Utah football has a reputation for finding diamond-in-the-rough players and turning them into stars. The Utes may have found another player that fits that mold, as they landed a commitment from sleeper quarterback prospect Cooper Justice on Sunday. Justice, a 6-foot-6 inc, 235 pound quarterback out of Lakeridge High School (Lake Oswego, Oregon) committed to the Utes while on an official visit over the weekend.

"I'm a Ute. I committed to Coach Ludwig earlier today, I couldn't be more excited to be a part of this program, I'm excited to get to work" Justice said.

Justice has flown under the radar throughout most of his recruitment despite being one of the most versatile three sport athletes in the West. The big athlete didn’t start seriously focusing on football until his senior year of high school. He was widely considered a baseball prospect, and had offers to play at D1 schools. It wasn’t until recently that Justice decided he wanted to play football full time.

“Initially I had D1 offers in baseball before football and I wasn’t sure where I would end up leaning. As the football season moved along I started falling more and more in love with the game and after a tough loss in the playoffs I knew I wanted to play football as long as I could,” Justice told UteZone’s Steve Bartle in December.

Once he got on the field, Justice played on a run-heavy offense that featured running back (and Arizona commit) Jalen John. Although he had a small handful of FCS offers, Utah was the first FBS school to extend an offer, and Justice jumped on the chance to play for the Utes.

Despite his relative inexperience, Justice has a lot of attributes that make him an intriguing prospect. He has a tremendous combination of size and athleticism. A former pitching prospect, Justice has a huge arm. The big lefty is able to make every throw a P5 quarterback should make and can put good touch on his deep ball.

He is surprisingly fast and agile as a runner for a player his size. Justice is able to run the option game, can extend passing plays with his legs, and is tough to bring down because of his size. He has good speed and the ability to make pass rushers miss.

Justice enters a perfect situation for a quarterback looking for the opportunity to learn and develop. He’ll have the opportunity to sit behind Jake Bentley and Cam Rising in the 2020 season while refining his craft and working with Utah offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig on the intricacies of playing quarterback at the next level.

Although the January recruiting period is expected to be relatively quiet, as Utah signed a vast majority of its recruiting class in January, Justice is one of a handful of new recruits that are expected to commit to the Utes before the February signing period.

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