BYU's got talent!

It was posted on another board that BYU has more three star and higher rated commitments in this (2010) recruiting class than the rest of the conference combined (according to scout.com, BYU has 23, the rest of the conference has 17).



While I don’t ordinarily place too much stock in the star system (it seems like scout, rivals, etc are wrong as often as they’re right about a kid), I was curious to know how many more (or less) 3*+ guys we had in our system than other teams in the conference.



After compiling a list of 3*+ guys currently in our system (committed, on missions, or on the active roster), I gave up on the idea of doing this for the other 8 teams in the conference (it took me over an hour to do it just for BYU) for a comparative analysis. Besides, I think it’s safe to say that Bronco and company has assembled more highly recruited talent than any other single team in the mountain west.

Check out this list (based mostly on scout.com rankings)…



3 star and higher rated BYU recruits:

***** Jake Heaps

**** Kona Schwenke

**** Bronson Kafusi

**** Zac Stout

**** Graham Rowley

**** Adam Hine (Timo)

**** Craig Bills

**** Kyle Van Noy

**** Richard Wilson

**** Bernard Afutiti

**** Austin Holt

**** Jason Munns

**** Marcus Mathews

**** James Lark

**** Vic So’oto

**** Matt Reynolds

**** Ross Apo

*** Spencer Hafoka

*** McKay Jacobsen

*** Ryan Freeman

*** Devin Mahina

*** Houston Reynolds

*** J.J.Diluigi

*** Levi Mack ?

*** David Angilau ?

*** Robbie Buckner

*** Manaaki Vaitai ?

*** Jordan Pendleton

*** Oneill Chambers

*** Jake Murphy

*** Jessie Taufi?

*** Daniel Sorensen

*** Cameron Comer

*** J’ray Galea’i

*** Jordan Atkinson

*** Lee Aguirre

*** Brett Thompson

*** Remington Peck

*** Mitch Mathews

*** Riley Nelson

*** Tui Chrichton

*** Terry alleto

*** Algernon Brown

*** Joey Owens

*** Jordan Black

*** Collin Keoshian

*** AJ Moore

*** Tuni Kanuch

*** Tayo Fabuluje

*** Bryan Sampson

*** Haouli Jamoura

*** Sae Tautu

*** Manu Mulitalo

*** Jordan Johnson

*** Blair Tashaus

*** Alani Fua

*** Jordan Afo

*** Taloa’i Ho-Ching



This without even mentioning guys like Ian Dulan, Eathyn Manumaleuna, Matt Putman, Malosi Te’o, Iona Pritchard, Solomone Kafu, Michael Alisa, Cody Hoffman, Spencer Hadley, Trevor Bateman, Drew Phillips, Cori Gains, among others.



The amazing thing is that the majority of these players are very young…most have yet to see the field. BYU has been winning 10+ games a year with predominatly 2 star guys (with the odd 3 and 4 star guy thrown in). What happens when the majority of our starters are 3 and 4 star guys? Bronco is building a MWC juggernaught!

It really is pretty amazing to see the rise in talent we're landing under Bronco. Sure we've some of them already on the field but I don't even think we've seen the half of it yet. Even Bronco's first few classes are really just starting to become sophomores and juniors, the ideal starting age. Many have contributed already to one degree or another but basically Crowton's guys are all but gone now. This is finally a group of pure Bronco recruits (not that the Crowton guys were bad: Pitta, Nixon, Kehl, etc.) so we are finally going to see whether Bronco has gotten the guys in the program that are going to take it to the next level or not.



The list you've included is indeed impressive. But I'm almost more impressed by the guys Bronco and co. have felt strongly enough to offer even if the scouting agencies didn't think to highly of them. Guys who have already even contributed on the field like:



Robbie Buckner

Mike Alisa

Spencer Hadley

Iona Pritchard

Bryan Logan

Eathyn Manumaleuna

Brandon Ogletree

Justin Sorensen

Braden Brown

Kaneaukua Friel

Steven Thomas

Austen Jorgensen

Tyler Beck

Brandon Bradley

Braden Hansen

Romeny Fuga

Ian Dulan

Riley Stephenson

The future is bright.

jonnylingo wrote:
The future is bright.

