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CEDAR CITY — Since taking the helm of the Southern Utah University football team, one of head coach Ed Lamb's goals has been to increase in-state recruits. In the 2011 class, he did just that. Twenty of his 26 signees are from Utah.
"It's fantastic," recruiting coordinator Paul Peterson said of signing so many Beehive State players. "The quality of football in Utah is awesome."
"Our profile within the state is rising," Lamb said, noting their recent success on the football field (including a Great West Conference Championship last season) and the move to the Big Sky Conference helped the recruiting effort.
"It's another notch on our belt," Peterson said of joining the Big Sky. "It definitely helps to play that high competition."
According to Peterson, the Big Sky offers some of the best football in FCS.
Peterson and Lamb agreed another major factor in landing so many local players on the squad is SUU's relationship with the state's high school coaches.
"The high school coaches are starting to realize the impact we're having," Peterson said.
Lamb explained that the state's prep coaches appreciate the fact the SUU football staff regularly visits them.
"They know we're serious about what we do," he said.
It helps, also, that several coaches from around the state are SUU alumni. In fact, one of the coaches in each of the 3A, 4A, and 5A state championship games this season was an SUU alumnus. Lamb proudly acknowledged that SUU landed a player in each one of those championship games in its recruiting class this year. Fourteen of the 20 Utah recruits are coming directly from northern Utah high schools.
Peterson said that when northern Utah recruits make their official visits to the school and are immersed in the campus culture, selling them on SUU is easy.
Three of the recruits, Jarom Healy and Josh Bulloch from Hurricane High and Jake Brown from Snow Canyon, are from southern Utah.
Both Lamb and Peterson said when they look for recruits, they do not just look for good athletes. They look for players with character. Both coaches said this year's recruits have earned stellar grades and been assets to the communities from which they hail.
Southern Utah signed three wide receivers that have played for other colleges: Matt Putnam from Snow College, Michael Clore from Mesa (Ariz.) Community College, and Fatu Moala, who played last year at Utah.
Based on the signing of this class and the Thunderbirds' recent success on the field, both coaches are optimistic about the future.
"We're getting better and better recruiting classes every year," Peterson said. "We're super excited for the upcoming season."