We’ve talked a lot about BYU Basketball lately, and for good reason. They have signed some great assistant coaches, high caliber freshman, and impact transfers. All of these coaches and players are program altering coaches and players. But what about BYU Football? Why haven’t we seen the same excitement for football? Before we dive into that though, we do have some new hot of the press basketball news.
BYU Hires Jordan Brady as Director of Player Development
When I first saw this hire, I was like “Ok, who’s Jordan Brady?” Well let me tell you. In short answer, he is SLC born, UVU grad, and former professional player. He has been at numerous coaching positions after his playing career. Brady started with the Iowa Energy, now Iowa Wolves, and current NBA G League team, as an assistant under Kevin Young for one year from 2012-2013. Brady was then hired by current BYU assistant coach Will Voigt who was then the head coach of Bakersfield Jam, who are now the Motor City Cruise and current NBA G league team from 2013-2014.
He was then an assistant coach for the NBA G League teams Los Angeles D-Fenders from 2014-2015 and Salt Lake City Stars from 2015-2017 before becoming the Head Coach of the Wisconsin Herd, another NBA G league team from 2017-2019. Brady then became the Head Coach in Hong Kong for a professional team from 2019-2020. He took a year off from coaching from 2020-2021 before coming back to the USA to be an assistant coach for the Windy City Bulls, another NBA G league team, from 2021-2022. This last year, he did not coach.
Brady oversaw the development of NBA players like Donte DiVencenzo and Gary Paton II. He also helped Brandon Jennings, James Young, and Xavier Munford get called up the Bucks from the Herd. Basically, this guy has extensive experience in the NBA G league and is great at developing players. BYU gets another person on their basketball staff who has NBA G League experience. That is vital. He also knows how to develop players which will be huge for these projected lottery picks that BYU seems to be getting lately. You can read the full statement from BYU, here.
Now On to Football
So basketball seems to be getting all of the excitement lately around BYU Athletics. But is football declining? Is BYU not as good in the NIL space there? Lets break it down.
There’s a couple of things that have been happening lately that has caused BYU basketball to boom. A new head coach from the NBA will always cause a stir and BYU boosters seem to be lining up and paying big checks to see success for basketball. That could explain why BYU has been able to get the players they have and why there is so much excitement going on.
Is BYU Football at a Disadvantage?
So why cant football do the same as basketball? Well, besides the fact that BYU boosters seem to be diving into basketball a little more with the recent hires, basketball and football are different, like really different. Basketball can pitch the idea of coming to BYU for one year, prepare for the NBA, and then get drafted, or go overseas and play professionally.
You cant do that in football. Kalani Sitake has to convince someone to come to BYU for 3 years. Thats hard when you take into account guys who are not LDS and not familiar with the Honor Code. In basketball you can also go and play professionally overseas. For football, its usually the NFL or bust. There aren’t many options to go and play football professionally outside of the NFL. In football, you can also get hurt a lot more compared to basketball.
The pitches are much different; “Lock in for 8-12 months, prepare for that short time with the Honor Code, and I can get you to the NBA or professionally overseas” vs “Lock in for 3 years, abide by the Honor Code that whole time, hopefully you dont get hurt and bulk up a little, and you can go to the NFL or you may not play professionally.” Its a lot harder for football!
BYU is Seeing An Increase in Football Recruits Ranking
With all of that being said, BYU Football is seeing an increase in recruiting since Kalani got here. Do you remember when Kalani was hired in 2016? Well I dont, I was in Japan, but I heard that there was a ton of excitement and BYU felt like times were changing for football. Well they have. Let me show you. 247Sports is one of the best recruiting rankings out there so we will use the average recruit ranking since 2016 for BYU. It follows:
- 2016: 83.07
- 2017: 81.92 (First full year under Kalani)
- 2018: 81.35
- 2019: 82.52
- 2020: 82.46
- 2021: 84.13 (BYU announces they are joining the Big 12 in 2023)
- 2022: 84.32
- 2023: 85.18 (First Year in the Big 12)
- 2024: 85.79
- 2025: 84.77 (Just started, not finished)
Since the Big 12 announcement, BYU has seen a huge jump in recruiting. Even before the announcement, Kalani was seeing an increase in the average rank of their recruits since his first year. 2024 was BYU’s best recruiting class in at least 10 years.
Will It Translate to the Field?
But you may ask, if we have seen an increase in our recruiting efforts, why aren’t we winning more games? We were 5-7 last year and didn’t go to bowl game. Well the easy answer is that the bar has been raised. BYU plays in the Big 12 now, with the big boys, in a power conference. Its going to get harder, not easier. We dont play the Colorado St or UNLV type teams anymore. Were on to Oklahoma St, and TCU, and Utah. And now with Utah in the same conference again, the battle for local recruits is going to depend a lot on how each team plays.
Expectations have changed as well for BYU. BYU boosters and fans expected immediate success. But going to a power conference and seeing success takes time. Just ask Utah. It took Utah 3 seasons to really get going in the Pac 12. First season they were 8-5 followed by 2 5-7 seasons. After that, they havent won less than 7 games in a season since 2014. They are rolling.
Now BYU needs to get rolling. BYU has only had 1 year in a power conference. So we need to let them gel, let them find their groove. The Cougs are gong in the right direction in terms of recruits and getting the right guys here, it just so happened to be at the same time that their opponents are a lot tougher.
BYU Football Recruit Highlight
BYU football did get a commitment from a great WR last week for the 2025 class. The Cougars got a commitment from 4 star receiver Lamason Waller out of Hesperia, CA. Waller had offers from Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Colorado, Georgia, Michigan, etc. It had come down to BYU and Colorado and BYU was able to secure him on his official visit to Provo. This is a huge step for the 2025 class.
BYU has also received a couple of commitments from others in the 2025 class mainly in the TE and Edge positions. Its a great start to the 2025 class but they have till February to complete the class. You can check out BYU’s progress in the 2025 class, here.
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