Will Bronco Mendenhall face any of his former recruits in 2021?

So I had this thought this morning that sparked a quick review of the current 2020 BYU football roster. I wanted to see how many players on the team would be Bronco Mendenhall recruits (actual signees in the class of 2015 or earlier) when BYU hosts Virginia on October 30, 2021. To see who would be facing the coach/staff they signed with at that time.



I first eliminated all those who will have expired their eligibility by the end of the 2020 season (baring some medical redshirt or other extenuating circumstance). Then I eliminated all players who were members of the class of 2016 or later since Mendenhall would not have been the coach when they signed. Finally, I removed all RMs who joined the team after 2017 (as 2015 was Bronco Mendenhall's last draft class). It seemed like a safe enough exercise, but maybe a greyshirt or something will trip me up.



That left me with just a handful of players so look up. Several had been transfers to BYU after their missions (for example, Empey--Utah commit, Katoa--Oregon State commit, Neil Pau'u--scholarship offer was pulled before his mission, Sitake offered him again upon his return).



After going through the exercise, can you guess how many Bronco Mendenhall recruits might be on the team to face him in 2021?























1



Junior OL Brady Christensen from Bountiful, UT. He was part of the 2015 signing class and then left for his mission in New Zealand, rejoining the team in 2017 for a redshirt year before finding himself a full time starter for the entire 2018 season and ever since.

Now I do say he MIGHT face Bronco because he was ranked the #20 returning offensive lineman in college football for 2020 and there is talk he might find himself in the 2021 NFL draft if things go well this fall season.



Did I miss anyone?

Whew....and looking back over the class of 2015 (Bronco's last year at BYU) reminds me how much of a crapshoot the recruiting game can be.



Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Hometown Last school

Kieffer Longson OL 6-7 295 San Ramon, Calif. Dougherty Valley HS

Akile Davis WR 6-1 186 DeSoto, Texas DeSoto HS

Micah Simon WR 6-1 185 Dallas, Texas Bishop Dunne HS

Beau Hoge QB 6-1 198 Fort Thomas, Ky. Highlands HS

Kody Wilstead QB 6-6 215 St. George, Utah Pine View HS

Charles West RB 5-10 187 Coppell, Texas Coppell HS

JJ Nwigwe OL 6-4 260 Rockwall, Texas Rockwall-Heath HS

David Lui DL 6-4 255 Pittsburg, Calif. Pittsburg HS

Tevita Mo’unga DL 6-3 300 Murrieta, Calif. Vista Murrieta HS

Mika Tafua OLB 6-3 225 Laie, Hawaii Kamehameha HS

Devin Kaufusi OLB 6-6 240 Provo, Utah Timpview HS

Will Sedgwick MLB 6-2 220 Laguna Hills, Calif. Laguna Hills HS

Jeremiah Ieremia MLB 6-0 230 Hurricane, Utah Hurricane HS

Riley Burt DB/RB 6-1 195 Mantua, Utah Box Elder HS

Zayne Anderson DB 6-2 190 Stansbury Park, Utah Stansbury HS

Dayan Lake DB 5-11 190 Layton, Utah Northridge HS

Trevor Brent DB 5-10 165 Balch Springs, Texas West Mesquite HS

Demetrius Davis OL 6-4 265 Pleasant Grove, Utah Pleasant Grove HS

Jacob Jimenez OL 6-6 275 Pflugerville, Texas Pflugerville HS

Motekiai Taukolo Langi OL/DL 6-7 410 Liahona, Tonga Tonga HS

Eric Takenaka DB 5-10 205 Salt Lake City Snow College/West HS

Squally Canada RB 5-10 192 Milpitas, Calif. Washington State/Milpitas HS

Brady Christensen OL 6-6 240 Bountiful, Utah Bountiful HS

Manase Tu'ungafasi OL 6-7 322 Auckland, New Zealand Massey HS



There are some guys from that class who came and did some great things making solid contributions to their teams (Ghanwoloku--formerly Lake, Anderson, Christensen, Nwigwe, Canada, Longson, Simon) some guys who never played a snap (Tu'ungafasi, West, Langi-he played in 4 games total with no stats before retiring due to a neck injury) and some guys who transferred out to finish careers elsewhere (Burt-Utah State, Jimenez-San Diego State, Tafua-Utah, Wilstead, Davis, Mo'Unga, Ieremia, Brent, Davis, maybe more).