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Chalk Talk p. 8
Hot Shots p. 26 Health & Fitness p. 31
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JOHN SALTAS ALEX MARKHAM, MIKEY SALTAS SARAH ARNOFF LANCE GUDMUNDSEN AMY DONALDSON, JACKILYN ROCK, ELENI SALTAS, JOSEPH SILVERZWEIG CHRIS AYERS, NICK LUCERO, CHAD HEYBORNE, JULIE SHIPMAN, SCOTT THOMAS, JUSTIN WINN, CHAD ZAVALA, RYAN LUFKIN, JULIE SHIPMAN, CARRA MCMANANON, CHRISTOPHER LUND JOSH SCHEUERMAN BRIAN PLUMMER VAUGHN ROBISON, SOFIA CIFUENTES PAULA SALTAS ANNA KASER BRYAN MANNOS
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MIKEY SALTAS has been covering University of Utah football and basketball since he was 18 years old. A fouryear baseball letterman with a creative writing minor, Saltas has had a passion for sports and writing his whole life. At Winners Utah, he is able to combine the two.
An attorney by day, JOSEPH SILVERZWEIG found a passion for data-driven analysis in sports. Silverzweig uses his empirical research along with his own mathematical models to create accurate predictions and displays. You can find more of his work at pac12blog.com, or on Twitter @JSilverzweig
JENNIFER VAN GREVENHOF PETE SALTAS ANNA PAPADAKIS DOUG KRUITHOF, KATHY MUELLER ANNE BAILEY, LISA DORELLI, JEREMIAH SMITH, PAULINA KNUDSON
Born in Utah and raised in Alaska, AMY DONALDSON made her way back to the Beehive State to obtain a Communications degree from the University of Utah. For nearly two decades, Donaldson has been covering an array of sports and has a reputation for one of the top sports journalists in Utah. Find her on Twitter @adonsports
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Over the past decade, ALEX MARKHAM has become a reputable Utah sports journalist by covering Utah high school and college sports. Markham began as a contributor to the football and basketball blog Rivals.com before working his way up to managing editor and now publisher of the Utah sports division.
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CONTENTS Chalk Talk
Quarterback guru Troy Taylor MIKEY SALTAS
Game Time
Warriors of the Gridiron ALEX MARKHAM
A Measure of Quality
Remembrance of Brown and Edwards ALEX MARKHAM
Tailgate
Utah Pig Bus MIKEY SALTAS
X-Factor
Dissecting Data for an Edge JOSEPH SILVERZWEIG
Hot Shots
Standout Utah high school athletes ALEX MARKHAM
Performance
GAME On
W
hen growing up, each little boy and girl has the dream of one day turning their ordinary life into something extraordinary. For me, that dream was to become a professional baseball player. I loved the game within the game, the smell of the dirt, the exhilaration of winning. My playing days are long behind me, though without fail, nostalgia strikes when dusk sets in and I see the spark of lights illuminating baseball diamonds across the Salt Lake Valley. That’s the draw to sports, is it not? They bring us back to those gleeful, unassuming moments when we were young, giving us those “If only I had one more game to play” thoughts. Winners Utah hopes to bring out the little kid in all of us, sharing with its readers the in-depth stories of local sports heroes—past, present and future. Winners Utah highlights the “Hot Shots” of Utah that aspire to turn the family name on the back of their jersey into a national brand. We’ll leave no stone unturned as we dig for the forgotten stories, such as how two Utah men played a role in transforming the lives of Pacific Islanders for generations to come. And since food and health are synonymous with sports, Winners Utah will share those experiences with you, too. Our team of reputable sports journalists, action photographers and world class graphic designers are excited to kick off our inaugural issue. Look for us again in December of 2017, and bi-monthly thereafter. We look forward to telling you more stories to come, giving you deeper insight on the games you grew to love in your adolescence and reminisce on the old days alongside you. Enjoy. By Mikey Saltas
The gear essentials ELENI SALTAS
Health and Wellness
Easing back into fitness
Overtime
How transfers are transforming college basketball AMY DONALDSON 6 | Winners Utah • Fall 2017
PHOTO: JOSEPH SILVERZWEIG
JACKILYN ROCK
Words can’t describe it. Pictures don’t do it justice.
Fall 2017 • Winners Utah |
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k l a h C k l Ta
w/Troy Taylor
BY MIKEY SALTAS
S
ince joining the Pac-12 in 2011, the University of Utah football team has won four postseason bowl games, including the most recent 26-24 victory over Indiana in the 2016 Foster Farms Bowl. However, the Utes have yet to win the Pac12 South division outright, in part due to a lackluster offense that has consistently ranked near the bottom of the conference. Head Coach Kyle Whittingham thus decided to shake up his coaching staff and hire former Eastern Washington University offensive coordinator, Troy Taylor, for the same position at Utah. Last season, Troy Taylor’s offense produced astonishing numbers—his team averaged 401 passing yards and 42.36 points per game. Utah, on the other hand, averaged 216.7 yards and 29.8 points. 8 | Winners Utah • Fall 2017
The secret? According to Troy Taylor, it’s as simple as turning a complex thing (an offense) and making it user friendly for his players. “Humans are incredible creatures,” said Taylor. “The front of our brain, the frontal lobe, it allows us to think and make decisions. It allows us to determine right from wrong, it makes us who we are. But the ancient part of our brain, the cerebellum in the rear, that’s where we react and make splitsecond decisions without necessarily thinking about it, we just do it. So, I want my receivers to be able to act and my quarterback to react. If the receivers can find and create space and my quarterback knows where they’ll be before they get there, the only decision he needs to make is ‘open or not open’ and continue along his progressions. That’s it. “Take the iPhone for example,” he
In each issue, Winners Utah will conduct a chalk talk session with coaches and figures from local sports programs. For our inaugural issue, we caught up with new Ute offensive coordinator, Troy Taylor, who explains his quarterback-friendly spread offense.
