CEDAR CITY (ABC 4 Sports) - Southern Utah University’s football team has added 28 players to the ranks through national letters of intent on Wednesday, SUU Coach Ed Lamb announced.
Included in the signing class are 20 Utah preps, four high school athletes from California, two Nevada preps, one from Tonga and one junior college signee.
Included in the list is one high school player who committed to the Thunderbirds early and has already enrolled at SUU, long snapper Kolton Donovan, from St. George’s Pine View High School. Donovan is ranked as the No. 4 long snapper in the nation in this year’s signing class.
Other local signees include Hurricane High RB Brian Scott and DB Taylor Parker, as well as QB Porter Harris and LB Mike Needham of St. George’s Desert Hills HS. Scott was named Utah’s 3A MVP by the Deseret News and the Salt Lake Tribune, Parker and Needham were both first-team all-state selections and Harris was a second-team all-state honoree.
In addition to the local athletes, SUU signed five defensive linemen, three offensive linemen, two wide receivers, a linebacker, a running back and a quarterback from Utah.
The defensive linemen include Kole Afu and Shad Enis from Alta HS, Rhett Bird from North Sanpete, Filipe Fifita-Sitake from Mountain View and David Stephens from Fremont HS.
SUU also signed wide receivers Cole Payne from Orem and Martavius Redmond. Both were first-team all-state selections this season.
Offensive line signees from Utah are Jason Brimhall of American Fork High, Evan Ross from Fremont and Spencer Rudolph of Davis HS.
Commitments also came in from LB Taylor Pili of Granger High, RB Christian Taele of Spanish Fork and CB Yabbitse Wells from Sky View.
Signees from California included the team’s only junior college signee, OL Kyle Donaldson from Orange Coast College, as well as ATH Mike Evans from Esparto HS, ATH Raysean Martin from Hayward’s Tennyson HS, OL Anthony Sarrocco of Moorpark HS and QB Austin Young of Colfax HS.
SUU also inked DL Peterson Taeao from Las Vegas Liberty HS, ATH Malik Brown from Las Vegas’ Canyon Springs HS, and ATH Sione Fukofuka from Liahona HS in Nuku’alofa, Tonga.
“First, I want to thank the Utah high school football coaches for opening their doors to our coaching staff” Lamb said. “We were able to gain commitments from 20 Utah high school players, which should help us maintain our status as Utah's most representative Division I roster.
“The incoming class includes seven Utah first-team all-state honorees, three presidential scholars, an average GPA of 3.57, one Utah state triple jump champion, one Utah state wrestling champion, one Tongan national rugby system player, one Nevada first-team all-state honoree, four mid-year enrollees who are already training with the team and one JC transfer.”
Kole Afu
DL, 6-2, 240
Draper, Utah/Alta HS
Earned first-team all-region honors in 2011.
J.T. Anderson
DB, 6-2, 165
Layton, Utah/Layton HS
A two-time first-team all-region performer, earned second-team all-state honors in 2011. Tallied 14 interceptions in his final two years of high school, returning three for touchdowns.
Rhett Bird
DL, 6-5, 255
Mt. Pleasant, Utah/North Sanpete HS
Earned first-team all-region honors in 2010 as well as honorable mention all-state recognition.
Jason Brimhall
OL, 6-5, 255
American Fork, Utah/American Fork HS
Earned first-team all-region honors as well as honorable mention all-Utah Valley recognition.
Malik Brown
ATH, 6-1, 185
Las Vegas, Nev./Canyon Springs HS
Rushed for 1,099 yards and 12 touchdowns as a senior in 2010.
Kyle Donaldson
OL, 6-4, 335
Pacifica, Calif./Orange Coast College
Earned all-conference honors last year after opening holes for the nation’s leading JuCo rusher, Dominic Betts. Bench press: 31 reps @ 225 pounds.
Kolton Donovan
LS, 6-3, 255
St. George, UT/Pine View HS
Ranked No. 4 in the nation among long-snappers by Kohl’s Kicking and as the No. 11 overall recruit in the state of Utah by ESPN. Winner of the Kohl’s National Scholarship Camp for long-snappers, was invited to the Underclassmen’s Best of the Best Challenge and to play in the GIU Prep Stars Classic.
