One of Biggest but not Best Recruiting Classes

No five star recruits. Brayden Kearsley is the only four star recruit and it is fortunate that we did not lose him. We lost a couple of solid recruits. Ragin will take Cal or Oregon. Cal would be the best academic choice and even with the coaching change, Oregon would be the best football choice. BYU - as always - would be the best over-all choice. Shipley picked BSU. Neither of these choices are shocking. Both are disappointing.



There are six or eight recruits with three stars - depending on the rating service.



BYU is ranked 50th by one service and 67th by the other. Tied with Fresno State in one service.



Decommits were numerous - but other than Ragin and Shipley, none seemed huge. BYU pulled at least one scholarship and lost one player to USU when USU offered an immediate scholarship while BYU assumed an immediate mission.



Same old Same old - or a little less.



Only one recruit gave offensive coaching changes as a reason - ironically, it was a JC defensive player.

Regardless what Scout/Rivals say, this is a very good, solid class. BYU typically does not get high ranking stars for their players because they lock a majority of them up before the recruiting process get underway.



If we get a couple of the last minute recruits: OL/Tim Duran/Cabrillo JC, Tory McTyer WR/DB (former Cal commit), Pita Taumoepenu DE/OLB (Timpview HS), De'Ondre Wesley OL (former UT/ASU commit), Aofaga Wily RB (Kahuku HS), we will have not only improved the depth but shored up the positions for which we needed improvement.

byucougar1 wrote:
Regardless what Scout/Rivals say, this is a very good, solid class. BYU typically does not get high ranking stars for their players because they lock a majority of them up before the recruiting process get underway.



If we get a couple of the last minute recruits: OL/Tim Duran/Cabrillo JC, Tory McTyer WR/DB (former Cal commit), Pita Taumoepenu DE/OLB (Timpview HS), De'Ondre Wesley OL (former UT/ASU commit), Aofaga Wily RB (Kahuku HS), we will have not only improved the depth but shored up the positions for which we needed improvement.

I hear this every year. Then fans get upset because the coaches do not meet their inflated expectations given the perceived talent level. Then fans bash coaches for not developing all of this talent. Then we make our annual excuses about why so few BYU players get drafted in the NFL. Then we get our hopes up to see Beck or Hall become starters or even better NFL QBs and groan because they are on bad teams or bad situations and never get to show what they are capable of.



And, yes, Dennis Pitta, is playing in The Super Bowl today - it happens - BTW 3 or so Utes will be in that game too.



I question whether INDEPENDENCE and EXPOSURE really helped us improve recruiting or just helped us get 2-star recruits from a wider variety of locations.



Anyway - I love underdogs - it is part of who we are. Bring em on and let's see what they can do. But, if they turn out to be mortal - let's appreciate and respect them anyway. Probably a gritty bunch of overachievers who will give it their all and do the best they possibly can.

Ok debbie downer. :lol:

Annabel Stephan of TBS is reporting that Wily committed to Hawaii today. Gurney indicated the same thing and that BYU couldn't offer due to academics

Looks like we are still in the running for JC OL LLoyd Tunstill. He tweeted today that he looks good in blue. Tunstill has been tweeting back and forth with Sam Lee and apparently Tujague is still working on him. Would really like to add Taumoepenu, Tunstill, McTyer, and maybe Nic Purcell to finish out this class

Per Gurney - McTyer will commit to UNLV if not offered by BYU. I'd really hate to lose this guy. Could be a great return man as well

I wonder how the Ecclesiastical interview process and rules work when a player is not a member of the Church. He had not been planning to attend BYU and thus could have some issue. Or do they get a pass due to not beibg a member and just have to agree to HC moving forward?



Just wondering given how slow BYU has been to offer.



It could be academics or that BYU has already offered someone else and must await decisions before offering McTyer.



I hope he does not get stuck with someplace inferior due to timing issues if it is just timing. He should probably wait until after signing day and see what opens up.



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Now that the dust has settled with only a few surprises coming and going, did we fill all if our slots?



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IMO we filled needed positions.



OL (8) - 4 JC and 4 HS. All big bodies with desire to play fast and play hard. Kearsley is projected to start at C.