continued. “The creators of the iPhone took this massively complex thing, filled with 0’s, 1’s and silicon, stuff not too many people understand, and made it so literally anyone in the world can use it. If you take that and apply it to football, I’m the creator of the offense. My job is to take this complex system and make it user friendly. That isn’t to say we only run three plays, but the easier it is for my players to run the system, the better our offense will be.” Himself a former quarterback at Cal-Berkeley and briefly with the New York Jets, Taylor is considered a “quarterback guru” in coaching circles. Just three years ago, Taylor was the head coach of Folsom High School in California, where he primed and prepped the starting quarterback for the Washington Huskies, Jake Browning. Under Taylor’s tutelage,
“People may peg me as an ‘air raid’ or up-tempo coach. I wouldn’t say that at all. If we can exploit the defense for 500 yards through the air, we’ll do it. If we can get 300 yards on the ground, why not?”
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Browning set a state record with 16,775 passing yards and a national record 229 career touchdowns. Last season, starting quarterback Troy Williams had a forgettable 53.1% completion percentage, though he did have the most yards by a Utah quarterback (2,757) since Brett Ratliff in 2006. In 2017, Taylor is giving the reigns to sophomore Tyler Huntley, who is known for maintaining accuracy while extending plays with his legs when scrambling out of the pocket.
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“In terms of passing concepts, I see the offense as finding and creating space. Most of my stuff is progression based—the quarterback will go from first receiver, to second, to third, to fourth, to possibly a fifth. Depending on the spot of the football, we call the larger part the ‘field’ and the smaller part the ‘boundary.’ In a simplified scenario, option 1 is on a go route, option 2 on a dig, option 3 on a curl, and option 4 on a swing. The defense will move to where the quarterback’s eyes go, so even if option 1 isn’t open, he’s still going to look there to draw the defense. Our quarterback isn’t looking at coverage, he’s looking at space on the field. Some coaches may say ‘if there’s a blitz, hit option 1 on the go route’ or hit the curl. Not for me. I ask my quarterbacks to look at option 1, then 2, then 3, then 4. If they are able to make it through all four progressions, we’ll find an open man 95% of the time.”
10 | Winners Utah • Fall 2017
PHOTO: MIKEY SALTAS
PHOTO: CHRIS AYERS
Troy Taylor explains how he simplifies his offense for his quarterbacks
The reason for the QB change? “In my offense, the attribute that trumps all others is accuracy,” Taylor explained. “If our quarterback isn’t accurate, then the whole foundation will crumble. But we absolutely need them to be accurate.” Under Kyle Whittingham’s tenure as head coach, Utah’s identity could be described as having a hardnosed, dominating defense while the offense has, for the most part, taken a backseat. Though Whittingham has proven with the hiring of Troy Taylor that he is serious about taking the next step to winning the Pac-12 South. Pairing Utah’s already infamously stout defense with a consistent and high-powered spread offense might be just what is needed for the Utes to tip the scales in their favor in the Pac-12.
“People may peg me as an ‘air raid’ or up-tempo coach. I wouldn’t say that at all. If we can exploit the defense for 500 yards through the air, we’ll do it. If we can get 300 yards on the ground, why not? My system is adaptable to personnel. My goal for our team this year is to take pressure off of our already fantastic defense, where we aren’t relying on getting stops to win, but rather controlling and dominating the game. The pace of the offense will be faster because our quarterbacks are going to work through their progressions faster and make cognizant decisions and make the right play.” After years of lowered expectations on offense, Troy Taylor might just be what the Utes need to break the barrier holding them from competing in the Pac-12 Championship.
