The No. 1 overall high school basketball prospect in America is going to call Utah home for a season. Specifically, Hurricane.

On Friday, it was announced that AJ Dybantsa — the consensus top recruit in the 2025 class — is transferring high schools, moving from Prolific Prep in California to Utah Prep Academy.

Listed at either 6-foot-8 or 6-foot-9, depending on the outlet, and 200 pounds, Dybantsa is one of the most sought after prospects in the country, holding scholarship offers from over 20 notable Division 1 programs, the most recent offer coming from the University of Utah.

Duke, Kansas and Kentucky have all offered Dybantsa, as have the two-time defending champion UConn Huskies, plus North Carolina, Texas, Washington and more.

The Brockton, Massachusetts, native averaged averaged 21.2 points, 9.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game as a junior at Prolific Prep this past season and as a freshman two years ago at St. Sebastian’s School in Needham, Massachusetts, Dybantsa was named the Gatorade Player of the Year.

Through 10 games played with the Oakland Soldiers (9-1) this season on Nike’s EYBL circuit, Dybantsa is averaging 23 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.9 assists per contest while shooting 54.8% from the field, 39.3% from 3-point range and 81.6% from the free-throw line.

Dybantsa reclassified up to the Class of 2025 in October and is now considered the consensus top prospect for the 2026 NBA draft as a small forward.

Utah Prep, formerly known as RSL Academy, is relocating to Hurricane from Herriman for the 2024-25 season. The Academy is just one of a couple notable prep basketball powerhouses now located in the state, along with Wasatch Academy in Mt. Pleasant.

Another top 10 prospect in the 2025 class — Isiah Harwell — plays for the Tigers, meaning Utah will be the temporary home of two of the most talented prep basketball players in the country. A Pocatello, Idaho, native, Harwell holds scholarship offers from nearly a dozen Division 1 programs currently, including Gonzaga, Houston, North Carolina and UCLA.

Top Utah officials aren’t happy with federal air quality standards. And their ammunition to fight back could jeopardize the state’s federal highway funding or even the federal government overriding how the state handles air quality to begin with.

In February, Gov. Spencer Cox called the stricter regulations imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency “onerous” and “so stringent” that it will be “impossible” for the state to comply. The EPA reduced the amount of PM2.5 and ozone pollution allowed in the atmosphere, making it harder to fall within the attainment standards, which Utah hasn’t met since 2006. The Utah Attorney General’s Office has filed and joined other states in challenging the agency over its mandates, like the “Good Neighbor Rule,” which targets ozone pollution emitted across state lines.

The majority of the Utah Legislature is so unhappy with the regulations it partly inspired a new state law that aims to push back. Republican Sen. Scott Sandall’s 2024 “Utah Constitutional Sovereignty Act” sets up a process for the state to opt out of federal regulations they deem as overreach.

The first test of the new statute could be the looming air quality battle the state is picking over the updated air quality standards and the Clean Air Act. But it won’t be an easy sell.

“If the state wants to test the red line,” said Brigham Daniels, a law professor at the University of Utah, “this is a risky one.”

During a May 15 Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Interim Committee meeting, Bryce Bird, the director of the Utah Division of Air Quality, said Utah is “still really struggling” to meet EPA ozone standards, especially in Salt Lake, Davis and parts of Weber and Tooele counties. But if the state doesn’t fall within the attainment zone of 70 parts per million, which is considered protective of public health, Utah could face federal funding sanctions.

“That prevents both federal funds being used to expand transportation projects here in that non-attainment area, but it also prohibits state funding from being used for regionally significant projects,” Bird said. “So it really does have that direct impact on the fastest growing metropolitan area in the country.”

If Utah still doesn’t clean up the air after funding is frozen, Bird said the federal government could swoop in and create its own plan for how Utah will meet ozone standards. If that comes to pass, the state “will lose flexibility and input into the plan.”

