Utahns who have followed high school basketball in the state the past five years will probably remember Tom Whitehead, a 6-foot-6 star from Dixie High who helped the Flyers put together two or three great seasons in 2001-03.

It has been a long, winding road for the former all-stater, but Whitehead has finally found a place to play Division I college basketball.

Whitehead has signed with Creighton, and will begin playing for the Bluejays in the fall of 2008. He will enroll at the school in January and practice with the team the rest of this season, which will be counted as his redshirt year.

"I'm dang excited," he said.

Whitehead went on an LDS Church mission after graduating from Dixie High in 2003 and then ran into some NCAA Clearinghouse issues when he returned.

Whitehead played for Yavapai Junior College in Arizona last year, and averaged nearly 22 points a game for the Roughridgers, so he will have three years to play three at Creighton.

Weber State and Southern Utah also offered scholarships, along with Miami, Colorado State, Northern Arizona, Boise State and others, but Whitehead chose Creighton in part because he likes coach Dana Altman and also because the Jays have been to the NCAA Basketball Tournament seven of the past nine seasons.

Utah and BYU both showed some interest in him, but both are loaded at the position he plays (small forward/wing) so neither school came through with an offer.

"Creighton is the best fit for me," Whitehead said.