As the year draws to a close we remember the good, the bad and the ugly but hopefully mostly the good. With every bad athlete there are several good and a few great ones in the state. There are so many great coaches at the prep, college and pro level but we decided to choose four nominees that performed exceptionally well and let the fans vote on our social media. We provide the resumes and YOU cast your votes before the end of the year.
1. Casey Clinger: BYU Cross Country
Casey Clinger was the fastest high school cross country runner in state history when he set the state course record at Sugarhouse Park in Salt Lake City. Since he recorded a blistering time of 14:42.9 on the 3 mile course, Clinger went on to win Nike nationals and set plenty more records in track, including a 4 by one mile relay with his quick teammates. Clinger was selected the Gatorade men’s Cross Country Runner of the year by being pulled over by a cop on his way to early morning practice.
Clinger had an impressive freshman season with a 24th place finish at nationals that awarded him All-American honors. So if Clinger is on a Mormon mission in Japan then why is he still on this list? Because he is still a top athlete even on his mission and should quickly get back into elite form when he returns in a year.
2. Donovan Mitchell: Utah Jazz Besides getting a nice rookie record for three pointers made, here is a dunk highlight video that qualifies Donovan as a freak male athlete. Enough said.
3. Jordan Love: Utah State Aggies The sophomore quarterback is having a monster season to rival one of his coaches in former Aggie quarterback Chuckie Keeton. Keeton recorded a school record 27 touchdown passes in his sophomore campaign in 2012 but Jordan Love currently has 25 and counting. It’s interesting to see the new high powered offense but it wouldn’t be possible without the work Love has put in the film room along with his rocket arm and big 6 foot 4 frame. He is leading the Aggies into uncharted territory as they eye a New Years 6 bowl!
4. Zach Moss: Utah Utes Moss is a freak running back. He recorded 1092 yards on 179 carries for an average of 5.98 yards per carry. This led the Utes to a blazing 6-2 start before his knee injury following the Arizona State loss He was a key contributor to the Ute offense that suddenly found life in October. Armand Shyne has big shoes to fill in the running back position and the Utes need a little help from the Sun Devils if they want to play in the PAC-12 championship game.