with her um she’s an all-around athlete really good on the bars that’s where we
Could really see her pushing that freshman year but has potential to be a really Dynamic all-around athlete for us she’s a four-time national qualifier she’s the 2023 Region 2 floor champion and she’s a three-time state champion in level 10 so we’re really excited to have
Her joining us and she’s going to be one of the goofiest kids you guys have ever seen out on the floor just really REM reminds us of Rachel Smith how she dances and just really puts her personality out there you guys are going to enjoy watching her our next athlete
Is Maya North coming all the way from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania she’s from Exquisite gymnastics and she is exquisite on the bars and the beam so you guys are going to have a lot of fun watching her she is a five-time regional qualifier out of Pittsburgh it’s a really difficult
Region so we’re excited to get her um we have the two short on the team coming up Sage Paladino she’s from Prescott Arizona she’s from Arizona dreams night gymnastics and she has a potential for allaround as well but look to see her on the bars her freshman year she’s got a
Really cool combination work that she does she it’s not the typical bar routine that you see um at least with her Dismount it’s really fun and then she is a six-time state champion a six-time regional qualifier and the three-time Arizona state champion so uh next up up I like to call
Her Minnie because this is the one that I think she’s lying when she says 410 but this is Emily Countryman she is from Tucson Arizona out is out of Arizona Dynamics Gymnastics one of the best gymnastics programs in the country and she is a dynamic floor and beam worker
She’s small but powerful really fun and has potential on vault we’ll have to train her up just a little bit but she’s she’s a Late Bloomer on that event uh she’s a five-time state champion a four-time regional qualifier and she’s the region beam and floor champion and a two-time Western’s National qualifier so
We’re really excited to get these girls out on campus we can’t wait for you guys to meet our brand new flipping [Applause] Birds welcome everybody uh thank thank you for being here um good to see a lot of friendly faces a lot of people over the last two years that have become
Friends and and like a family to our family thank you for being here really excited about the 15 young men that signed with us today before we get to talking about them there there’s some thank yous that need to go out uh with in order for a football program to have
A signing class it it takes an entire town it takes the entire Village and and help there I want to go through our Administration Christy Florence Dave uh Jeff Tu kaafu Marie Danny Ferry Doug new want to thank you guys for your help with our recruiting class um our Bullpen
Needs a shout out and Braden Hall and Jordan Brown Nate lelow Garrett Castile Megan Kelling uh Joe vavaka proud of myself pronouncing that correctly the the staff at at Courtyard Marriott for everything they do on our recruiting weekends um the staff at Chef alros um Ron Ron Banks and his staff at
Rusty’s uh Firehouse Subs for all they’ve done for for us over the weekends that we’ve had recruiting visits at the academics um Amy Tu kaafu um who is your better half Jeff if if you didn’t know uh Kayla corver and her staff um Professor uh Paul maio what
What a stud that guy is shows up every time we ask him to show up and represents his university very very well um wanted to um the Sid support group um Gabby and Maddie and rean hun hunsaker that thank you guys for all that you guys do um John Smith Eric levit Mark
Levit want to thank you guys for what you’ve done for our football program um I will forget names and leave somebody out but I want our full-time staff to stand up going left or right in the room and just who you are and what position you coach and guys thank you a bunch
Willach off sh special team coordinator line John Kelly defense coordinator Smith running back coordinator defens tackan defensive Brady’s got his hands full with the newborn in the back you guys did a great job this starting last year in April did a great job till now getting this class signed
Now to the signing class um really excited about all these young men this is mostly in alphabetical order uh so so it’s not in any certain order but going through Jake Alexander offensive lineman from Phoenix Arizona area um Jake is 6’6 285 lbs guys one of the more physical
Offensive lineman that we saw on film this year we signed Jake for for two reasons um physicality and then his want to finish finishing plays we were excited about that Jake will graduate this June going on his church mission we will get him back in Spring of 2027
Excited about Jake um Parker Andrew Parker Andrew from down the road Parker Andress is from down the road in St George Utah he is a crimson Cliffs graduate soon enough um 62 265 lbs in my opinion one of the best defensive linemen in the state maybe the best
Defensive tackle in the state of Utah two-time state champion First Team all state really excited about Parker going to come in here and compete immediately um Cameron ay Cameron ay is a running back out of Phoenix Arizona um originally from Nashville Tennessee we’re excited about cam um cam is 59 200
Lb and and that just point blank one of the most electric tailbacks that we saw on film this year I really excited about cam coming in here and competing a young man that we can hand a football to and he can score from 60 and 70 yards out
One of the things that impressed us on this film was him returning kickoffs 100 100 hey 99 yards 105 yards for touchdowns really excited about that uh CH Chris Brown Chris Brown’s a wide receiver out of San Diego California uh lightning speed Dynamic receiver makes a
