Meeting one of the Krugers up close
It was turning dark Sunday night in my backyard where I’d hosted family for dinner on the patio when my nephew, Josh Harmon, a flanker for Timpanogos dropped by with two of his Timberwolves buddies.
One of them was Joe Kruger, younger brother of Ute defensive linemen Paul and Dave Kruger. This version is 6-foot-7, plays DE and TE and with 4.7 speed, one of the fastest players on the T-Wolf team. Great young man. He was accompanied by middle linebacker Parker Almeda (I think that is the correct spelling of his name.) I asked them to pile up their plates and make themselves at home.
Joe will be part of the class of 2010 and was first offered by the Utes almost a year ago. He received his second offer by BYU this summer. He explained he is getting some recruiting letters from UCLA and Oregon. I told him he should expect LSU to send him something soon because Gary Crowton has been hitting up the top Utah recruits and he should be one of them.
Joe and the Timberwolves lost a disappointing game Friday to Riverton 14-10 and play Hunter this week.
This Kruger will most likely follow in the footsteps of his older brothers but I think he’s keeping his options open to see what happens. I told him I thought his bother Paul was headed for a great sophomore season with the Utes. We both agreed Saturday’s Utah game in the Big House would be one to remember.
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Another interesting item I picked up this week is that the BYU fan who was smacked around in the Thomas & Mack during a near riot during the Mountain West Conference Tournament isn’t sitting idly by nursing his lumps.
He apparently not only had a broken nose, but fracture his eye orbit, an injury that could have all sorts of implications. After the BYU-UNLV game, he was trying to pull away a UNLV fan who was stepping over a woman who had been knocked down to the floor. The attacker apparently spun around and assaulted him until he was left bleeding.
Well, this guy has filed a big lawsuit against the Thomas & Mack and the Mountain West Conference and expensive lawyers are involved. The report I received is the case gained alot of momentum when a review of the security measures were examined. Seems like, and this isn’t a surprise to any who witnessed the episode, that the Thomas & Mack and the MWC had woefully understaffed the arena with security, leaving themselves liable for negligent control of a crowd that big.
It is especially critical for league liability in wake of reading minutes of league meetings that reflect a need for increased security after some equipment was damaged and cheerleaders and other patrons were shaken up after the 2007 tournament.
It will be interesting to see how this suit comes down and if it is settled out of court. But after it is litigated, it will surely result in a different approach by the league in how the games are handled and managed in Las Vegas. We may have seen the end to 70-year old ushers in red coats running to hide when the isles get full of excited and sometimes drunk fans.