DBs - look for JC players Trammel and Lee to see field time this year. Both have speed, size and pack a hard hit.

LBs - the prime position of the D - all good athletes with excellent pass cover range.

DL - Got three big bodies. I expect Peoples to see playing time (strong and quick).

WR - Michael Davis is a speedster and might be able to get some playing time at KO, PR but likely be an understudy to Apo or Hoffman.

I think this was one of the hardest recruiting classes to totally evaluate, but I can't say that it was fun to finally have a surprise on signing day. It wasn't dazzling, but at least it was unexpected and made the process interesting.



We'll know so many more years down the road whether it was good or bad. I'm a little surprised nothing was done about the kicking game. I can't imagine that Bronco doesn't have some plan for that.

EM_Puma wrote:
I'm a little surprised nothing was done about the kicking game. I can't imagine that Bronco doesn't have some plan for that.

I still have hopes that Justin Sorenson (sen?) can be a great kicker. Talking to his family he supposedly begged the coaches to let him redshirt last year because he knew he was too injured to perform. He normally kicks thousands of balls in the offseason where last year he didn't start kicking until something like a week before the season. I worry though that his confidence is shot at this point.



If he doesn't work out though we always have Taysom, right?

Stirfry wrote:

I'm a little surprised nothing was done about the kicking game. I can't imagine that Bronco doesn't have some plan for that.

I still have hopes that Justin Sorenson (sen?) can be a great kicker. Talking to his family he supposedly begged the coaches to let him redshirt last year because he knew he was too injured to perform. He normally kicks thousands of balls in the offseason where last year he didn't start kicking until something like a week before the season. I worry though that his confidence is shot at this point.



If he doesn't work out though we always have Taysom, right?

But the problem would have remained last year if Sorenson would have red-shirted or not because there was not an adequate field goal kicker, with or without him. So fine, he believed himself hurt, it that is true, but we would still have been as bad in that regard and I don't know if giving him another year will be a solution. I have to deduct that either Bronco has confidence that Soreson is back, or he's got some other plan that no one has a clue about.

We had a certain number of schollies we were aklowed to offer. I was asking if they all got filled or if we still have openibgs we are trying to fill ir if wechave slots that will now bw used to reward a firmer walk-on.



Anyone know?



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Matt Gulbrandsen, a return missionary from Arizona, will pick up after Sorenson is gone. I believe Gulbrandsen just returned from his mission in December.



I believe that Sorenson will improve this year and that the kicking game will be a strength again. But, Scott Arellano will have big shoes to fill as punter.

What makes you say this is "one of the biggest" recruiting classes??????

Because BYU signed a full 25 players, plus the guys coming back from missions and the guys who will serve missions first but didn't sign LOIs.

SpiffCoug wrote:
Because BYU signed a full 25 players, plus the guys coming back from missions and the guys who will serve missions first but didn't sign LOIs.

THIS is what I meant by BIGGEST. Body count.



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SpiffCoug wrote:
Because BYU signed a full 25 players, plus the guys coming back from missions and the guys who will serve missions first but didn't sign LOIs.

But in the past BYU has had about the same number of guys returning from missions, but they would sign nearly 30 LOIs. I don't buy that this class is bigger than any other, and I would think it small as I refuse to count kids who haven't signed yet because of missions--it's still a verbal commit, and we've seen what those are worth.

snoscythe wrote:

Because BYU signed a full 25 players, plus the guys coming back from missions and the guys who will serve missions first but didn't sign LOIs.

But in the past BYU has had about the same number of guys returning from missions, but they would sign nearly 30 LOIs. I don't buy that this class is bigger than any other, and I would think it small as I refuse to count kids who haven't signed yet because of missions--it's still a verbal commit, and we've seen what those are worth.

OP said ONE OF the biggest. BTW the OP title came right from a recent SLC Newspaper article title.



It simply means we got a lot of players but little star power.



The last couple of years saw posters here and elsewhere justifying the low recruiting class ranking with the excuse that we only had high teens schollies to offer.



Bottom line is that our recruiting classes other than 2010 are flat or possibly declining while U and USU success is increasing. We once owned local recruiting othercthan HC conflicted recruits or occasional 4 or 5 star defections to USC, ND, Stanford, etc. Now we have more competition.



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