The connection is impossible to miss, but it’s not the sole reason Utah has established an ongoing pipeline in enemy territory: For the seventh-straight season, the Utes have at least one key contributor from Timpview High School in Provo.
“It’s not just because of who’s the coach — we like their football players,” Utah defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley said. “And we recruit them hard.”
Timpview is led by Kyle Whittingham’s brother, Cary, and the program has been nothing but a positive for Utah of late. Redshirt freshman wide receiver Samson Nacua is the latest former T-Bird to make his way up north, following in the footsteps of Britain Covey, Pita Taumoepenu and Jason Whittingham, just to name a few. Nacua was among the most impressive players in fall camp, coaches said, and is working his way up the offensive depth chart.
“I think the connection between the two brothers helps a lot, and it helps Timpview to get some of their better prospects to a D-I school instead of always trying to send them to either, like, D-II or down to BYU,” Nacua said.
Kyle Whittingham said Utah keeping tabs on Utah County isn’t anything new. It spans back to the days of former coach Ron McBride, Whittingham added.
“We’ve recruited Utah County as long I’ve been here — 25 years,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any different feel towards that other than we’ve got a pretty good resource on who [Cary] feels the good players are.”
Timpview has won three Class 4A state titles under Cary Whittingham — a three-peat from 2012 to 2014. Covey had 519 receiving yards and four touchdowns in 2015 as a true freshman before departing on an LDS Church mission. Taumoepenu, who had 21.5 career sacks at Utah, is now a linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers.
“Obviously there’s always going to be players down there,” Scalley said, “but we’re not going to just take a guy to take a guy. But the guys we’ve been able to take up here, we’ve loved.”
Nacua, whose older brother Kai starred at BYU, is eager to show his hometown team how far he’s come.
“This is my year to shine and this is my year to show them what they missed out on and what I can do,” he said.
Missing LaVell
Kyle Whittingham still refers to him as “Coach.” And Utah’s coach misses him.
Whittingham was asked this week ahead of the rivalry game how he expects the tone to be different without BYU legend LaVell Edwards, who passed away last December at 86.
“When he talked, people listened,” Whittingham said. “He had something to say, everyone took note and listened. I miss him. I know they obviously miss him down there. So yeah, the first game without coach around, it’ll be a little bit different.”
Whittingham, now 57, played for Edwards at BYU from 1978 to 1981.
A different vibe
Senior linebacker Sunia Tauteoli could only laugh when some freshman and newcomers to the Utah program were surprised to see the mentality change ahead of rivalry week. The former East High product wouldn’t divulge specifics, but said newbies did make note of a different vibe ahead of Saturday’s game.
“Coach Whitt does a good job of getting us fired up,” Tauteoli said. “So the guys who don’t really know, who haven’t played in it, they see the fire that he has in his eyes.”
