This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The changing of the guard in the BYU football program brought some collateral damage on Wednesday.
A pair of three-star recruits — running back Wayne Taulapapa of Punahou High in Honolulu, Hawaii and quarterback Keaton Torre of Bingham High in South Jordan — have apparently been told by the new BYU coaches that their scholarship offers have been pulled.
It is no secret that BYU has overcommitted its scholarships — around five, is my best guess — for the 2016 signing class, for a variety of reasons.
A few missionaries have returned home earlier than expected, at least one player (DT Logan Taele) has been reclassified as having another year of eligibility, and there have been some recent commitments (Handsome Tanielu) or recommitments (Troy Warner). Also, some kinks caused by the missionary minimum age change (to 18) are still being worked out.
Wednesday, Torre and Taulapapa became victims of that numbers game.
Both prospects took to Twitter on Wednesday to announce the change of plans.
"With something new comes change. I am decommitted from BYU and have re-opened my recruitment. I trust that God has a plan," Taulapapa wrote.
Torre's main tweet on the subject was longer:
"At this time I have no other option but to open back up my recruitment," Torre wrote. "Thanks to Bronco Mendenhall and Jason Beck for giving me an amazing opportunity. BYU is no doubt a great place to be and I wish nothing but the best for the program."
Later, Torre continued his classy response to a difficult situation.
"Thanks to everyone for all the love and support, means a lot. The man upstairs has a plan for me and I'm excited to see what that is," he wrote.
Just last week, Torre mentioned on Twitter that he "couldn't be more excited to be a Cougar and play for Coach Sitake!"
Taulapapa was fairly highly recruited and should have no problem finding another place to play.
Torre will have a more difficult time considering that he had a poor senior season and was benched midway through the year. He looked especially shaky when the Miners played Bishop Gorman of Las Vegas, which was ranked No. 1 in the country at the time.
The Cougars appear set at quarterback for awhile, especially if Taysom Hill returns for his final season of eligibility. Tanner Mangum, Beau Hoge and Koy Detmer Jr. will return in 2016 as sophomores.
Jaren Hall of Maple Mountain High will sign with BYU in February, but is expected to serve an LDS Church mission first before enrolling.
Saint George's Kody Wilstead (Pine View High) is scheduled to return from a mission in early 2017.
It will be interesting to see if the new staff continues to recruit the handful of high school players that Mendenhall and his staff were recruiting, given the scholarship crunch.
That list includes Murray High defensive end Maxs Tupai, Pocatello (ID) Highland defensive tackle Wayne Kirby (a one-time BYU commit who reopened his recruitment in October), Corner Canyon defensive end Keaton Bills, Dixie High RB Tre Miller and Woods Cross linebacker Pookie Maka.
Here's the updated lists of BYU's commitments and decommitments for the 2016 class. I listed Torre and Taulapapa on the decommits list, although technically neither player has an offer from BYU.
2016 Commits (15)
Atunaisa Mahe, 6-1, 295 NT from West Jordan, Utah (West Jordan High School)
Jaren Hall, 6-1, 185 QB from Mapleton, Utah (Maple Mountain High School)
Skyler Southam, 6-1, 180 K from Heber City, Utah (Wasatch High School)
Solofa Funa, 6-1, 220 DE from Spanish Fork, Utah (Spanish Fork High School)
Aleva Hifo, 5-11, 180 DB from Menifee, Calif. (Heritage High School)
Feleti "Freddy" Livai, 6-4, 225 DE from Fontana, Calif. (A.B. Miller High School)
Max Tooley, 6-2, 195 DB from Bountiful, Utah (Bountiful High School)
Troy Warner, 6-2, 185 DB from Mission Hills, Calif. (Mission Hills High School)
Britton Hogan, 6-3, 220 DS from Salt Lake City, Utah (Olympus High School)
Keenan Pili, 6-2, 198 LB from Provo, Utah (Timpview High School)
Drew Jensen, 6-2, 195 DB from Salt Lake City, Utah (Brighton High School)
Hank Tuipulotu, 6-3, 225 TE from Fort Mills, S.C. (Nation Ford High School)
Daruis McFarland, 6-2, 250 DE from Brigham City, UT (Box Elder High School)
Jonah Trinnaman, 6-0, 185 WR from American Fork, Utah (Snow College)
Handsome Tanielu, 6-3, 310 DT from Waianae, Hawaii (Snow College)
2016 Decommits
Garett Bolles, 6-6, 290 OL from Lehi, Utah (Westlake High/Snow College)
Wayne Kirby, 6-3, 302 DL from Pocatello, Idaho (Highland High School)
Hirkley Latu, 6-3, 200 DB from Kahuku, Hawaii (Kahuku High School)
Keaton Torre, 6-4, 210 QB from South Jordan, Utah (Bingham High School)
Wayne Taulapapa, 5-11, 200 RB from Honolulu, Hawaii (Punahou High School)