Utah 2019

[McGriff]

My good friend son plays on Utah. The young man from OCC is still on the team, not sure where there's other information coming from otherwise. Last year in the MCLA, they were 16-1, I would not consider that mediocre. At the same time, last season's record will not translate over to D1. In addition, like any other team in any other college sport, I'm sure they missed out on some recruits. They have some former D1 players at key positions on the roster, including the top scorer from last season's Robert Morris team.

With all that said, as many have already mentioned, they have a very challenging schedule. There's one stretch where they play 4 games in a 8 day period. I'm not going to predict W's & L's, who the heck knows. Good young coaching staff that will have them playing hard. Happy the game is expanding out west and wish them the best, Go Utes!.

There were 3 Onondaga commits in 2018 class, including one originally from western US somewhere, now there's only 1 left, Jimbo Sexton. The other 2 (1 was NJCAA All-American) have reportedly joined other traditional D1 & D3 programs in the east respectively.

[LaxDog]

At the very least the Utes will have a solid baseline to compare future results. My guess is the results will be better than expected in the first year and improve year over year. A great opportunity out West.

[admin]

In their first year, Utah's roster has 35 freshmen. Wow.

[ohmilax34]

I think Cleveland State's roster had a similar composition their first year. Now, I'll admit that these are two very different teams/programs/schools/locations.

[admin]

High Point's 2013 Roster. Lotta freshmen.

They also played in 2012 but 2013 was their first real season.

[wahoomurf]

Eager to watch Utah.A kid from our town's state championship team,a terrific player, is on the Utah team.His younger brother will likely go there as well. They have an outstanding coaching staff and the full support of Utah's administration.Bodes well for a strong start.

[slider]

I think the number of actual first year students in college is probably closer to the usual number (maybe slightly higher) for a recruiting class. There are 35 players in their first year of NCAA lacrosse, but that includes some 4th year students who have been playing on the Utes' club team. They might be freshmen in terms of the NCAA, but they only have a year or two left.

[MDlaxfan76]

I think the number of actual first year students in college is probably closer to the usual number (maybe slightly higher) for a recruiting class. There are 35 players in their first year of NCAA lacrosse, but that includes some 4th year students who have been playing on the Utes' club team. They might be freshmen in terms of the NCAA, but they only have a year or two left.

I'd be surprised if that's the case, given that there are plenty of others who are listed as upper classmen and I don't think those are typically transfers. My bet would be those are players from the club team.

Do you know of a handful of specific examples of "freshmen" that are actually upperclassmen?

Again, it's not at all unusual to bring in a ton of recruits and walk ons in the first year of program, along with the best club players.

[slider]

You are correct. The roster has been changed since I first glanced at it. It originally had everyone listed as freshmen which I took to mean that they were playing their first year of NCAA. I did notice some players who played as freshmen last year on the club team that are still listed as freshmen, so I guess they are treating last year as essentially a redshirt. Those players would still have the next four years to play out their NCAA eligibility.

[MDlaxfan76]

You are correct. The roster has been changed since I first glanced at it. It originally had everyone listed as freshmen which I took to mean that they were playing their first year of NCAA. I did notice some players who played as freshmen last year on the club team that are still listed as freshmen, so I guess they are treating last year as essentially a redshirt. Those players would still have the next four years to play out their NCAA eligibility.

Makes sense, assuming that's their intent.

Presumably the proportion of club players capable of vying for meaningful PT, who were freshmen last year, wouldn't be much higher than the proportion of such in the junior and senior classes. In other words just a small handful at best.

Since they didn't commit to a varsity program until June of 2017, they really didn't have much of a chance at all to recruit anyone entering in September 2017. So, presumably those kids all were looking at club ball options...maybe a couple chose Utah with the hope of a D1 opportunity at some point, but we'd not expect those kids to have had many D1 options.

As I recall, BU did have a full year of recruits coming to play D1 who played club ball for the first season. This meant they had 2 full years of D1 recruits before playing their first D1 game.

We shouldn't expect Utah to have as fast a rise as BU, given they have just one class of D1 recruits, albeit a very large class. If that class has a couple of special kids in it though, and they can do so again in next year's class, they could well begin to make waves as those players reach junior and senior seasons.

BU's success was made possible, IMO, by an outstanding FOGO and an outstanding goalie for 4 years. They also had some first rate shooters and their middies were overall excellent on GB's, paced though by the FOGO. Get the right FOGO and goalie, and a lot else can happen.

[fastgame]

From last years MCLA Club, carrying over are 13 players on this year's current roster that are still listed/considered freshmen. They have 4 years eligibility left (MCLA year doesn't count against it). Last year's MCLA Club team had 3 upper classmen transfers. One of those transfers left the program and is no longer at the school, 2 of them remain on the 2019 roster.

This years Ute team has 4 new transfers on the roster.


Watched the team play against UMBC in Sparks, MD a few weeks ago with my friend who's son is on Utah. Thought both teams were tight in first Q. The Utes matched up well speed wise on the offensive side of the ball, D was a few steps behind. Goalie play for the Utes in 1st half was ok and the goalie for UMBC wasn't challenged too much, but made a few nice saves. Was told a few of the Utes D starters did not make the trip.

