Ahead of #10 Oklahoma and #9 SC.
I don’t think this is a bad spot and seems fair.
His complete Top 10:
10. Oklahoma
9. Southern Cal
8. Utah
7. Penn State
6. Notre Dame
5. Clemson
4. Ohio State
3. Michigan
2. Alabama
What’s wild, is Utah is never a top 10 recruiting class like all the other teams.
What has been a progressions for us has been recruiting.
There was a time when the idea we could land a 4 star player was considered a major challenge. Now we sign or transfer in several of them every season. There was a time that recruiting east of Texas just didn’t happen. Now we get players from the East and South. That said, we’re are still competing with a team full of athletes that went under the radar who simply fit the culture and style of play of the Utes. Because of the improved recruiting we are now seeing a team that can win consistently at the highest levels of the sport.
In the not so distant past, a successful recruiting class was one that rated better than BYU. After the Fiesta Bowl win, we started landing in the Top 50 every year. Moving to the PAC 12, we just kept climbing.
You also have to credit the coaches and recruiting staff for the success. As U$C has shown America for the last decade, it is possible to fill a team with 4 and 5 star players and still stink up the house. Our coaches and staff have done a great job of building and reinforcing the program to have success. In this day and age it’s not easy.
What is wild the 2024 Ute class right now is just one recruit from Alabama.
In 1988, we wouldn’t have even sent a recruiter to Alabama to recruit the kid. The only way he gets here is sheer dumb luck.
Recruiting SoCal and LoCal back in the day was done, but it was way the hell under the radar. Our guys were looking for a “Weddle” knowing we had zero chance of landing the “5 stars of the 405.”
Back then if you would’ve told me Utah would lure in a Top 25 recruiting class, be playing in the PAC 12 and winning the conference, I would’ve demanded a drug test. Obviously one would had to have been high as the ISS to even think any of that would ever happen; but here we are, with a Murder’s Row schedule and rocking a shot to three-peat as PAC 12 Champions.
Hosting the Gators never would’ve happened back then. The best we could’ve hoped for was a “One and Done” body bag game in the Swamp. In fact a lot of what is now the P5 didn’t schedule us for a “Home and Home” back then. All we got were “One and Done” at their stadiums. Many refused to consider scheduling us at all, let alone playing a “Home and Home.”
The times have definitely changed.
I feel like dudes from the Inland Empire looked at Utah back in the 80s and early 90s but many were LDS.
Just watched a replay of last years Pac 12 championship game, those U$C clowns sure talked a ton of smack for someone getting their ■■■■■ handed to them !
The only one that matters.
“909 - Never mind”
FTFO!
Yeah, Lord knows you guys hate Blue collar people. Orange County GOP types go to SC.
Even worse, my parents lived in Westwood for a while when they moved back.
I don’t know who Jesse Simonton is, but recognition like this is always nice to see. [Edit: I googled him, and Jessie is "National College Football columnist @On3sports.]
Canzano’s (non-scientific) poll of followers ranking PAC stadiums. Given that his immediate footprint is the NW, this is really notable. 
We definitely have one of the better stadiums in the conference. It provides a solid home field advantage for our team. Only Autzen is louder. Seattle and the new Corvallis upgrades can get loud due to the covers, but neither tend to be as active as Rice-Eccles.
