BYU
FOOTBALL: One day after undergoing surgery, running back Luke Staley was named the Touchdown Club of Columbus Running Back of the Year. Staley joins Marshall Faulk, Eddie George, Ricky Williams, Ron Dayne and LaDainian Tomlinson as winners of the award.
Staley was selected as the Running Back of the Year by a panel of 51 Division 1A coaches from across the country. Travis Stephens of Tennessee finished second in the voting.
Weber State
GOLF: The Wildcats have announced the signing of Nick Higham, of Shelley High in Idaho, to a letter-of-intent to play golf next season.
Higham is the No. 1-ranked junior player from Idaho and was the 2000 Rocky Mountain Section of the PGA Junior Player of the Year. He is the 92nd-ranked junior by Golf Week Magazine. He was the 2001 Idaho High School State Medalist Champion and finished 10th in the Idaho State Men's Amateur Championship last summer at the Idaho Falls Country Club.
His tenth-place finish was the top junior finish for 54 holes. He was also recruited by Oregon, Oregon State, Washington State, Nevada, Idaho and Boise State.
Utah State
FOOTBALL: Chris Tabor, the head coach at Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Mo., for the past year has been hired as the new wide receivers coach at Utah State, Aggie coach Mick Dennehy announced Wednesday. Tabor will replace Eric Kiesau, who accepted a similar coaching position at the University of California-Berkeley.
Tabor led Culver-Stockton to a 6-5 record this past year, the school's first winning season since 1986, the most wins since the 1974 campaign and one win shy of tying the school record for wins in a season. In league play, Culver-Stockton finished in fourth place with a 5-5 record, which was the most conference wins since joining the league in 1980.
FOOTBALL: The Aggies have signed offensive guard Greg Vandermade to a national letter-of-intent.
Vandermade, a 6-3, 291-pounder from College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, Calif., earned all-Western States honors two straight years. During his two years, College of the Canyons went 19-3, winning the Western States Conference Championship both seasons and advancing to back-to-back bowl games. They won the 2001 Western States Bowl.
Vandermade was named a first-team JC Grid-Wire academic All-American this past year and was also named a NSCA Strength and Conditioning All-American. He also received the strength and conditioning award and scholar-athlete award from College of the Canyons along with being named Cougar of the Year.
VOLLEYBALL: After posting a 20-11 record and advancing to the second round of the NCAA tournament, Utah State finished the year ranked 21st in the country, according to the final USA Today/AVCA top-25 coaches poll.
Utah State will return three starters and nine letter winners to next year's team.