Utah and the Intermountain West face an uphill battle when it comes to meeting EPA ozone standards. Bird said states like Arizona, Utah and Colorado have “higher natural concentrations of ozone and a greater impact from international transport of the precursor emissions to ozone formation,” which places some of the problem outside of the state’s control.

The fact that Utah isn’t solely responsible for ozone pollution within its boundaries is Sandall’s biggest complaint, calling it “the heart of the heartburn,” and that Utah doesn’t have to “try to comply to an uncontrollable standard.”

“That’s the message that we’ve got to send to the federal government is we can’t do that. There’s no way,” he said during the May 15 meeting. “So whether we do that through legislation, whether we do that through a lawsuit, whatever we do, we have to be the ones to say no.”

Republican Rep. Casey Snider followed Sandall’s comments by stating “perhaps there needs to be a fundamental shift in the key objectives” of the Utah Division of Air Quality centered around “pushing back on this overzealous nature of the federal government rather than simply complying with the impossible.”

Daniels said he’s sympathetic to the predicament the state is in because of what the EPA considers to be “a healthy air quality will be very difficult for the state to obtain,” given the outside exacerbating factors. But challenging the Clean Air Act isn’t that simple.

From his perspective, if Utah does take the steps to challenge the Clean Air Act under the Utah Constitutional Sovereignty Act, the state is likely to fail because of the Supremacy Clause, which says the Constitution and federal statutes are “the supreme law of the land,” trumping any state laws.

Daniels added EPA employees are mandated by federal law to enforce the consequences of a state not complying with standards set by the Clean Air Act and a state sovereignty clause won’t stop them from doing so either.

“Within the realm of environmental law and natural resources law, you almost couldn’t have chosen a worse statute to gamble with,” Daniels said. “Because the federal government doesn’t have any discretion about whether or not it moves forward with sanctions.”

While there is still plenty of time until the 2024 college football season kicks off — for BYU and Utah State, the season is 100 days away, and 98 for Utah — that doesn’t stop the influx of discussion about the upcoming year.

One of the staples of preseason chatter is ESPN’s SP+ rankings, and earlier this week, Bill Connelly released his latest edition, i.e., the post-spring edition, and there are varying expectations for the three Utah FBS schools.

For the Utes, the 2024 season presents the chance to make a big impression in a new conference, the Big 12, while making a run at the expanded College Football Playoff with Cam Rising back and healthy.

For the Cougars, this year is projected to be another difficult learning season as the program adjusts to life at the power conference level.

And for the Aggies, there’s been plenty of turnover again, though perhaps less pessimism surrounds the program heading into 2024 — and a hope the school can finish in the upper half of the Mountain West.

What does Connelly’s latest SP+ rankings — which are calculated on returning production, recent recruiting and recent history — project for these three schools?

These insights give a glimpse at how Utah, BYU and Utah State are viewed on a national scale heading into the year.

As Connelly explains, “SP+ is a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency. It is a predictive measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football, not a résumé ranking, and along those lines, these projections aren’t intended to be a guess at what the AP Top 25 will look like at the end of the season. These are simply early offseason power rankings based on the information we have been able to gather to date.”

Where does BYU football rank in ESPN’s post-spring SP+ rankings?

• BYU ranks No. 67 nationally in the SP+ metrics with an overall minus-2.0 rating, a two-spot drop from the preseason SP+ rankings released in February.
• That includes BYU rating No. 63 on offense, No. 84 on defense and No. 11 on special teams.
• By comparison, the Cougars were No. 60 overall in last year’s post-spring ESPN SP+ rankings. BYU went 5-7 last season.
• The Cougars rank 12th among the new-look Big 12 Conference in the SP+ rankings, just ahead of Colorado (No. 69) and Cincinnati (No. 70) and just behind Baylor (No. 61). Only two of BYU’s conference games this season — at Houston (No. 79) and vs. Arizona State (No. 88), both in late November — come against Big 12 teams below the Cougars in the SP+ rankings.
• There are four Big 12 teams in the top 25 of the SP+ rankings: Kansas State (No. 17), Utah (No. 18), Oklahoma State (No. 20) and Arizona (No. 24). BYU plays all four this season, with only one road game at the Utes.
• BYU is ranked more than 40 spots below one of its two FBS nonconference opponents — SMU comes in at No. 23 — while the other, Wyoming, is behind the Cougars, at No. 87.
• The Big 12 is third among all FBS leagues in average SP+ ranking, behind only the SEC and Big Ten.
• BYU ranks 55th nationally in returning production at 65%, per Connelly’s numbers. That includes ranking No. 52 on offense (66%) and No. 51 on defense (64%).

