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FidoDecember 14, 2019 was the Saturday before the early signing period. On that Saturday, Andrew Gentry committed to Bronco Mendenhall and the Virginia Cavaliers. Gentry, a top 50 recruit in the 2020 class, was considered a BYU lean. In fact, all 14 crystal ball predictions pointed to Gentry signing with the Cougars.
The news was hard to digest for BYU fans. Gentry had been BYUâs top target for the better part of two years. Frankly, BYU did everything in their power to land Gentryâs services. Around the same time, new was getting around that long-time BYU commit, Bodie Schoonover, would decline to sign during the early signing period. Schoonover (who, as we would find out later, had decommitted) was deciding between UCLA and BYU. The outlook of the 2020 changed from promising to murky.
Since that day, BYU has rallied off a serious of recruiting wins in a row â BYU received 10 more commitments for the 2020 recruiting class. Itâs the quality, not the quantity, of commits that is most impressive. These commits include guys like Kody Epps, Tate Romney, Jake Griffin, and Bodie Schoonover to a name a few.
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Not because those that that committed before arenât good players, they are. In fact, a few of them will play major roles for BYU down the road. But 3 of BYUâs 4 highest-rated recruits have committed since that day.
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Historically, BYUâs average composite score has hovered around .822. Securing 10 commits with an average of .827 is an impressive feat for BYU.
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BYU finished the 2020 class with 160 points and the 72nd ranked recruiting class in the country. Of the 160 points, 92 points come from the 20 players who committed to BYU before December 14th. In other words, 68 points come from the 10 players who committed after that day.
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Missing out on Gentry was a tough pill to swallow â his commitment would have improved BYUâs class ranking by about 10 spots. BYUâs late rally, however, was encouraging for BYU fans. The 72nd ranked recruiting class is not where BYU fans want to be, but it is an improvement over 2018 and 2019. BYU will look to continue the upward momentum into 2021.