Inside The Huskies

Huskies Offer Edge Rusher from Cinematic American Fork

Hunter Clegg is a Utah edge rusher from a town that's been the backdrop for a couple of popular films.

Dan Raley

Hunter Clegg is an edge rusher from American Fork, Utah, which describes a river rather than a utensil. He plays for a high school team that answers to the nickname Cavemen, yet his surroundings are more Hollywood than reclusive.

Clegg hails from a town located a half hour south of Salt Lake City, at the foot of the snowy Wasatch Mountains, that's served as the movie set for "Footloose" and "Sandlot" films made well before Clegg was born.

The University of Washington football staff apparently found plenty of footage of this American Fork defender to peruse and on Thursday it extended a scholarship offer to the 6-foot-4, 230-pound junior. 

For the Huskies with Clegg, they'll try to restore a once vibrant Utah recruiting connection that has fallen off some in recent seasons with the signing but subsequent transfers of wide receivers Puka Nacua (BYU) and Ty Jones (Fresno State), linebacker MJ Tafisi (Utah State) and defensive tackle Taki Taimani (undecided).

Clegg is rated as a 4-star outside linebacker and one of the state's top 2023 prospects, and thus is considered a high recruiting priority for BYU, Utah and Utah State, and it'll take some work for the Huskies to pull him away from the home schools.

Besides the Utah football programs and UW lined up for his services, Clegg holds scholarship offers from USC, Michigan, Colorado, Oregon State and Stanford. 

For a 7-4 team this past season, this Cavemen defender collected 29 tackles, which included 9 for lost yardage and 6 sacks.

Recruiters like him because he runs well with his big frame, as shown in the accompanying video where he chases down passes, which enables him to get off the edge in an explosive manner.

The talent scouts won't be faulted if they come through American Fork humming, "Everybody, get foot loose."

Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Husky Maven stories as soon as they’re published.

Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.

Find Husky Maven on Facebook by searching: Husky Maven/Sports Illustrated

Follow Dan Raley of Husky Maven on Twitter: @DanRaley1 and @HuskyMaven

Published
Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

Home/Recruiting