If he has friends saying BYU sucks, are boring, and Utah is big time, true or not, it has a huge influence. I will admit I made decisions on everything from girls I dated to cars to the clothes I wore based on how my friends reacted >>>>> what my parents thought would be nice.
Utah has a great pitch. Better than BYU. P5. Decent academics. No annoying HC/more free agency. Lots of LDS RMs on the team. Good player development.
It’s not surprising at all.
That being said. Utah sucks and can cram it with walnuts. I hope they gets dumptrucked every game every year.
That is all.