Alex Smith and Andrew Bogut
July 11, 2006 by James Edwards
Filed under Sports
Utah. Yeah, Utah. How in the world, including Utah, does U of U (University of Utah) get players that end up being the first picks in the NBA and NFL drafts? Did your aspiring writer mention they were from Utah?
Now before all the comments flow in telling this writer he has brain damage, there is nothing, on my part, against Utah. Years ago, a certain young college student took a trip out west and Utah was pretty cool! But a sports Mecca it is not.
None the less, it happened. The year was 2005 and Alex Smith and Andrew Bogut were the 1st round picks respectively for the NFL and NBA.
Alex Smith had a lot of help getting to the top. His college coach was Urban Meyer.
You remember him don’t you? Urban Meyer was running the show for the Utes. As the coach, Urban implemented the Spread Option offense
The Spread Option offense involves a lot of misdirection, 5 receivers, often no running back, and lots of zone reads. The quarterback can hand it off on a counter play, run with it, or typically throw a short accurate pass. Alex was able to master the offense and tear up the Mountain West Conference.
Olympic Ties Andrew Bogut played for the Australian Olympic team. He is 7′ tall.
Strange Ties Alex is the nephew of John L. Smith, coach of the Michigan State Spartans. Urban Meyer learned his spread option offense from Coach John L., while he was at Louisville. Alex considered going there, but John L. knew he would be coaching elsewhere.
Anyway, Alex took his 12 and 0 team to the Fiesta Bowl and defeated Pittsburgh 35 to 7. Alex is named the MVP and goes on to be the first pick in the draft. Meanwhile, Urban Meyer parlays the season into a dream job with the Florida Gators.
Strange Fact Alex and Reggie Bush played together at Helix High School in La Mesa, California.
Fan Question If Alex played in a tougher conference, does he still go number 1 in the draft?
Hey, Bogut is one heck of a player. Ok, Chris Paul of Wake Forest turned turned out to be Rookie of the Year but Bogut had a soild season himself (considering he was also being played out of his natural position). Not only does he have college experience, he also has international experience which made his stock rise up. It just so happeded he played for University of Utah. As expected he dominated since he was the best player on the team! So this has nothing to do with him coming from U. of U. It’s Bogut himself!
Believe me, Bogut is a keeper. Problem is can Milwaukee build something solid? Can they surround him with real players. They picked up Villenueva, have my main man Charlie Bell from MSU, and of course Michael Redd with his sweet, but odd looking jump shot. Now they have mike james for more speed.
err.. mike james went to the Wolves. =p
my bad. somehow those two teams get mixed in my mind.