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Utah would not otherwise have taken much notice of Jameson Field, or not at that juncture, anyway.
The high school highlight reel for the scrappy Mater Dei wideout opens with eight plays in which he's a blocker, three punt blocks and an onside kick recovery.
After totaling just 387 receiving yards as a senior in 2012, Field took a year off. He kept training, but it wasn't until he stood out last June at a Long Beach, Calif., camp staffed by Utah coaches that a Pac-12 future entered the realm of possibility.
Receivers coach Taylor Stubblefield told Field that Utah had a spot for him if he was willing to walk on and work toward a scholarship. Months later, Field played in six games for the Utes as a true freshman.
"I still can't comprehend it, really," said Field, who sees no drawbacks to allowing coaches to work so-called satellite camps, despite objections from some big men on other campuses.
A satellite camp is a creative response to the NCAA's rule that so-called "institutional camps" must be held within 50 miles of a school's campus.
Utah cannot host a camp in California or Texas. But nothing stops Utah coaches from working FOR camps in California or Texas. There, they are paid some nominal amount, say $1, to share their knowledge with area youths while keeping an eye out for the next Field, or further bonding with already established prospects.
Proponents say the camps benefit recruits who can't afford unofficial visits before schools are allowed to foot the bill during fall of their senior year. It's also nice for the kids who aren't coveted prospects, who can someday tell their grandchildren they were instructed by celebrated coaches.
The SEC and the ACC, however, have conference-level rules that close the NCAA loophole and limit them to 50 miles, period. So they're barred from camps within their own states' borders that Michigan's Jim Harbaugh is free to attend.
Harbaugh, after the likes of Alabama's Nick Saban and Mississippi State's Dan Mullen questioned the practice, was nonetheless unapologetic about his seven-state barnstorming.
"In my America, you're allowed to cross the state borders," he told USA Today. "That's the America I know."
For Utah, satellite camps are a blessing with the potential to become something of a curse.
U. staffers will work six camps this month in California and Texas — two states that accounted for 38 players on last year's roster. They haven't ruled out hosting camps in other hotbeds, like Louisiana or Florida, in the future.
But Utah's a fairly talent-rich location itself, and Wednesday saw what likely counts as the first satellite camp in the Beehive State (though the All Poly Camp, held this weekend, has long drawn out-of-state coaches to Layton).
Many players who attended Utah's "elite" camp from morning through midafternoon, then drove straight to Alta High, where they drilled in front of head coaches and dozens of other assistants from Oregon State, Nevada and Southern Utah, as well as coaches from junior colleges.
Kyle Whittingham's stance is that Utah will attend as many camps as it can, but he concedes that the frenzied schedule has the potential to get "a little bit out of hand."
"There's a finite amount of time that you're dealing with," he said. "... It's a balancing act, because when you're at camps, you're not around the players here in our own program. You've got to make sure you spend the appropriate time with your own guys."
Whittingham's impression from Pac-12 meetings last month is that the conference's coaches are split along unsurprising lines: The coaches in big metropolitan areas, like Los Angeles, would rather other coaches not be able to work camps in their highly populated backyards, whereas coaches at Utah, Colorado and the Oregon and Washington schools are keen to continue traveling.
If the NCAA tells them they can't do it anymore, they won't. But until then? Said Oregon State defensive coordinator Kalani Sitake on Wednesday: "I remember when you were allowed to text, and everybody was texting recruits like crazy. They said you can't, and we didn't. So until they say you can't do these camps, this is going to be the deal."
Twitter: @matthew_piper —
Utah's satellite camps
June 15 • Sacramento
June 22 • Bakersfield, Calif.
June 22 • Dallas
June 23 • Houston
June 26 • Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.
June 27 • Long Beach, Calif.
Also • Seven Utah coaches are working the All Poly Camp in Layton this weekend. Fewer Utah coaches have also worked the Prime Time Polynesian Kumite Camp in Pomona, Calif., and the Northwest Elite Camp in Tukwila, Wash., and Utah will be represented at the upcoming Fa'a Samoa Camp in American Samoa.