Rivals250 TE pulls the trigger

BYU didn't waste any time in getting a commitment out of the class of 2008 by landing a player who could be among the top 100 players in the country. Austin Holt, a 6-5, 230 pound tight end from South Jordan (Utah) Bingham has been a Cougar lean for some time now and pulled the trigger earlier in the week.

Holt is a tremendous talent and easily among the top tight ends in the nation. We loved him at the NIKE Camp in Oregon a year ago and would currently rank him the No. 2 in the West behind only Orange Lutheran's (Calif.) Blake Ayles and likely among the top five nationally.

Holt has excellent size, great hands and is very athletic. He caught every ball thrown at him at the NIKE Camp and also tested well jumping 31 inches in the vertical and did 18 reps on the bench.

"I've been leaning to BYU for a long time now," Holt said. "BYU was the perfect fit for me when I looked at not just football but the fact that it's the church school, I'm comfortable with the area there and I love the players and coaches on the team.

"The offense is great for any tight end who is interested in being featured. They really use the tight end a lot so that's exciting. I've been hanging around the campus for such a long time that it became like a second home to me. I'm very comfortable there and decided there was no need for me to put off the decision.

"I wanted to at least wait until after Signing Day before making my decision so I wouldn't steal anyone's thunder and I felt like now was the time. I always wanted to get it out of the way early so I wouldn't have any distractions and also didn't want to lead anyone on when I already knew what I was going to be doing."

In addition to BYU, Holt was also holding offers from Oregon, Stanford, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin plus interest from schools all over the country. The tight end earned all-state honors last season after catching 23 balls for 392 yards and four touchdowns.