Whole bunch of plays um I’ll get it wrong but caught 150 plus passes in his high school career uh he is also really really good on special teams 5 um he is 5’11 excuse me 170 lbs we’re excited about getting Chris in here um
Another one of Joe I need you to help me pronounce these names now Sebastian fanua Sebastian is an offensive lineman he is 6 foot3 300 lb he is out of Rose Park Utah and Sebastian is a good offensive lineman good defensive lineman we were really impressed by the fact he
Didn’t come off the field on his high school team um Sebastian will graduate in June going his church mission we’ll get him back in the spring of 2027 excited about Sebastian uh NE next up is Tyson line Tyson line is a 6’3 190lb quarterback out of San Diego California
A teammate of Chris Browns um they are both from Miram Mesa High School in San Diego just really like the combination like the chemistry they had on the field but Tyson is a dynamic quarterback that has a chance to be the next great one at SU and we’re excited about him next up
Is Ian Mariner Ian Mariner is a defensive lineman he is 6′ tall 290 lbs out of Lehigh Utah he played on that Sky Ridge team that won the State title in 2022 lost the State title this this year um Ian will graduate in June Ian will go
On his church mission and we’ll get him back in Spring of 2027 really excited about Ian made made a bunch of plays on that team the last two years and excited about him next up Jaden Robins Jaden Robinson is a wide receiver out of henders Henderson Nevada Liberty High
School to be specific and he is 51075 lbs really Dynamic Athlete Jaden’s going to come in here and play wide receiver for us but we could put Jaden at tailback we could put him at DB we could put him at outside linebacker and he’d be really good at all of them um we
Found out this this weekend that he may be the best bowler on the team next year and he may throw axes better than anybody in our football program we went ax throw Saturday night and he’s really good at that too but excited about what Jaden can do um excited about what he’s
Going to do as a player here uh good football player Crush Crush Crush sour is next offensive line let’s he his first team all line before First Team all name before he even starts an offensive lineman with the name crush crush is out of uh Phoenix Arizona he is
6’3 290 lb um Dynamic offensive line lineman could play all three spots for us Center guard or tackle he’s a really good Center and we’re excited about Crush um he is um he is first te he’s first team a lot of things but he’s First Team all district first team All
Region excited to get him in here to play for us next up is Jackson Stevens Jackson Stevens played with Ian Mariner on that Sky Ridge team this year that the state runner up Jackson is a 6’4 225lb quarterback um in my opinion the best quarterback in the state of Utah
This year and I know there’s some that people like in this state but we like Jackson the most been recruiting him for 2 years very very fortunate to beat some really really good schools on him Jackson is graduating as we’re sitting here um he will go on his mission this
Winter and we will get him back in Spring of 2026 really excited about Jackson Stevens at the quarterback position Baron Taylor is next Baron Taylor is a DB out of Sacramento California and as it goes with me I have know their film and where they’re from and what position they play long before
I know their names and every time that coach Castile kept bringing him up I said he’s good I like him I like him we were able to get Baron here to visit this weekend him and his family fell in love with Cedar City and our University
Baron is coming to play for us this fall and going to be a very good defensive back going forward very Dynamic Baron is also great on special teams which matters to us Jaden Wells is next Jaden Wells is out of the state of Washington
Uh he is 6’2 285 he is a d tackle to go along with Parker Andress that they are going to be two of the better D freshman D tackles in the country next year um Jaden is a four-year starter at his high school first team All Region First Team
All state um great football player what we really liked on film was just how physical he was on a consistent basis how hard he played play in and play out playing every play on offense every play on defense really matters to our coaching staff but excited about getting
Jaden here Xavier Williams is next Xavier is a wide receiver might end up being a defensive back but a great athlete out of San Diego California um I’m going to get called out for not giving their specific towns but Southern California’s close enough um Z Xavier played first year high school football
This year one of those young men that come through the ranks and he was going to be a division one basketball player division one division one you wake up going into your senior year and your six foot tall in the division one basketball thing may not happen he switches over to
Football and he’s one of the best players in Southern California this year um Xavier can play wide receiver he can play DB for us he returns kicks and punts great athlete we’re excited to get him in here to play for us um Danny King’s next Danny King is next and Danny
Is um guys he’s from back home ladies and gentlemen he’s from back home and and I’ll just do it this way point blank the best high school kicker and punter that I ever watched in person I used to go to his high school football games when we were back there and watch him
Kick it six yards out of the back of the End Zone on kickoffs and then just regularly hit 50 and 60 yard kicks watched him one night hit a 40 some yard kick to beat one of the teams that was ranked in the country to beat one of the
