C-M's Parker commits to Utah

You win some, you lose some.

New UNLV head football coach John Robinson will have to settle for landing two of the state's top three prospects this year after Cimarron-Memorial linebacker Arnold Parker (6-2, 210), the Sun's Defensive Player of the Year, announced he would attend Utah on Wednesday night.

Parker picked Ron McBride's Utes over Oregon, BYU and UNLV. His announcement came just one day after his Spartan teammate, defensive lineman Kawika Sagoplu (6-4, 285), committed to UNLV and a couple of weeks after Cheyenne High School quarterback Lawrence Turner (6-0, 175) also picked the Rebels.

"Utah was my first trip and my best trip," Parker said. "I liked the coaches, the atmosphere, the business program and all the recruits. I also kind of wanted to get away from home a little bit."

Meanwhile, Sagapolu said that Oregon coaches have told him they would still send him a letter of intent and will continue to recruit him despite the fact he has given UNLV a non-binding verbal commitment. Sagapolu said he still fully intends to honor that commitment with the Rebels.

The national letter of intent signing period begins on Wednesday.

In other recruiting news:

* Super 11 running back Joe Weber (6-1, 225) of San Bernardino (Calif.) Pacific High School picked Texas A&M over USC, Colorado, UCLA and Wisconsin.

* Michigan State beat out UCLA and Florida State for the Midwest's top defensive prospect, linebacker T. J. Duckett (6-3, 240) of Kalamazoo (Mich.) Loy Norrix.

* One of the top line prospects in Arizona, Nick Mangosing (6-5, 260) of Glendale Apollo, picked Purdue.

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