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It was a bigger recruiting week for the Runnin' Utes basketball team than the football team this week, as head coach Larry Krystkowiak picked up two commits in the last week. One was 6'11" four-star center Jayce Johnson, which Shane touched on here. Utah also landed 6'2" JUCO SG Jojo Zamora (Yuba College, Marysville, Calif.). Finnish four-star recruit 6'10" PF Lauri Markkanen was in town this past weekend to take an official visit to Utah. Markkanen will visit Arizona and North Carolina as well before making his decision. If the Runnin' Utes can pull in Markkanen to pair with Johnson, they could have arguably one of the best front courts in the nation.
In football recruiting, there were no new commits for Utah, but there were several big official visits last weekend for the Utah-Cal game. Here is Utah commit, Timpview (Provo, Utah) athlete Kahi Neves with three-star Bellevue (Bellevue, Wash) tight end/defensive end Isaac Garcia and four-star Franklin (Elk Grove, Calif.) safety Lamar Jackson. Garcia was a USC commit at one point. They also had four-star Snow College (Ephraim, Utah) offensive tackle Garett Bolles in on an unofficial visit. Utah will have tough battles to land any of these prospects as all have offers from big-time Power Five programs. The game atmosphere for the game Saturday made an impression on at least one of Utah's official visitors.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Utah vs Cal was way too live! Boolin with the homies on the sidelines <a href="https://twitter.com/Iam_thaRealist">@Iam_thaRealist</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/swish_nation">@swish_nation</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UteNation?src=hash">#UteNation</a> <a href="http://t.co/Q5cAnLDjTi">pic.twitter.com/Q5cAnLDjTi</a></p>— Kahi (@KAHINEVES) <a href="https://twitter.com/KAHINEVES/status/653262230994071552">October 11, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It's been real Utah I enjoyed my visit and all the people I met great trip ✈️now it's time to get back home ✈️</p>— LAMAR JACKSON #⃣1⃣ (@lamar_cla1) <a href="https://twitter.com/lamar_cla1/status/653302499592400896">October 11, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Four-star DB says <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Utah?src=hash">#Utah</a> was the best atmosphere he's seen yet <a href="https://t.co/VsPztH0rXG">https://t.co/VsPztH0rXG</a></p>— Adam Gorney (@adamgorney) <a href="https://twitter.com/adamgorney/status/653303325778014208">October 11, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Utah will host another four-star prospect for this weekend's game against Arizona State. This time it is four-star Paraclete (Lancaster, Calif.) all-purpose back Melquise Stovall. Stovall was a former USC commit who has opened up his recruitment. He also already visited Notre Dame this season. Stovall will be joined by two Florida cornerbacks, North Florida Christian (Tallahassee, Fla.), South Florida commit Armunz Mathews, and Hussein Howe from University Christian HS (Jacksonville, Fla.).
With all of the official visits and national attention for the Utes, recruiting will be something to keep a close eye on over the coming weeks and months, as the Utes are in the discussion to land some big time prospects.