With help from former BYU star; Baker fulfills a dream

For tight end and defensive end prospect Tanner Baker (6’5”, 230) playing at BYU has always been a lifelong dream. But that lifelong dream might not have happened had it not been for what Baker’s grandpa wore to a Junior Day at Wake Forest earlier this month.

Baker’s grandpa, Jim Stubblefield (a former BYU football player), was wearing a BYU hoodie while accompanying Tanner at Wake Forest. At that Junior Day event, former BYU star Derwin Gray was also taking in the sights at Wake Forest because his son, Jeremiah Gray, is a free safety high school prospect in the Charlotte area.

Gray approached Baker and Baker's grandpa after seeing the BYU hoodie and they got to talking about the Cougars. Baker mentioned to Gray his passion for BYU and Gray said he could get in touch with the new coaching staff for him.

With the help from Gray, Baker was able to get in touch with the BYU coaching staff again. Needless to say, Baker was thrilled when the communication lines between him and his dream school were opened again.

“Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve always wanted to play at BYU,” said Baker.

Baker, who’s from Acworth, Georgia had conversations with BYU’s previous staff while he prepped at Moorpark High (CA) and even took a trip to Provo last November to attend the Fresno State game (pictured above).

But once Mendenhall and his staff left for Virginia and Baker’s family moved to Georgia the communication stopped between BYU and Baker until Dewey Gray forwarded over Baker’s film to Ofahenague and the new regime.

All thanks to grandpa's hoodie and Baker's talent, the rest is history you could say.

Along with BYU, Baker had been receiving interest from a handful of programs: Ball State and Navy both extended offers while UCF, Virginia, and a pair of Ivy League schools were showing interest. But none of those schools compared to the dream school of his childhood in BYU.

When asked how the commitment took place on Saturday, Baker said he called up Coach [Steve] Clark and asked him if it was okay if he could commit because he wanted to fulfill his lifelong dream to play at BYU. According to Baker, Coach Clark responded by saying it was the best phone call he had received in awhile.

With Baker delivering his commitment to Coach Clark, does that mean Baker will play tight end at BYU?

“That’s the plan right now," said Baker.

Also, part of Baker’s plan is to graduate from high school in December just in time for him to enroll at BYU for winter semester next year so he can compete in spring practices, and hopefully be healthy when next January rolls around.

This past February while preparing for the state championship basketball game in the state of Georgia, Baker tore his ACL. Right now it’s not known if Baker will play his one and only year on the gridiron for Allatoona High, but he’s not ruling it out all completely yet as the rehabilitation process is going well according to Baker.

When Baker gets to BYU, he plans on playing one season (2017) before leaving to serve an LDS mission.

But for Baker to live out a lifelong dream was a special day for him and as he put it, “I’m just excited to be wearing the navy blue of BYU.”

Mitch Harper is the Publisher of Cougar Nation and the lead BYU reporter for 1320 KFAN in Salt Lake City. Harper hosts the weekly BYU podcast Cougar Center available on iTunes and 1320KFAN.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Mitch_Harper.

***CougarNation.com offers comprehensive coverage of the Cougars that you can't find anywhere else. Get breaking team and recruiting news, interviews from practice and games plus access to the Inside the Blue Zone message board. Give us a try today!