BYU's Nelson, Hoffman make "Two-Star Team"

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Like we mentioned in a blog last week that first detailed the BYU football team's injury situation as it heads into camp, spring ball begins two weeks from today. Since then, we've learned that offensive lineman Houston Reynolds, who had shoulder surgery during the holidays and missed the bowl game, will actually participate in spring camp. So take his name off the list. Two other guys who will participate: quarterback Riley Nelson and receiver Cody Hoffman. Both players made the Annual All Two-Star (And Fewer) Team that Andy Staples of sportsillustrated.com puts out each year. These are players who were given two stars, or fewer, by the recruiting services coming out of high school, players who will play in the upcoming season (2012). Of Nelson, Staples writes: "Despite being named Utah's Mr. Football in 2005, the Parade All-American didn't get much attention outside of his home state." Of Hoffman, Staples writes: "Sacramento State would have been the only school to recruit Hoffman out of tiny Crescent City, Calif., had it not been for a local teacher named Terry Vance. Vance was a roommate of BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall when the men were students at Oregon State, and Vance took notice of Hoffman dominating his high school competition and contacted his former roomie."—————————The new college basketball polls are out today, and the Cougars aren't ranked. No surprise there. They didn't get a single vote in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll, but they are picking up steam in the Associated Press Top 25 media poll. The Cougars got top-25 votes from six media members and would be No. 28 if the poll extended that far. Gonzaga, which hosts BYU on Thursday, would be No. 27. Mark Smith of the Albuquerque Journal and Scott Johnson of the Daily Herald in Everett, Wash., have the Cougars 20th and gave BYU its best rankings. Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News has BYU in the No. 21 spot. Despite sweeping Bay Area teams USF and Santa Clara, the Cougars slipped a spot in Joe Lunardi's Bracketology projections. They are now a No. 12 seed, after being a No. 11 seed last week. Lunardi has the Cougars playing No. 5 seed Indiana in Albuquerque. If my reading of the bracket dates is correct, because of their no-Sunday play policy, the Cougars can only play in Portland, Albuquerque or Pittsburgh this year (aside from a first-rounder in Dayton, Ohio, of course). BYU nominated Matt Carlino for the West Coast Conference men's basketball Player of the Week award, but it went to Loyola Marymount's Anthony Ireland this week. Ireland was a key figure in the Lions' big win at St. Mary's.