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SALT LAKE CITY — Christmas came early for the Utah football program Wednesday, and that's not because a foot of snow blanketed the Wasatch Front over night.
On the first day of Christmas the NCAA's early signing day period, Utah added a total of 20 new players to the roster, which included two tight end transfers in Landon Morris (Syracuse) and Logan Kendall (Idaho), and two players, defensive end Keanu Tanuvasa and defensive back Sione Vaki, that returned from a two-year church mission.
"Like every team in the country, we feel really good about our class," Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said. "I think that's a theme throughout the whole nation, but we really feel that we got some real good players that were on the fence to sign today.
"Obviously, a great deal of that has to do with the success we had late in the season, winning the Pac-12 championship — first and foremost was probably the biggest factor in getting these guys that were on the fence to come our way. We feel like we took care of most all our needs."
Four-star linebacker Lander Barton, the younger brother of former Utes players Cody and Jackson Barton, headlined the 2022 signing class with a 247Sports Composite ranking of .9195. Joining him later in the day was Justin Medlock, who had offers from several top-tier schools he was deciding between before signing with Utah.
Whittingham said he believed the two are "the best linebackers in the West, maybe in the country." With Barton, Whittingham said he is more "college ready" than Cody Barton was when he joined the program, and though he wanted to "take nothing away from Cody," he felt Lander's "upside is tremendous."
The two linebackers were joined by the only other four-star recruit signed by Utah this year in 6-foot-2 quarterback Nate Johnson from Clovis, California, who was the first player to verbally commit to the Utes in June. The Elite 11 participant remained true to his commitment and signed Wednesday, while serving as a vocal proponent of the program to other potential recruits.
Johnson is one of two quarterbacks signed in this year's recruiting class. The other, Brandon Rose, is a pro-style quarterback out of Murrieta Valley, California, who threw for 7,521 career passing yards and 74 touchdowns.
Dynamic running back Jaylon Glover, who rushed for over 6,000 yards and scored 80 touchdowns at Lake Gibson High, becomes the latest recruit to come out of Florida to make his mark in the running back room. Glover, who was named the Lakeland All-County Offensive Player of the Year, was one of three athletes to commit to Utah from the Sunshine State, including receiver Chris Reed and defensive back Elijah Davis.
Whittingham sees Glover as the next great running back to come through the program, with a play style similar to former NFL running back Maurice Jones-Drew.
"Just a tremendous player," Whittingham said of Glover. "By no means is he where Maurice was in his career in college, but he's got a chance to be very good and in the same style of play as Maurice."
The recruiting class came along slow as Utah held only a handful of verbal commitments closing in on the early signing day period, but Utah picked up steam at the end of November and after Utah won the Pac-12 championship and locked up its first appearance in the Rose Bowl.
The "recruiting bump" gave Utah an average rating of .8695 and the third-best recruiting class in the Pac-12, and the 36th best in the country — just shy of last season's high of 33rd in the nation and a .8727 average rating, according to 247Sports. It was also one of the most widespread classes in Utah history as recruits from 10 different states signed with Utah.
"We're expanding and trying to — it's not a concerted effort to go national, but I just think our name is becoming more nationally recognized," Whittingham said.
As part of Utah expanding its recruiting footprint, Whittingham said the program's "brand is becoming stronger" and they've had more interest from more players over the years.
"We're building the brand year by year, and we're getting in just about every single door that we want to get in," he said. "Now, we're not getting all the players, obviously, you've got to still battle and try to get them signed, but we're getting in doors every year. It's getting to the point where there's almost no door that we can't at least get in or get some interest from the player because our name is starting to be much more — it's just more prominent out there."
That has led to more players considering Utah late in the game than was previously known, including some flipped commitments late in the game.
Utah flipped the commitments from a couple players, including a signing day flip of defensive end Ka'eo Akana from Honolulu, Hawaii, who was previously committed to Boise State before making the last-minute change. Utah has dubbed Akana "another mayor of #SackLakeCity" after the incoming player totaled 36.5 sacks over a two-year period in high school.
The Utes also managed to flip a former USC commit, offensive lineman Keith Olson, who decided to decommit from the Trojans program on Dec. 8 before eventually sending in his letter of intent to Utah Wednesday.
Utah signed four players from the state of Utah and got a last-minute commitment from Dallas Vakalahi, who is expected to serve a two-year mission before coming into the program. The other native Utahns include Park City's Carson Tabaracci and Brighton's Tyler Knaak.
Tabaracci comes into the program as a designated "athlete" with no set position, though Whittingham stressed "he's gonna play somewhere, I promise you that."
"But we're not sure if it's going to be tight end, running back, linebacker. He's a guy that could play several spots, so we're excited about him as well."
Of the 20 signees, Whittingham said nine will enroll in school in January and will participate in spring football.
To learn more about each recruit, visit the KSL.com Utes Recruit Central. If you can't see the full recruiting class below, click here.