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WARRIORS 12 | Winners Utah • Fall 2017
GRIDIRON A Path to a Promising Future
by Alex Markham
O PHOTO: BYU ATHLETICS
OF THE
ver thirty years ago, a trend took root. Brigham Young University Head Coach LaVell Edwards planted the initial seeds of what would change the football landscape in ways only imagined by select men. University of Utah Head Coach Ron McBride saw that vision and followed in his footsteps. Their plan was simple: Hit the islands of Tonga, American Samoa and Hawaii in search of aggressive and massive football warriors. The reward for those young men: A path to a better life through the gridiron and education. The path was made easier due to the already strong LDS Church presence on those islands. Meanwhile, those distant communities began longing for a better opportunity—an education and good jobs. “The LDS Church has a big influence on showing them education and what they can have here in the states,” said former Utah offensive lineman Doug Kaufusi. “That was a big thing, being able to come here and have that opportunity.” Kaufusi was born here in the states, but his brothers Steve and Rich, were born in Tonga. They’re part of the early generation of Polynesian football players to make their names at BYU, Utah and Utah State. While football provided them an opportunity for a free education, the island culture they were accustomed still had to undergo a long learning process and some difficult adjustments. Fall 2017 • Winners Utah |
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“We didn’t really understand the game,” said Rich Kaufusi. “My high school coach used to say, ‘Use your peripheral vision,’ and I had no clue what he was talking about. I’d take in a play to the huddle and I didn’t get it. I didn’t get the concept. It was just fun to run around and knock people down.” The Kaufusi family are all trailblazers. Doug and Rich are part of six brothers who all were successful at Division I football. Still, in the early years, finding success was the exception for families from the islands, not the norm. “You saw kids that had all the tools, but they were lazy, they didn’t want it,” Doug said. “A lot of kids have God-given ability, but that’s all they go off of. They won’t do any extra. You still see that now, I don’t think it’s as bad as it used to be. Nowadays, there’s a lot more to offer kids as far as training. When we were growing
14 | Winners Utah • Fall 2017
up, we didn’t have all these camps.” Kaufusi is referring to camps such as the one originated by Alema Te’o, founder of the prestigious All-Poly Football Camp. The camp includes all races and ethnicities and educates all participants on Polynesian culture. Since a humble start in 2001, the All-Poly camp now attracts coaches from all around the USA, each trying to mine the gridiron gold that is basic to Polynesian football players. “This is the third or fourth generation of Polynesians (in football), so you’ve got a lot of Polynesians who have been through the process of graduating high school, going to college, getting their degree and who have become professionals,” said Te’o. “Because more of them have college degrees and have established themselves in society, they’re raising their kids to do the same thing, too.”
PHOTO: UTAH ATHLETICS
RON MCBRIDE
PHOTO: CHAD ZAVALA
ISAAC ASIATA
RENO MAHE
PHOTO: BYU ATHLETICS
PHOTO: BYU ATHLETICS
VAI SIKAHEMA
“My high school coach used to say, ‘Use your peripheral vision,’ and I had no clue what he was talking about ... It was just fun to run around and knock people down.”
PHOTO: DAVID GRAVES
Rich Kaufusi
BYU PLAYERS PERFORM THE HAKA
Fall 2017 • Winners Utah |
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PHOTO: UTAH ATHLETICS
STAR LOTULELEI
PHOTO: UTAH ATHLETICS
DOUG KAUFUSI
PHOTO: BYU ATHLETICS
PHOTO: BYU ATHLETICS
KALANI SITAKE AND LAVELL EDWARDS
Football has been played in American Samoa for decades, but the youth circuit didn’t start until 2010. Accordingly, locals like Gabe Sewell Sr. realized the potential of football for his own boys and family. In 2012, the Sewell family moved from American Samoa to America, eventually settling in St. George, where they discovered Te’o’s All-Poly camp. “For my sons playing football here in Utah, they’re able to do it on a stage accessible and able to be reached,” said Sewell. “It has allowed them to go see other things, get a degree, have a great experience off the field, and to network with coaches who will probably be lifelong mentors and friends. There’s so many benefits we’ve received and we’ll continue to receive those benefits for moving out here.” Sewell’s son, Penei, is currently one of the most sought after offensive linemen in the class of 2018, receiving dozens football offers from the likes of Utah, USC and Alabama. He soon will become part of a growing community of Polynesians receiving Division I fullride athletic scholarships. According to Te’o, roughly
47 Polynesian athletes in Utah received four-year scholarships in 2017. That is nearly seven times the number of Polynesians receiving scholarships just a decade ago, before the All-Poly Camps. Rich Kaufusi now works as the Director of Opportunity Scholars for the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business. He’s preached his whole life about the importance of education, and his son, Loa, will soon attend Stanford University due to accomplishments in both the classroom and on the gridiron. Even with the demonstrable progress of the Utah Polynesian community on the field and off, Rich believes there’s still work to be done. For that reason, he’s initiated a mentoring program pairing his Polynesian students with kids attending Glendale Middle School and East High School. As the Polynesian community flourishes in Utah through the efforts of Te’o, Sewell and the Kaufusi families, among many others, they’ll never forget two legends who made it possible for them to dream. “I think that secret has gotten out, that secret that
16 | Winners Utah • Fall 2017
PHOTO: CHAD HEYBORNE
PHOTO: CHAD HEYBORNE
Coach McBride and LaVell had,” said Rich with a laugh. “It’s gotten out and I think the rest of the country is so into it now. When LaVell came to our house, it was a different thing for us because we actually didn’t view him as a college coach, we viewed him as a church leader.” Te’o agreed with that sentiment and notes how the impact of Edwards and McBride continues far beyond the lifespan of their respective coaching careers. “We have more educated Polynesians and the majority of that credit goes to those two gentlemen,” said Te’o. “Those guys were the bridge that reached across to our community to bring us over. “Their legacies are in the kids that are coming up, right now. The generation of kids coming up right now are the sons and daughters of a lot of the players that were recruited by Ron McBride and LaVell Edwards. Their legacy will forever be etched in stone in our community for what they’ve done.”
