Jesse Boone, a National Honor Society regular and student body officer at Millard High School, was headed for an Ivy League school, probably Princeton, where he would play football and come out with a degree that would open all kinds of doors in the business world.
But Boone had a chance meeting with Ron McBride, who was then University of Utah football coach, at the 2000 all-state banquet.
McBride, an old offensive line coach, sized up the 6-foot-5, 275-pound prep tight end, who had also played basketball and wrestled, and liked what he saw. Utah was done recruiting by then, but McBride went to work on Boone anyway.
During a campus visit, McBride produced a chart for Boone that compared Utah favorably to Princeton in business curriculum.
"That's the reason I'm here. The guy just impressed me," said Boone. "I was taken aback for the most part" that McBride would put so much work into courting a kid from Millard whose parents both went to BYU, which never offered him a scholarship.
Boone grayshirted that first year, paying his way to school and adding 50 pounds to round himself into an offensive lineman. He redshirted in 2001 and "learned how to play football," he said. "Coming from a small school, there's not much technique, you just push people around." Last year, Boone played in seven games and was credited with 100 percent hustle plus 97 percent pass-blocking efficiency and 87 percent in run blocking.
Now McBride is gone, ironically to the University of Kentucky, where Jesse's older brother Aaron played well enough the past two years to have made the Dallas Cowboys' current roster as an undrafted free agent.
And Jesse has played well enough in spring and fall practices to have earned a likely starting spot as a sophomore on new coach Urban Meyer's Utah offensive line.
Boone came out of spring ball as the listed starter at left guard, despite an illness in the spring that left him still scrambling to improve his upper-body weightlifting numbers.
Last Monday, Boone was moved to starting left tackle, where he inherits the spot filled so magnificently the past four years by All-American Jordan Gross, the No. 8 overall pick in April's NFL Draft and the expected starter at right tackle this fall for the Carolina Panthers.
Coaches approached the subject of a position move a month ago. "They said they might want to try me at left tackle just because I'm better built for left tackle, and Thomas (Herrion) is maybe better built for left guard. We just thought we'd try it out," said Boone, whose father, Coley Boone, was a 6-5, 315-pound offensive lineman for the Cougars and is still trying to figure out how his sons went to Utah, Jesse said.
Boone's younger brother Jason (6-3, 271), a 2001 all-stater for Millard, is an incoming freshman who's already in the three-deep at right guard. Having his brother on the team means, "I know somebody's got my back," says Jesse, who has a little competition with Jason in the speed department. "I keep telling him I was fast when I was 280 pounds," Jesse says, dutifully adding, "He has more potential than any of us so far."
It's a huge and close-knit family. Jesse has nine siblings and 150 first cousins; his father was one of 13 children.
He credits Aaron for kindling the current crop of Millard football-playing Boones. The family moved to Fillmore when Jesse was 10 and Aaron was entering high school. Aaron cut through the politics of a small-town team. "He earned a name for us. I was Aaron Boone's brother," said Jesse, who upheld the family tradition as a two-time all-stater.
Jesse was also student body secretary and held other Millard student offices. "I was really involved," he said. He was so staunch about football he wouldn't date anyone in-season, but as student secretary, he had to go to the homecoming dance. He and a friend double-dated, Jesse escorting his 28-year-old sister to the dance. "It was one of the best dates I've ever been on," he said.
As a high school senior, he knew he wanted to play college football, and the wrestling coach talked him into going out for that team instead of basketball because the skills he'd learn would better suit football. They did, and he took third place at state that year as well.
He also credits Millard's impressive weight room, almost the equivalent of Utah's, he says, for helping to build up a guy who was 6-4 and 130 pounds as a high school freshman.
His long arms are among his top assets, making him best at pass blocking. "If I lock arms, he can't reach me," he says of defenders.
Boone hopes to follow his brother into the NFL and then join with him as entrepreneurs. "I've got a lot of business ideas for products, things to try. I've got to get some money to invest," he said, adding they're "always slinging stuff — necklaces, sunglasses." Boone will graduate within the year and then go into a master's program while finishing up on the football team.
E-MAIL: lham@desnews.com