Private schools they were playing I think Danny’s high school and he Not only was he their kicker and punter but he was also the starting quarterback for a State title team and another team that lost a State title game if I remember right um but a great great athlete great
Football player Danny’s been kicking for West Virginia University for the last four years he’s going to come in here as a grad transfer great academically um NBA student and he’s going to kick and punt for us for the next two years and and will be a major upgrade there and
We’re excited about Danny last but not least M maybe my favorite young man in the graduating class is Charlie Reid Charlie Reid is an offensive lineman out of Castle Rock Colorado Douglas County High School to be specific um Charlie is 6’1 285 he is the lineman of the year
And he is First Team all academic all state which matters to our coaching staff um Charlie over the course of his career as good as good a center as we watched on film this year plays with leverage play plays physical drives his feet violent hands does everything you
Want to see an offensive lineman do but Charlie over his career got moved he played center he played guard he played tackle did whatever his coaching staff asked him to do which is really really important to us this year he flipped over and played tackle and defensive tackle when they’re not his best
Positions we think Charlie’s going to come in here and be a very very good Center guard for us and excited about him I I’ll I’ll end I’ll end on this you’ll see with our recruiting class I think we represent the 15 guys represent about eight different states um we made
It a point to recruit Utah and be really really good at home and build a fence around around Utah and we signed four or five guys from Utah that we’re really excited about and then after that we went and got a kid from Vegas and two kids from Phoenix and three kids from
Southern California and a kid from Maryland and a kid from Colorado and I’m I’m a Washington Washington State and we’re really excited about that getting really really good students that that match our football program and are going to be blue collar and hardworking and really really physical mental and
Mentally and physically tough in our football program I’ll end on this one our 2023 season that we’re all really really excited about we went six and five we finished second in the united Athletic Conference um and all of that is great if we play tonight if we played
A game tonight ladies and gentlemen we have 12 seniors 36 Juniors 32 sophomores we are getting ready to be really really good and the thing that our coaching staff will tell you that we’re most proud about is what we’ve done in the classroom and what we’ve done community
Service-wise in the community but here’s the number one thing of all the you hear portal this and portal that and this this team the school as as Mr new says the school down the road their entire team went in a portal we have no one of
Substance that got in a portal this year and we’re really really excited about that we’re bringing all of our good players and and our contributors we’re bringing them all back for 2024 go Thunderbirds does anyone have any questions they want to ask any of our coaches now would be the time if you
Guys got any any other questions you want to ask the coaches you know when we talk about this recruiting class we talk about the missionaries for two years it would be nice if in the future we could the returning missionaries because to us I don’t remember who you few years ago
They weren’t here and they’re gone and it would be nice to hear who they are and why they recruit why you recruit and those kind of so it kind ofes out what see % of the missionaries do come back in two years is that 50% anybody got an
Idea so next month in three or four weeks from now on January 8th we return eight we return four missionaries back um this will be the last group of missionaries that the last coaching staff signed so I give you all their names but I’ll mess their names up but
We’re we got four young men returning um this this is in my experience and I was at Southern Virginia before here when you’re doing it right when when you’re doing it right you can get 60 65% of them to come home and play ball and when you’re doing it wrong it’s somewhere
Between 10 and 25% if that helps you another question on this National letter of attempt how many sports at this level are being infected or is it just the major five schools that are really being affected with that in college football in college football there are division three and
Division two teams now that have nil they form collectives in their towns and at their universities and they’re doing everything from helping young men and women with the cost of attendance to all the way up at our level bu any Signing Day questions all right we’ll wrap up just
Say again thank you to all of our coaches assistant coaches we know how much you guys work throughout the year to make this uh this event this night happen so congratulations on great side class for all of our coaches assistant coaches and again thanks to our our friends that are here tonight and
Obviously many friends and family that are watching from around the country around the world so we’re excited to have all the new T Birds coming in we can’t wait to see them all here some coming this spring semester and most coming in the fall but U we’re excited
To have you excited to welcome you this great is great community so again thanks for coming tonight everyone have a very merry Christmas happy holidays and we’ll see you tomorrow afternoon women’s basketball at 2 o00 right all right thanks so [Applause] much