Fall 2017 • Winners Utah |
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A MEASURE of Quality
PHOTO: JUSTIN WINN
PHOTO: BYU ATHLETICS
S
ports are one of the greatest gifts in life. It can bring so much joy, yet so much pain. Through winning and losing, it provides lifelong lessons that we carry with us long after our glory days are behind us. It builds friendships and bonds that never fade. Most importantly, it brings us together—whether it be friends or family, teammates or foes. This past year, we lost an unmistakable legend with the passing of former Brigham Young coach, LaVell Edwards. A man who made so many lives better and helped change the landscape of college football. Through the countless lives Edwards touched, he left the sports landscape in Utah far better than when he found it. He leaves behind a legacy that will live on for generations and generations to come. Unfortunately, the heartbreak did not stop there. Recently, there was also the passing of Hillcrest High football coach, Cazzie Brown. What was supposed to be a time of celebration and excitement over a new coach for the Huskies, lasted one season and one game before the vibrant role model was taken from his family, friends and team far too soon. When dealing with those two losses and the countless others that individuals have faced, it’s important to learn from their good and also their mistakes. When someone passes, there’s a Greek saying that goes, “May their memory be eternal.” It means making their memories live on in you and those that surround you. That’s the challenge to those who were fortunate to have had their lives touched by Coach Brown and Coach Edwards. By so doing, the Utah sports scene will continue to thrive. Our state has a strong legacy in sports: from football, to basketball, to gymnastics, to boxing and to the slopes—the accomplishments go on and on. The level of enthusiasm among the fans has been and will remain one of the most passionate in the entire country. As we remember the accomplishments of Cazzie Brown and LaVell Edwards, let us also remember the impact they had on all under their tutelage. It’s through them that the memory of Brown and Edwards live on.
PHOTO: MIKEY SALTAS
18 | Winners Utah • Fall 2017
By Alex Markham
PHOTO: MIKEY SALTAS
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20 | Winners Utah • Fall 2017
WORDS MIKEY SALTAS PHOTOS RYAN LUFKIN
THE PIG BUS AND COLLEGE GAMEDAY CREW
D
evoid of a professional football team, Utahns hankering for a football fix in their home state fulfill their fandom by supporting Division I college programs—BYU, University of Utah, Utah State University and the like. The University of Utah in particular prides itself in having one of the largest pregame tailgating gatherings in the west. The pregame festivities, which can begin before dusk on gameday, sprawl over the entirety of Guardsman Way, in pockets on the university campus and along a portion of 500 South. Pop-up tents, campers, grills, buses and thousands of fans gather to show their support for the Utes. Tailgating before Utah home games wasn’t always so grandiose or centralized, however. Ryan Lufkin and Welby Evangelista, alumni and best friends from the University of Utah, raised the bar in the early 2000’s. That opportunity came way by transforming a rundown school bus into a red-painted, pig-roasting mobile machine, nicknamed the “Utah Pig Bus.”
Q: How did you find the bus to begin with?
WE: “I was traveling for a game and started gathering inspiration from all of these crazy tailgates. I found a website with old school buses and talking to the people that would have these buses, because we really didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into. We knew it could get rowdy, so we wanted it to be indestructible. Plus, we had to get a
commercial license to drive it.” WE: “I found a bus in Oakland, this old artist used it to transport her massive pieces of art. I called her and said I wanted to buy her bus, so we go and drive the sucker back. It took us like, three days.” RL: “Welby called me when he was driving it back, he called me as he was going over Donner’s Pass, and he said he was going 5 miles per hour and even giant logging trucks were passing him. It was really beat up when we found it.” WE: “We got it to Utah, it took us about three months to gut it and clear out everything. It was a lot of work. It made its debut in Kyle Whittingham’s first year.” RL: “Now there’s a lot of buses—there’s a fire truck, a hearse. But we were the first bus. All of the buses that came after us came and looked at what we did and we gave advice, because we want to make Utah tailgating huge.”
Q: Tell me how your love of tailgating began.
RL: “Welby and I went to (the University of) Michigan in 2002, the first time Utah played them in the Big House.” WE: “Awe. We were in awe.” RL: “You walk up for a mile around the stadium, and every square inch of grass has a tailgate and a barbecue on it. As you’re walking up, everyone is nice, they’re handing you food, they’re handing you beer, and we said, ‘why don’t we do this?’” RL: “So we came back to Utah, set up on 500 South with a little pig roast and started tailgating. People kept going, Fall 2017 • Winners Utah |
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‘how’d you get this spot?’ We just kind of showed up, that’s how. Finally, it got to be pretty big so the university asked us to move into the tailgate lot. It wasn’t big at the time, but (former Utah head coach) Urban Meyer made it to be big.”
Q: What was Urban Meyer’s impact on Utah’s tailgating?
WE: “Utah’s tailgate wasn’t anything special (before Urban Meyer). There were tents and people camped out, and the athletic department would look the other way about any drinking. They wouldn’t promote the drinking, but they didn’t do anything about it either. It was sort of a free-for-all.” RL: “When Urban got here, Welby tried every variation of Urban Meyer’s email address—u. meyer, urbanmeyer, meyer.urban, everything. He said, ‘hey, we want to cook a pig for the Polynesian linemen on our team.’ Then all of the sudden he gets a response from Urban and he said, ‘that sounds awesome, let’s do it.’ So we cooked two pigs in Urban Meyer’s backyard and fed the whole team. All of the Polynesians started bagging up the hooves and bones and they all loved it, so we started cooking for the team for about ten years after that.”
Q: What are some of the foods the Utah Pig Bus cook? At what scale? RL: We’ve done a lot of amazing foods. The pig is kind of our calling card. But we try to do different foods along with our opponents. When Utah played TCU, we cooked up frog legs. Now we’re in the Pac-12, we sometimes cook ducks when we play Oregon, beaver stew when we play Oregon State, stuff like that.” RL: “Generally, we cook the pig and take donations so we cover our costs, we don’t make any money on it.” RL: “When College GameDay came, we asked if we could cook for it. The athletic department was all about it, so we had this massive cookout where we cooked our pigs and fed hundreds of people. So, we set up in President’s Circle and prepared all of this food. It takes a lot of work, but we have passionate friends that are always helping out, so by the time GameDay came, it was just a matter of organization.”
