CEDAR CITY - Cassie Platt will admit it, when Steve Hodson left Canyon View to coach the women's basketball team at Southern Utah, she didn't really think about playing for him again.
Not that she didn't want to. It was just two years in the future.
"I didn't really think that far ahead," she said. "I was excited for him."
But Platt will do just that.
She is one of four high school stars to sign national letters of intent to play at SUU, Hodson announced on Monday morning.
"She keeps telling me over and over, 'Coach I'm so grateful," Hodson said. "I keep saying, 'No SUU is grateful because you bring us a future at the point guard that's unparalleled.' She knows the expectations that I have and she's already played for two years in our system."
Platt, the 3A state most valuable player as a sophomore, and Hodson helped lead the 2005-06 Falcons to their first girls basketball state championship. Now they will team together once more at the collegiate level starting next year.
"Being with Coach Hod again will be a really good thing," she said. "I hope to learn everything from him. He knows everything and hopefully I'll be able to learn a lot."
Joining her in a Thunderbird uniform will be Beaver forward Morgan Wood, who along with fellow signee Amanda Farish of Lone Peak, played with Platt on the Salt Lake Metro AAU team.
"Ever since we were in seventh and eighth grade we've played against each other," Morgan said. "She's a nice girl. I love being around her."
Hodson hopes that Platt will work hard enough to earn immediate playing time next year. Combining her play with current point guard Kaila Goff will increase SUU's ball-handling ability, he said.
"She brings a lot to the table," he said. "Knowledge of how to play, knowledge of the system and she's the most humble superstar I've ever coached. She wants everything shared among her teammates. She's out to make them better."
Wood, meanwhile, averaged a double-double last season, scoring 17 points and grabbing 10 rebounds per game for the Beavers.
"I got to spend a lot of time with the girls and the coaches (at SUU), and I think that's where I best fit in," she said. "They have the same values that I do. (Hodson is) just an all-around good guy. He tells you the truth. I like that about him. He definitely knows what he's doing as a coach."
Farish is a 6-foot forward who turned down offers from Utah State and several other schools to sign at SUU. Dani Hosking, a 5A all-state guard out of Davis, rounds out the signing class.
"With the five kids we signed that are contributing already, with the addition of the kids we signed and the rock solid leaders we have, we feel like next year we look up and down our lineup and say we've got it all," Hodson said. "We've got the complete package. The future at SUU is very bright."
