Utah gets commitment from American Fork’s Michael Richardson

The Utes have been a bit quiet on the recruiting front for a while, but they picked up a big commitment on Sunday night from American Fork offensive tackle Michael Richardson. Richardson is a three star rated player on 247 Sports, and had offers from many of the Pac-12 programs, including Oregon, Oregon State, Washington State, Colorado, Arizona and Arizona State.

Getting the big 6-foot 5-inch 260 tackle is a very nice get for the Utes, as they are looking to replenish an offensive line corps that lose a group of seniors, like Issac Asiata, JJ Dielman, Sam Tevi, and possibly Garrett Boles to the NFL. Offensive line is one of those positions where you have to make sure you continually have a ton of depth, and Utah’s done a good job with that over the past couple of years. Richardson has been regarded by some as one of the better recruits out of Utah, especially on the offensive line.

Richardson is joined by the following commits for the 2017 class:

• Texas WR Jaylen Dixon
• Texas WR Tyquez Hampton
• California DB Jaylon Johnson
• Snow College DT John Penisini
• Texas QB Jason Shelley

This is a class that is a bit different for Utah, as they normally would be close to full at this point, with about 20 or so commits, but the program has been reported to be holding onto a lot of its offers for some higher profile recruits. They’re trying to get some more quality players, and it sounds like it may pay off, as they’re in the running for a lot of quality players from Texas, California and other areas.