Shad Enis
DL, 6-3, 275
Draper, Utah/Alta HS
Earned first-team all-region honors last season.
Mike Evans
ATH, 6-3, 195
Esparto, Calif./Esparto HS
Earned first-team all-Mid Valley Conference and all-Division honors in 2010.
Filipe Fifita-Sitake
DL, 6-2, 265
Orem, Utah/Mountain View HS
Earned second-team all-state honors from both the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News. First-team all-Region 8 selection.
Sione Fukofuka
ATH, 6-5, 250
Nuku’alofa, Tonga/Liahona HS
Member of the Tongan U-21 national rugby team.
Porter Harris
ATH, 6-3, 180
St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS
A consensus second-team all-state selection last year, and also the 2010 Utah 3A triple-jump champion.
Raysean Martin
ATH, 5-11, 185
Hayward, Calif./Tennyson HS
Earned first-team all league honors as a running back and second-team honors as both a defensive back and kick returner last season when he tallied 21 combined touchdowns and earned all-metro recognition. Named Team MVP after racking up more than 1,600 all-purpose yards.
Mike Needham
LB, 6-3, 195
St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS
Earned all-region and first-team all-state honors from both the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News as a running back last season when he rushed for 1,293 yards and tallied 14 touchdowns.
Taylor Parker
ATH, 6-2, 185
Hurricane, Utah/Hurricane HS
Was a consensus first-team all-state and all-region selection last year as a defensive back after racking up 48 tackles and three interceptions.
Cole Payne
WR, 6-3, 195
Orem, Utah/Orem HS
A consensus all-region and all-state selection last year after he caught 67 passes for 1,299 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Taylor Pili
LB, 6-4, 205
Salt Lake City, Utah/Granger HS
Earned first-team all-region and consensus honorable mention all-state honors last season.
Martavius Redmond
WR/DB, 6-1, 185
West Jordan, Utah/West Jordan HS
A two-time all-region and all-state performer at West Jordan High school.
Evan Ross
OL, 6-6, 272
Plain City, Utah/Fremont HS
Earned honorable mention all-region honors, a 3.8 GPA student.
Spencer Rudolph
OL, 6-6, 295
Kaysville, Utah/Davis HS
Honor roll student, earned honorable mention all-region honors.
Anthony Sattiewhite
QB, 6-1, 170
Ogden, Utah/Ogden HS
Earned first-team all-region honors and was his team’s MVP last year. Earned the Larry H. Miller Pick the Prep player of the week award.
Brian Scott
RB, 6-1, 220
Hurricane, Utah/Hurricane HS
Earned 2011 Utah 3A MVP honors from both the Deseret News and the Salt Lake Tribune last year after leading HHS to the state title. Carried 210 times for 1,638 yards and 31 touchdowns, finished his career with 40 total TDs and added 39 tackles from his linebacker position as well. Also is the reigning Utah 3A state champion wrestler at 215 pounds.
Lloyd Stephens
DE, 6-3, 200
Plain City, Utah/Fremont HS
Honor roll student, carries a 4.0 GPA, earned honorable mention all-region honors in 2011.
Peterson Taeao
DL, 6-3, 315
Las Vegas, Nev./Liberty HS
A four-year starter on the offensive and defensive lines at LHS, earned all-Nevada 4A first-team honors, all-Sunrise Region, all-Southern Nevada, 4A All-Nevada Prep/Rivals and all-Southeast honors last year. Has been invited to participate in the Polynesian All-American Classic next month in southern California.
Christian Taele
RB, 6-1, 195
Spanish Fork, Utah/Spanish Fork HS
Earned consensus first-team all-state and all-region honors last season after racking up 1,895 yards of total offense, including 1,506 rushing yards. Tallied 23 total touchdowns and added 33 tackles from his linebacker spot.
Yabbitse Wells
CB, 5-11, 158
Logan, Utah/Sky View HS
Two-time first-team all-region return specialist MVP. 60 tackles from his defensive back position as a senior.
Austin Young
QB, 6-5, 215
Colfax, Calif./Colfax HS
A two-time first-team all-league selection, as well as this year’s league offensive MVP, he threw for over 5,000 yards and 58 touchdowns over the past two seasons, including a 2011 campaign in which he completed 124-of-201 passes for 2,752 yards and 33 TDs.
