MaxPreps 2017 Utah Football National Signing Day recap

By John Coon Feb 1, 2017, 11:45pm

A rundown of what went on in the Beehive State on signing day in 2017.

Video:Jay Tufele Ultimate Highlights
The 4-star DT chose to play at USC.

MaxPreps is your source for National Signing Day information this season, nationwide and in Utah.
The activity and suspense from the day has just about wrapped up and Utah can lay claim to (33) recruits who signed National Letters of Intent. There are also five more who are still committed but have not signed.

Visit our Utah National Signing Day page to see the names, rankings and high schools of all the Utah players who signed or did not sign Wednesday. You can sort by division as well, breaking things down to even smaller levels.

Here are some fun facts from what went down on National Signing Day in Utah:

For the third straight season, a Pac-12 school snagged the state's top rated recruits. Bingham (South Jordan) DT Jay Tufele, the No. 1 ranked defensive player in Utah per 247Sports, chose USC on signing day while Brighton (Salt Lake City) RB Sione Heimuli-Lund signed with Stanford. Brighton WR Simi Fehoko, the No. 1 offensive player in 2016, also signed with Cardinal. In 2015, The Trojans took the two top defensive players – Brighton LB Osa Masina and Salem Hills LB Porter Gustin.

10 football players from the state of Utah signed with Power 5 programs. Nine of those kids chose Pac-12 schools. Utah led the way with three signings. USC, Washington and Stanford had two apiece.



BYU signed the most players from Utah with nine different in-state recruits choosing the Cougars on signing day. The most high profile recruits for BYU were Timpview (Provo) safety Chaz Ah You and Bingham DE Langi Tuifua – both rated four-stars by 247Sports.

Timpview safety Chaz Ah You announced his commitment to BYU in unusual fashion. Ah You unveiled his decision in a video where he rode in a helicopter and landed on his new school's football field.
Chaz Ah You, Timpview
Chaz Ah You, Timpview
Photo by Steve Carnahan
A total of five 5-star and 4-star recruits from the state of Utah signed national letters of intent. These players were Tufele (USC), Ah You (BYU), Tuifua (BYU), Heimuli-Lund (Brighton) and Provo WR Ty Jones (Washington).

Bingham had the most players sign with FBS schools with five: Tufele, Tuifua, Tongi Langi (BYU), Brigham Tuatagaloa (BYU) and Cole Clemens (Vanderbilt).

21 FBS level signees from Utah came out of Class 5A schools while 12 came from Class 4A schools. The other four classifications produced just four signees for FBS schools.

John Coon covers Utah high school sports for MaxPreps. You can contact him at john_coon@hotmail.com or follow him on Twitter at @johncoonsports