Q: What are your plans for the future of Utah tailgating? Anything in the works? WE: “We want to make Utah tailgating huge. We’ve pleaded with the athletic department to close off Guardsman Way so when the players do the Ute Walk from the facility to the stadium, they can walk through the tailgating and see the atmosphere and how everyone is cheering for them. Or, another idea we have is to move the tailgating to President’s Circle altogether. Either way, the demand for tailgating is so high now, and Utah football has a good product, so why not try and capitalize on that?”
22 | Winners Utah • Fall 2017
Pig Bus Gourmet Utah Funeral Potatoes INGREDIENTS
PHOTO: DEREK CARLISLE
16 tablespoons of salted butter Two 28- to 32-ounce bag frozen shredded hash brown potatoes 2 medium onions, finely diced 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 2 cups milk 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 5 cups grated cheese (Mixture of Monterey Jack and Cheddar) 2 cups sour cream 12 pieces of bacon 4 cups kettle-cooked potato chips
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease each 9-by-13-inch baking dish with 1 tablespoon of butter. Take the potatoes out of the freezer while you are preparing the rest of the ingredients. Heat a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat, then melt 14 tablespoons of the butter in it. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions start to soften for 3 to 4 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the onions and stir. Cook for a minute or two to
cook out the raw flour, but do not let it color. Whisk in the milk, making sure to get out all the lumps. Add the broth and whisk again if there are still lumps. Bring the mixture to a simmer and allow it to thicken, about 3 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Turn off the heat and stir in 4 cups cheese and sour cream. Add the hash brown potatoes and mix. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle 1 cup remaining cheese. In a small pan cook the bacon until crispy. Remove bacon and chop into
small pieces. Reserve approximately two tablespoons of bacon grease in the pan. Put the potato chips in a bowl and crush the potato chips. Pour into the pan with the bacon grease and toss to coat. Sprinkle both the crumbs and the bacon over the top of the potatoes. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes, then remove the foil and continue baking until golden brown on top and bubbling around the edges, about 15 minutes more. Let rest for 15 minutes before serving. Fall 2017 • Winners Utah |
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x
FACTOR Dissecting Data for an Edge WORDS AND PHOTOS BY JOSEPH SILVERZWEIG
24 | Winners Utah • Fall 2017
I
n the twenty-first century of sports, knowledge is power. Athletes have always been on a quest to get bigger, faster and stronger than they were. However, the rapid rise of machine learning, complex statistics, materials science, and biomechanics have driven the modern athlete to new heights and generated a new support industry for sports. Collecting and understanding the data produced by an athlete in practice and when the game is live is the X-Factor that defines modern sports. In college football, the premier teams in the country are spending millions of dollars on analysts—Alabama and Clemson combined to spend over $6 million, more than those teams spend on their offensive and defensive coordinators combined. The massive budgets of the powerhouses are leading the charge, but local schools are starting to catch up, employing analysts and assistants who store and analyze data on every snap. Utah football has graduate assistants meticulously film and track data from every practice and game, evaluating the results of play types, route structures and other information against the defenses they go up against. Over the course of the season, this data allows Utah’s coaches to call the most likely play that will give the offense the greatest probability of success. In the NBA, multiple cameras are installed in every arena, tracking the movement of the ball and all ten players on the court. With an expert analyst, this data provides crucial insights into how coaches space their players on the floor and who they send out to fight for
points. Every shot, every post up, every pick-and-roll is tracked and entered into massive databases. The truth is that there’s so much data for the NBA that the analysts haven’t discovered how to use it all yet. They burn the midnight oil, searching for the most minute edge to give to their team. Our state is the home of many Olympic training facilities, and here too, science has become an invaluable asset to teams looking to secure the gold. Space age materials technology have created ultra-aerodynamic ‘flight suits’ that lend massive advantages to swimmers, downhill skiers, cyclists, and anyone who must contend with wind resistance. Olympic skiers spend hours in wind tunnels, honing the precise contours of their tuck until they have perfectly minimized the drag of the air, squeezing every last bit of speed they can from the mountain. The science of biomechanics has advanced to track motions down to the millimeter. They do so, by using laser webs, light refraction, and suits with dozens of tiny motion-sensing computers to evaluate every motion for inefficiency. These track anything from a PGA pro’s golf swing, to a quarterback’s throwing motion, and everything in between. The University of Oregon Athletic Department has been at the cutting edge of this technology. Trainers there have learned to focus on an athlete’s symmetry, which is a variable the athlete can focus on maintaining and that imparts greater speed and power to each motion. Wasted effort means you are a hair smaller, a bit slower or a fraction weaker than your opponent. The stakes in sports are so high and the opponents
so well equipped and trained that even the tiniest fraction can mean the difference between the thrill of victory and the sting of defeat. The University of Oregon used these techniques to train Olympic hurdler Devon Allen. Athletes are training with data, too. They track every mile run, weight lifted and calorie eaten. They carefully monitor them, seeking to pinpoint and avoid the moment when a seasonaltering injury becomes a likelihood. When their numbers start to dip, they recognize that they are struggling and give themselves a break. This confidence in avoiding injury allows athletes to push themselves to their absolute limits and maximize the results from each hour of training. As the quantity of data has grown, so has the challenge of analyzing it. Data analysts continually seek new ways to sort through massive datasets, discovering the variables that share two traits—they must translate to results on the field and they must be within the control of the coaches and athletes who are trying to win. When the data threads that needle is when the athlete can make the crucial change—finding the perfect way to follow through off the tee, tucking the elbows out of the way of the roaring wind, or hitting just the right spot on the court as your opponent enters a pick and roll. That can mean the difference between victory and defeat. Winning has always been about talent, but as data science has improved, it’s become clear that the best way to maximize your talent is to maximize your understanding of what allows you to excel. Fall 2017 • Winners Utah |
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HOT SHOTS
Cammon Cooper A four-star quarterback by both Rivals and Scout recruiting services, Cooper committed to Washington State in May of 2017. From there, he excelled on the camp circuit and was invited to the Elite 11 finals, an exclusive camp for the top quarterbacks in the country. When he arrives at Washington State, he is going to have some big shoes to fill, as he looks to replace recordsetting quarterback and former Logan High star, Luke Falk. 26 | Winners Utah • Fall 2017
Cam Latu Initially committing to play for Brigham Young University, Cam backed off his pledge to play for the Cougars once more and more college coaches took notice. Rated a four-star defensive end prospect, Latu has no shortage of college offers as one the top recruits in the country. In order to place all of his focus on his senior football season, he recently held an announcement ceremony where he committed to the University of Alabama.
