Utes pickup QB commit for 2020 class
Utah has a reputation for finding players in the rough and turning them into stars. It's happened countless under the tutelage of Kyle Whittingham, so why couldn't it happen again?
It appears Whittingham and the Utes are taking a chance on another unknown, this time in the form of a quarterback.
Cooper Justice out of Lakeridge High School in Oregon has announced his commitment to the Utes — he's the only quarterback committed in the 2020 class and although a relative unknown, flashes major potential. The lefty is a 6-foot-6, 230-lbs dual-sport athlete who could potentially play baseball for the Utes.
His recruitment for football didn't really take off until is senior year, mainly because the three-sport athlete was widely regarded as a Division-I baseball prospect. 247sports has Justice rated as a 3-star prospect, the No. 18 recruit on Oregon and a top-100 quarterback recruit in the country.
“Initially I had D1 offers in baseball before football and I wasn’t sure where I would end up leaning. As the football season moved along I started falling more and more in love with the game and after a tough loss in the playoffs I knew I wanted to play football as long as I could,” Justice told UteZone’s Steve Bartle in December.
It's widely expected that Justice will come in and redshirt his freshman season behind quarterbacks Jake Bentley and Cameron Rising, a pair of transfers from South Carolina and Texas, respectively. During that time, he will be able to be learn the offense and really grasp the concept of playing full-time football, which would make him a very intriguing prospect in a year or two.
Regardless, Whittingham and his staff have a knack for finding diamonds in the rough — don't be surprised if Justice is their next discovery.