Darnell Dickson

The college football recruiting process isn't perfect.

Heimuli, a 5-foot-11, 225-pound running back from Orem's Mountain View High School confirmed on Friday he's accepted a scholarship offer to play football for BYU in 2009.

"BYU represents tradition, honor and service," Heimuli said. "They're a producing program. They focus on other things other than football, and that's what I liked about it."

As a junior, Heimuli led Mountain View with 781 rushing yards (8.05 yards per carry) and 11 touchdowns and was a member of the Daily Herald Elite 11. He shared the running load with classmate T.J. Maunga (656 yards and seven TD's) as Mountain View posted a 7-4 record. In one three-game stretch, Heimuli piled up 452 rushing yards in wins over Provo, Springville and Payson.

But as of this week, BYU and Southern Utah were the only schools to show any interest in Heimuli.

His high school coach, Teko Johnson, said Heimuli didn't get more carries because he tired easily. That mystery was cleared up when Heimuli was diagnosed with asthma midway through the season.

Since December, Heimuli has trained with former Weber State and Tennessee Titans linebacker Dave Stroshine at AMP Gym. Stroshine also trains Timpview offensive lineman Xavier Suafilo, Pleasant Grove basketball standout C.J. Wilcox and Lone Peak basketball star Tyler Haws. Heimuli has dropped 20 pounds and has toned his body under Stroshine's tutelage.

"Ive been coaching for 17 years and I've never seen a kid work so hard in his off-season training," Johnson said. "Anthony committed to be the best physically, mentally and academically that he could be. He set a goal for himself and he achieved that.

"All of his ability doesn't show on film. He did well at the All-Poly Camp, then he went to BYU's padded and non-padded camp. When coaches see him run, jump and catch the ball, he can really open their eyes."

Heimuli said he spoke with BYU running backs coach Lance Reynolds on Tuesday, and a 10-minute talk turned into a conversation that lasted more than an hour. Friday morning, Heimuli was summoned to BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall's office.

"He said they really could really use me at fullback," Heimuli said. "I think what they like about me is that I like to hit and I just don't want to go down when I run. They said they liked my physical toughness."

Johnson said BYU is getting very athletic and powerful player.

"He's big and strong, but his explosiveness at his size is phenomenal," Johnson said.

Heimuli runs a 4.6 40-yard dash and has a vertical leap of about 34 inches. He said he plans to play one year at BYU before serving an LDS mission.

• Daily Herald Sports Editor Darnell Dickson can be reached at 344-2555 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it