PHOTO: CHRISTOPHER LUND
PHOTO: CARRA MCMANANON
PHOTO: NICK LUCERO
By Alex Markham
Salua Masina With three older brothers playing Division I football, Salua is destined to compete at the highest levels of football as well. After spending the summer going to some of the most prestigious football camps in the country, Salua was lauded by coaches for his ability to use his big 6-foot-3, 215-pound frame, along with his breakneck speed, to his advantage. Salua will likely wait until National Signing Day in February before choosing his future school.
A
A soccer phenom, Wade was offered a scholarship to Brigham Young University at the age of 14. She’s stayed committed to them from that point on, as she’s gone out and dominated the UHSAA scene. Growing up, competition was fierce around the Wade household, as she won’t be the only Division I athlete in the family: her brother, Jesse, signed with the Gonzaga Bulldogs for basketball. For the 2017 season, Wade has chosen to transfer to Layton’s new La Roca Futbol Club.
Standing at an imposing 6-foot-5 and 340 pounds, Penei Sewell is as massive of a specimen you’ll see in the high school ranks. As one of the top athletes at his position in the class of 2018, the four-star offensive tackle can take his pick of colleges across the nation—he has scholarship offers from dozens of programs from the likes of Alabama, BYU, Florida, LSU, Michigan, Oklahoma, USC and Utah.
The “East Four”
PHOTO: JULIE SHIPMAN
Penei Sewell
PHOTO: NICK LUCERO
Olivia Wade
PHOTO: STEPHANIE COMBE
s Utah high schools continue to grow at a rapid pace, so does the talent level of the student-athletes. Because of this, Utah has become one of the most visited western states among college coaches looking to fill their rosters, second only to California. In each of our issues, Winners Utah will look to highlight the accomplishments of those student-athletes, as they give everything they can to lead their teams to glory. This issue’s honorees share no shortage of accolades, as some are considered the very best in the nation at what they do.
You can’t name one of these high school football standouts without mentioning them all: Junior Angilau, Sam Taimani, Tennessee Pututau and Paul Maile, all of East High School. Both Angilau and Taimani have offers spreading from the Pac-12 to the SEC conferences, while Pututau and Maile are also bound to land at prestigious programs. As good as they are, one intriguing questions lies with this group of friends: could they all stay and play together in their home state? Fall 2017 • Winners Utah |
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Performance: Gear Guide By Eleni Saltas
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eginning any new exercise regimen can be intimidating. There’s always an initial contemplation stage of starting, and that can last anyone from weeks to years before taking the first steps in a gym, exercise class, or a simple walk around the park. Whether you’re someone who decides and acts fast or someone who takes longer to get going, having the right gear will ensure lasting success. Here are some essentials to get started on your training journey.
Water bottle:
Staying hydrated is important. And no, hydration does not mean drinking daily sugary drinks or whipped cream Frappucinos. Even if you’re not into exercise, the best healthy habit you can start right now is to drink more water. Water is not only crucial for survival but it improves athletic performance, prevents headaches, helps with joint pain, can improve your mood, and the list goes on. The best way to get more water throughout your day is to carry around a water bottle as a reminder to you to keep drinking. Save the environment and your money by investing in a reusable bottle rather than disposable ones. They’re light, versatile and can easily be refilled. Camelbak offers a variety of water bottles to choose whether you prefer a plastic, glass insulated, or one suitable for biking or other sports. The color options run the spectrum, too.
camelbak.com Price: $10-$30
Music:
Exercise and movement should be enjoyable. What’s not enjoyable is listening to your own heavy breathing while you train or the constant grunts of the heavy lifters at the gym. Shut out all that noise with some of your favorite tunes. Music can be extremely motivating to whatever your training entails, whether it be walking or lifting. And if you’re one of those lifters who grunt, at least it’ll be drowned out by Eminem telling you to “lose yourself in the music, the moment, you own it, you better never let it go.” Spotify is an awesome user-friendly music phone app (with a desktop service) that allows you to create your own music playlists with all your favorite songs. You can create numerous playlists, browse the latest releases and follow already made playlists of different genres or moods. Enjoy and feel free to lose yourself in all your favorite music.
