Utah Valley Transfer Tanner Toolson Down To Two Schools
Apr 16, 2025, 3:36 PM
Utah Valley transfer Tanner Toolson is down to two schools in the Transfer Portal. (Spenser Heaps, Deseret News)
(Spenser Heaps, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — Former Utah Valley University standout Tanner Toolson has narrowed his transfer portal recruitment down to two schools.
The 6-foot-5 guard will decide between Iowa from the Big Ten Conference and TCU from the Big 12.
Toolson told League Ready of his two finalists on Wednesday, April 16.
NEWS: Utah Valley transfer Tanner Toolson is down to two schools, he told @LeagueRDY:
Iowa
TCUToolson has taken visits to both schools. He averaged 13.3PPG, 4.0RPG and 1.6APG this season. pic.twitter.com/mi14QujttX
— Sam Kayser (@247HSHoops) April 16, 2025
Toolson visited Iowa on Monday, followed by a visit to TCU on Tuesday.
Was BYU an option for Tanner Toolson?
Last week, there were reports that BYU, the school where Toolson began his college career under former head coach Mark Pope, was in the mix.
The Cougars will no longer be a potential landing spot for Toolson, who scored 13.3 points per game last season for UVU.
Earlier on Wednesday, Toolson’s father, Andy Toolson, a former BYU star and NBA player, was on the KSL Sports Zone’s “DJ & PK” discussing Tanner’s portal recruitment.
The elder Toolson told DJ & PK on KSL Sports that he and his son met with BYU last week and added, “…they’ve got a great thing going there. I think it’s just that they have invested in their four or five players that they had to pay a big portion of their NIL budget to.”
BYU has added Baylor transfer Robert Wright III in this portal cycle. They also signed No. 1 recruit AJ Dybantsa from the high school ranks.
Why did Toolson leave UVU and enter the Transfer Portal?
As for why, Toolson entered the portal and left UVU after earning Second Team All-WAC honors, his father explained.
“He loved his experience there, he loved the coaching staff, and he loved the guys he played with. I think it’s just a matter of him wanting to play at a higher level. UVU is at a mid-level Division 1 conference, the WAC,” Andy Toolson said to the KSL Sports Zone.
“If he wants to play after college, it’s always better to be able to play against the very best. If you can play in the top two or three leagues, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, whatever it may be, that’s more respected at the pro level. If you can get 14 points and four or five rebounds at that level, you know, it’s more respected than at a lower level. Obviously, NIL is something that you have to consider too.”
Toolson finished with career-best averages of 13.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 1.6 assists on 34.9% shooting from three this past season at UVU.
“A starting guard or starting player on any of those big conference teams, it’s pretty decent money. It’s crazy. And it can set yourself up financially if you’re smart. So those are all things that you have to consider. I don’t like it. I don’t like the fact that these guys go into the transfer portal and are leaving, but that’s what it is now. That’s the system.”
Andy Toolson also noted in the interview that they hope to have the portal recruitment “done by this weekend.”
Toolson has two years of eligibility remaining in his collegiate career.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and hosts the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU in the Big 12 Conference on X: @Mitch_Harper.
