Collinsworth is no lock to become a Cougar

In a conversation recently with a local prep basketball coach, we both agreed that Provo High two-time All-State junior guard Kyle Collinsworth is a recruit that BYU cannot let slip away. Landing him, now that BYU has Lone Peak’s Tyler Haws on board, might be the most important step BYU can take to move the program into national prominence. Many feel, myself included, that a backcourt with both Haws and Collinsworth on the floor, even though it could be a few years away because of church missions, would be as good as any in the country and as good as any ever at BYU.
Also, in visiting with most BYU fans, they seem to assume that just because Kyle’s older brother Chris signed with BYU and had a nice season with the Cougars before leaving on an LDS Church mission to Australia, that Kyle is going to follow in his older brother’s footsteps. That does seem logical so the Collinsworth family doesn’t have to split attention between two different programs.
The reality is this. Kyle is getting so much attention from some of the nation’s top basketball programs and has so many offers on the table, that BYU coach Dave Rose’s staff really has its work cut out for it to get the younger Collinsworth to commit to become a Cougar as well. In other words, BYU has one big selling job that it has to finish, and cannot drop the ball in any way, or the Cougars could see this big-time prospect end up somewhere else – maybe even at rival Utah. The competition for Kyle’s services have become fierce.
Kyle Collinsworth, who is going to end up being a 6-foot-7 guard (maybe point guard) in college and who is the frontrunner to be Utah’s 2009-10 Mr. Basketball, is steadily rising on the national prospect charts. Scout.com has him ranked as the 71st best high school player in the country and the 16th best guard. ESPN has given him a 92 ranking, which means it feels Kyle will be an immediate impact player and can start as a freshman for a Top 25 team. Rivals has him as a four-star recruit.
He now has offers from BYU, Utah, Utah State, Stanford, Virginia, UNLV, and Washington State. Coaches from Arizona State, BYU, Stanford, Utah, USC, UNLV, and Virginia visited him in Provo last month. UCLA and Kansas are now showing interest.
Kyle has been invited to attend elite camps at Kansas, UCLA, Virginia, UNLV, Stanford, USC, Arizona State, and Utah. He has also been invited and accepted to attend the NBPA Top 100 camp in Virginia.
Also, Cougar fans shouldn’t just assume that Chris Collinsworth will necessarily return to BYU. I think it’s likely that he will, but it’s not a guarantee and out of the question that he could do a reverse Riley Nelson, and come back from his mission next summer and sign with another program – especially if Kyle ends up somewhere else. However, because of the mission factor, the brothers would only be college teammates for one season. Who knows, some college coaches might even be using that possibility as a sales pitch, hoping to get them both.
I’m sure college coaches are now sending Chris recruiting letters to his Australian mission home, hoping to convince him to make a change. My bet is that those letters are ending up in the garbage, unopened, as Chris finishes his final year in the mission field while younger brother Kyle, at home, deals with the college blood hounds.