spotify.com Price of Spotify Premium: $9.99 monthly subscriptions
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Clothing: Like footwear, your pants, shorts, tank top and rest of your garb are dependent on what type of activity you’re doing. But whatever activity it is that you do, stick with clothing that you feel comfortable in. If you feel most comfortable in a baggy shirt from 2000, wear that baggy shirt from 2000. What you wear shouldn’t be what you or anyone worries about while you train. Your clothes don’t need to be expensive—the gym isn’t a fashion show. For the average gymgoer, Yogi, or park walker, what your clothes should be is be lightweight, breathable, and doesn’t restrict you from movement. If you do want to venture out of what you already own, Adidas, Nike and Lululemon all make sufficient training clothes that are comfortable and durable for any workout.
nike.com, addidas.com, lululemon.com Price: Variable to clothes YOU like
Headphones:
Shoes:
You’ll need headphones to go along with your music. Unless you don’t mind letting anyone within earshot know how many NSYNC songs you play during a workout. But to be courteous of those around you, plug in some headphones while you train. Most smart phone companies may provide you with a generic headphone upon purchase, and those are just fine. But, if you’re like me and tired of spending hours untangling the long cords of those standard headphones, it’s time to trade them in for wireless ones. They’re easy to use and simply connect to the Bluetooth system on all smart phones. You’ll love the freedom and experience that wireless headphones bring. Skullcandy makes amazing products, and offer variety of styles to choose from whether you like the lighter ear buds or larger on-ear headphones.
Choosing the right footwear is dependent on what type of activity you’re doing. If you’re new to exercise and getting too hung up on the type of shoe to wear, just start with the shoe you already own and don’t let a shoe keep you from exercising. If you’re a runner or your activities are longer duration or high impact, a shoe with more support and a thicker heel may be appropriate. For lifters, Chuck Taylors are great and give the feet enough stability and mobility. And for most people, a standard minimally padded shoe is a great place to start for day-to-day activity, as they’re supportive and even work well with short duration cardio. A light shoe like a Nike Free is the perfect balance of both minimalistic and supportive. But again, start with what you have and then find the right shoe for your specific activity.
skullcandy.com Price: $30-$100
nike.com Price: $100+
Fall 2017 • Winners Utah |
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fuel your
adventure
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Health & Wellness:
Easing Back into Fitness BY JACKILYN ROCK PHOTOS ALEX MARKHAM
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hether you’ve been hibernating a while, out with an injury, surgery, or just plain full of excuses, getting back on track with a fitness routine can seem overwhelming. Fitness options from glamour gyms and box gyms, to boot camps and boutique style fitness studios are everywhere, giving you endless options. But where do you start? Here are some tips to help guide you back into a healthy active lifestyle.
Schedule it
Make an appointment with yourself for each workout. Set the time in a calendar app with reminders and alarms if necessary. Find a routine that works with your work schedule, sleep schedule and lifestyle. You won’t want to try to commit to a 5 a.m. Saturday boot camp when you know you’re out late every Friday night. Find what works with you and keep these appointments as you would any other. Don’t flake on yourself. Fall 2017 • Winners Utah |
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Set Goals
Initial goals are crucial, as this is where a lot of us unknowingly set ourselves up for failure. Unsustainable workout plans, unrealistic aesthetic goals, numbers on the scale or lofty strength goals can be too much too soon and mentally overwhelming. Set goals that are realistic and gradual in nature. Are you comfortable committing to one group class a week? Great! Schedule that and stick to it. You can’t get to five or six days a week without conquering one day a week. Start slowly and hold yourself accountable. Not only will you find your long-term goals easier to achieve, you will be at less risk of injury by not overloading your body right out of the gate.
Create a Comprehensive Plan
As you move along over the first few weeks, you will want to begin creating a plan towards long term wellness. This includes implementing a lifestyle inclusive of strength, cardio and flexibility. These can be separate workouts such as strength training on Monday, spin class on Wednesday and weekend Yoga. Or they might be combined into one strength based, bodyweight, HIIT-style workout with stretching afterwards. Don’t forget to listen to your body and focus on form as you journey through each of these areas. You may find yourself trying multiple exercise formats before you find those that feel right for you. 32 | Winners Utah • Fall 2017
Proper Warm-up and Stretch
Warm ups go a long way in the prevention of injury. If you have been inactive for years, months, or even days you are probably tighter and less mobile than you think you are. Your warm up should be cardiovascular, such as walking jogging, biking and begin slowly. Gradually increase the heart rate, bringing blood flow to the working muscles and just break a sweat (about 5-10 minutes). Once the muscles are warm you will perform dynamic stretches which are active movements that are not held in one position (lunges with torso rotation, knee pulled into chest, pushups). Ideally, the warmup will consist of movements similar in nature to the workout planned. Body weight squats and lunges would transition perfectly into a weighted leg workout, ensuring required muscles are primed and ready to work under load.