Does that mean all BYU fans need to start wearing shades?

kitic77 wrote:

The future is bright.

Does that mean all BYU fans need to start wearing shades?

Lol, at the Holy War there were some :utard: s in front of us and several were wearing sunglasses even though it was night time. We had a lot of fun with that one, and they all were embarrassed into taking off their shades by the end of the first quarter. :lol:

I do not care about class ranking and all that. I just care about results on the field. Based upon what you published, we better be able to catch up to TCU and Utah in the athlete department because they have made us look bad recently. TCU in particular. Gotta perform once they get here.

Great post. I actually looked at this on Scout.com and yes Stars are worthless, and I love the non-star approach of Bronco, but you also have to look really really far downt he list before you get to the next best MWC recruiting team. Even if the stars were half wrong, we've still got the better recruiting class by far.



BYU....where amazing happens.

CougarClaw wrote:
...you also have to look really really far down the list before you get to the next best MWC recruiting team.

You have to go a long way down the list before you see any non-BCS recruiting class. I think the next best is Houston, who isn't even in the top 40. BYU will always have a few more blue-chippers than the rest of the MWC due to it's church affiliation, but plucking non-lds studs like Tayo fabuluje out of Texas, Drew Phillips and Cori Gains out of Alabama, Jordan Johnson out of Massachussets, and Collin Keoshian out of Southern Cal is fairly unprecedented. This is exciting stuff.

Reading theses posts gets me excited for future years. I think the recruiting will improve as these recruits show their potential.

Here's my take on BYU's recruiting. It takes about 5 years for a BYU recruit to make it to their JR year (an RS year, a two-year mission, an RS FR and RS SO year), which is when they should be full-contributing members of the team. Bronco's first year of recruits was 2005, but many of that class were already committed, so it could be argued that 2006 were Bronco's first real recruits.



Either way, 2010 is going to basically be the first year we can really expect all the main contributors to be Bronco's recruits. His first class of missionaries are finally back and ready to contribute. But I don't think we going to really start seeing the effects of Bronco's recruiting until 2011. I also think BYU needs to figure out some way to start keeping it DB recruits in the program a little longer than they have been.

kitic77 wrote:
...I think BYU needs to figure out some way to start keeping its DB recruits in the program a little longer than they have been.

True, that...imagine how much better this defense would be going forward with guys like Pittman, Brooks, Howard and Nicholsen around?

Mithrandir wrote:

...I think BYU needs to figure out some way to start keeping its DB recruits in the program a little longer than they have been.

True, that...imagine how much better this defense would be going forward with guys like Pittman, Brooks, Howard and Nicholsen around?

I'd say the problem is DBs doing what's necessary to stay at BYU and not the other way around.

Mithrandir wrote:

...I think BYU needs to figure out some way to start keeping its DB recruits in the program a little longer than they have been.

True, that...imagine how much better this defense would be going forward with guys like Pittman, Brooks, Howard and Nicholsen around?

Brooks was terrible and I never liked Howard as a player. Pittman was even a disappointment on the field, not to mention off of it. Never saw Nicholsen play so I can't say anything about him. I don't think we've lost a great DB yet.

Schmoe wrote:

kitic77 wrote:
...I think BYU needs to figure out some way to start keeping its DB recruits in the program a little longer than they have been.

True, that...imagine how much better this defense would be going forward with guys like Pittman, Brooks, Howard and Nicholsen around?

I'd say the problem is DBs doing what's necessary to stay at BYU and not the other way around.

Agreed. Many of the DBs left because after a while they decided/it was determined that they really weren't "BYU guys." But then to a degree that comes back to the organization and making sure the guys they're bringing in are indeed BYU guys. Granted, kids change a lot when they get to college. What is important at 17 when they commit may not be when they are 19 and in the program. I do appreciate guys who do realize they aren't BYU guys and get out on their own accord before being forced out, so to speak.



Regardless, we have seen a serious upgrade in talent across the field from what the Cougs were fielding in 2002-2004. And the talent is only getting better. I'm excited for 2010. But I think 2011-2014 could see some really spectacular talented players donning the blue and white.