Where does Utah football rank in ESPN’s post-spring SP+ rankings?

• Utah ranks No. 18 nationally in the SP+ metrics with an overall 16.1 rating, a one-spot drop from the preseason SP+ rankings released in February.
• That includes Utah rating No. 39 on offense, No. 11 on defense and No. 34 on special teams.
• By comparison, the Utes were No. 14 overall in last year’s post-spring ESPN SP+ rankings. Utah went 8-5 last season while dealing with a litany of injuries.
• The Utes rank second among the new-look Big 12 Conference in the SP+ rankings in their first year in the league, just one spot behind Kansas State (No. 17) and ahead of Oklahoma State (No. 20) and Arizona (No. 24). Utah plays at Oklahoma State and home against Arizona in back-to-back weeks to start conference play, but avoids playing Kansas State.
• Utah is ranked well ahead of its two FBS nonconference opponents — Baylor comes in at No. 61, while Utah State is No. 101. While both Utah and Baylor are now in the same conference, that will be a non-league game.
• The Big 12 is third among all FBS leagues in average SP+ ranking, behind only the SEC and Big Ten.
• Utah ranks 43rd nationally in returning production at 66%, per Connelly’s numbers. That includes ranking No. 61 on offense (63%) and No. 33 on defense (69%).

Big 12 teams in the post-spring SP+ rankings

17. Kansas State.

18. Utah.

20. Oklahoma State.

24. Arizona.

30. Iowa State.

34. West Virginia.

36. TCU.

37. Kansas.

42. Texas Tech.

48. UCF.

61. Baylor.

67. BYU.

69. Colorado.

70. Cincinnati.

79. Houston.

88. Arizona State.

Where does Utah State football rank in ESPN’s post-spring SP+ rankings?

• Utah State ranks No. 101 nationally in the SP+ metrics with an overall minus-11.0 rating, a six-spot drop from the preseason SP+ rankings released in February.
• That includes Utah State rating No. 49 on offense, No. 132 on defense and No. 92 on special teams.
• By comparison, the Aggies were No. 116 overall in last year’s post-spring ESPN SP+ rankings. Utah State went 6-7 last season with a bowl game loss.
• The Aggies rank eighth among Mountain West teams in the SP+ rankings, just behind Colorado State (No. 98) and Hawaii (No. 100) and slightly ahead of San Diego State (No. 14).
• Utah State’s conference opener will be against the highest-ranked MWC team in the SP+ rankings, No. 38 Boise State. The game is set for Oct. 5 in Boise.
• Utah State will play three FBS nonconference opponents this year — both Utah (No. 18) and USC (No. 21) are in the SP+ top 25, while Temple is three from the bottom at No. 132.
• The MWC is sixth among all FBS leagues in average SP+ ranking, behind fellow Group of 5 league the Sun Belt Conference and ahead of the American Athletic Conference.
• Utah State ranks 86th nationally in returning production at 57%, per Connelly’s numbers. That includes ranking No. 43 on offense (68%) and No. 110 on defense (47%).
• That’s a significant improvement over the post-spring SP+ returning production numbers last year, when Utah State ranked 127th nationally (41%).

Mountain West Conference teams in the post-spring SP+ rankings

38. Boise State.

57. Fresno State.

71. UNLV.

87. Wyoming.

92. Air Force.

98. Colorado State.

100. Hawaii.

101. Utah State.

104. San Diego State.

112. San Jose State.

121. Nevada.

131. New Mexico.