Rest
What could be the key to long term wellness is often overlooked. Proper sleep habits will help prevent muscle loss, keep workout related injuries at bay and
Nutrition & Hydration Awareness
Getting your body more active goes hand in hand with nutrition. This does not need to be obsessively micro-managed or laborious despite popular fad diet trends we hear of on a daily basis. Oftentimes, calorie counting and extreme food restrictions lead straight to failure. A great place to start is by simply paying attention to, or recording what is going into your body throughout the day. When we become aware of what we are consuming we can usually see where changes need to be made. You might not realize you are drinking several sodas per day, or perhaps you forgot that you already had a few cookies earlier in the day as you grab a few more. Maybe an entire day has passed and you have not even downed one glass of water. Recording will help bring this to your attention. The bottom line: Your body needs Protein, Carbohydrates, Fat and Water to operate efficiently and feel its best.
mental wellness. Even though you may not be working out, your body is working hard to recover and needs the time off. Our bodies respond to consistency: remember, you’re creating a lifestyle
and that consistency is going to determine your success. Now that you have some helpful tips, give it your all and enjoy the journey. Take care of your body. It cannot be replaced. Fall 2017 • Winners Utah |
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OVERTIME BASKETBALL TRANSFERS ARE CHANGING THE GAME
BY AMY DONALDSON
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hen Utah State had a coaching change in its men’s basketball program two years ago, Murray native David Collette chose to transfer to the University of Utah. Last summer, Kenneth Ogbe left Utah for UVU, as did BYU’s Jake Toolson and Cory Calvert. Weber State guard McKay Cannon left the Wildcats to walk on at BYU, while UVU’s leading rebounder in 2015-16, Konner Frey, left the Wolverines for Montana State. Welcome to modern college basketball. The NCAA lists more than 800 student athlete transfers for the 2017-18 season, but the reality is the movement in men’s basketball has stabilized over the past few years. It’s who is transferring, and how they’re moving between schools that have thrust men’s basketball into the spotlight. “One football player has to be extremely special to have an impact on a program if he leaves,” said Utah State head coach Tim Duryea. “It’s not the anywhere near the impact losing one basketball player has. When 20 percent of your starting lineup leaves, that’s a significant loss. Which is sad because college basketball would be a much better game with some layers of stability built into it.” Player movement through the graduate transfer exception has had the biggest impact in the last five years because of the kind of players programs lose. Since 2011, the number of men’s basketball players who’ve transferred using the graduate transfer rule has jumped from 15 to 87, according to the NCAA. Across all men’s sports, graduate transfers have tripled, while women’s have doubled. Originally, the rule was intended to help student athletes seeking advanced degrees. “The way it was worded, it allowed those who wanted to get a graduate degree that’s not offered at your school to transfer,” said UVU head coach Mark Pope. “Then it got skirted and sliced, and just race to graduation so you can do whatever you want.” In fact, Pope said that he’s been advised, somewhat tonguein-cheek, that when he plays top teams to be careful as they navigate the post-game handshakes. “They may have already scouted your players,” he said. “It’s become really tricky, really complicated.” Like Duryea, Pope transferred schools as a collegiate player, so both men said they understand the desire to find a better fit; but they also see and feel the way mass transfers have changed collegiate sports, especially basketball. “There is no doubt, it’s having a huge impact on the game,” Pope said. “Is it helping them to find the right fit? Or are they just not sticking it out and fighting through some adversity?
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Probably both of those things are true.” Duryea said the time and money colleges have to invest in recruiting players used to pay dividends as the player stayed in the program, developing and providing continuity and leadership. “It takes you two or three years to build your base, to get the experience you need,” Duryea said. “When you lose one or two of those kids, it sets you back more than one year. You have to go replace them, but the kid you replace them with is not as good as the kid you’re replacing because of his development in the program. I think it’s extremely disruptive to your culture. It’s extremely disruptive to the product on the floor.” Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak said estimates that schools in the power five conferences spend between $10,00015,000 in recruiting some of the country’s top athletes. There is no doubt, he said, that the increase in transfers, especially graduate transfers, is “not a good thing” for the sport. “In a perfect world, everybody would select a school, get paired up, and stick with it for the long haul,” he said. “Choosing a college and choosing a bride, those are both pretty significant decisions, and it’s best not to have to make them a second time. But the reality is there are an awful lot of transfers, and there are an awful lot of divorces. …It’s just something we live with, but you try to avoid it at all costs.” Like the other local coaches, he acknowledges the NCAA rules are aimed at considering the welfare of the individual student athlete. Duryea said he’d like to see the NCAA eliminate the one-and-done option, so players have to either commit to two years in a college program or pursue professional options, like the NBA’s D-League or foreign leagues and teams. He’d also like to see tighter restrictions on graduate transfer eligibility, but Krystkowiak said a recent NCAA poll asked coaches their opinions on making the rules more lenient. “There is not going to be any unanimous opinion,” Krystkowiak said. “If there are 380 of us, there will be 380 opinions. The results will be all across the board.” Whether the current situation is a flare up of an issue that league officials or coaches can find solutions for, or if it’s the evolution of the sport, the reality is coaches have no choice but to try and make the best of it. “It’s constantly changing,” Krystkowiak said. “It’s not going to be like we’re the victim, blame the system. You just try to navigate your way through. We’re proactively trying to do a better job of getting the right kid and making sure you’re communicating to the best of your ability. That’s about all you can do.”
Fall 2017 • Winners Utah |
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THINK YOUNG. DRIVE YOUNG. 2014 - 2017
2014 - 2017
2015 - 2017
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