It was in the 3rd Q when UMBC took advantage of man up opportunities and a Utes goalie who lasted only about 7 minutes before being pulled. Not his fault, but he looked overmatched. They brought in kid who was in cage for their club team last year, and he settled in at the end of 3rd and made some nice saves and clears during rest of the game. For goalies in particular, on both sides, the sun became an issue, especially in 2nd half. Late afternoon game (started at 4) and you could see that these guys understandably lost track of a few shots.

The most glaring thing was at FO, UMBC "completely dominated". See that UMBC has only 2 goalies on the roster, very tough especially when practicing during season. I think they are a very well coach team, show a lot of discipline. Also liked the coaching energy on the Utah sideline. First time I've seen the new 80 sec shot clock in action and like it. It seemed like a lot more 10 man rides being used. Numerous crease violations called on both teams that attempted the dive.

As a side note, my first visit to US Lax headquarters, which houses the Lax Hall of Fame and Tierney Field. Well done, a very nice facility. (Apologize for my long winded post)

[MDlaxfan76]

From last years MCLA Club, carrying over are 13 players on this year's current roster that are still listed/considered freshmen. They have 4 years eligibility left (MCLA year doesn't count against it). Last year's MCLA Club team had 3 upper classmen transfers. One of those transfers left the program and is no longer at the school, 2 of them remain on the 2019 roster.

This years Ute team has 4 new transfers on the roster.


Watched the team play against UMBC in Sparks, MD a few weeks ago with my friend who's son is on Utah. Thought both teams were tight in first Q. The Utes matched up well speed wise on the offensive side of the ball, D was a few steps behind. Goalie play for the Utes in 1st half was ok and the goalie for UMBC wasn't challenged too much, but made a few nice saves. Was told a few of the Utes D starters did not make the trip.

It was in the 3rd Q when UMBC took advantage of man up opportunities and a Utes goalie who lasted only about 7 minutes before being pulled. Not his fault, but he looked overmatched. They brought in kid who was in cage for their club team last year, and he settled in at the end of 3rd and made some nice saves and clears during rest of the game. For goalies in particular, on both sides, the sun became an issue, especially in 2nd half. Late afternoon game (started at 4) and you could see that these guys understandably lost track of a few shots.

The most glaring thing was at FO, UMBC "completely dominated". See that UMBC has only 2 goalies on the roster, very tough especially when practicing during season. I think they are a very well coach team, show a lot of discipline. Also liked the coaching energy on the Utah sideline. First time I've seen the new 80 sec shot clock in action and like it. It seemed like a lot more 10 man rides being used. Numerous crease violations called on both teams that attempted the dive.

As a side note, my first visit to US Lax headquarters, which houses the Lax Hall of Fame and Tierney Field. Well done, a very nice facility. (Apologize for my long winded post)

Not long winded at all. (especially not compared to many of my posts! )
Thanks for the info on the roster and color re UMBC match-up.
That's the sort of thing that readers really appreciate.

So, sounds like perhaps 22 true freshmen, 13 potential 'redshirt freshmen' from MCLA team.
I would think that next year's recruiting class will also be large, but a notch less than this one, perhaps mid or upper teens.
Then a regular complement ongoing.

Typically there will be some players who drop out along the way, particularly during a transition like this.

My 'rooting interest' re Utah is that I did a little coaching clinic many years ago with the HC Brian, my son played a bit with Marcus in HS, and Adam was my son's goalie coach in college...love to see them all be successful.

[Drcthru]

For my fellow left coasters, Utes games will be available on PAC-12 channels and streamed at pac-12.com.

[fastgame]

Watched a short video of coach Amplo from Marquette discuss the scrimmage against Utah this past Saturday. He said the score board may have said 9-8 in favor of them but in his opinion they were outplayed by the Utes. The only other thing I heard was that Utah outhustled them for every gb and Marquette had a difficult time finishing around the crease. Again just a scrimmage but it gives you an idea how Holman has his boys amped up.


Is it possible Vermont comes in over confident and gets ambushed on Friday? Will the altitude (about 4,200 ft) in SLC be a factor not only for the VCats but other teams that visit SLC?

[Njlaxx11]

Maybe I just turned into a homer from watching that ‘going west’ series but I’m a huge fan of Utah now. I think they’ll definitely surprise some teams this season.

[Pitt12]

Should be an interesting season... although Vermont has made huge strides over the last couple of seasons. Don’t see an upset in this one.

[Dunker]

Hope Utes students turn out in big numbers for a fun kick-off. Wishing them and the Bonnies well

[Nassaufan]

Too bad there's no free streaming.

[admin]

Maybe I just turned into a homer from watching that ‘going west’ series but I’m a huge fan of Utah now. I think they’ll definitely surprise some teams this season.

For a first year team, their schedule is pretty rough.

[Drcthru]

Too bad there's no free streaming.

pac-12.com