BYU Football has been on what seems like a down hill slope. There isnt the excitement behind it like basketball and the expectations this year and low. Not to mention last year we were 5-7 in our first power conference season.
Is BYU Recruiting Wrong?
A while back I talked about how we have seen improvements in recruiting. Our 2024 class (only recruits, not transfers) was ranked 44th in the nation. 2023 was ranked 66th, 2022 was 56th, 2021 was 74th, and 2020 was 80th, according to 24/7 Sports. You get my point. BYU is getting better freshman to come on campus. What is to now be determined is if we can develop them and help them become better players.
But BYU, lately, have missed out on some big time recruits. Recruits that are in our own backyard. 4 star OT from Spanish Fork committed to Utah after having both in his final 5 teams. 3 star QB Luke Moga went to Oregon. BYU was one of his first offers and had been on him for almost 2 years. Maealiuaki Smith committed to Oklahoma St. Smith took an official visit to BYU but still chose Oklahoma St.
The hard part about all of this is that BYU isnt recruiting against nobodies. Look at those three recruits again. They all committed to good, well built programs in Utah, Oregon, and Oklahoma St. BYU needs to do one thing to help them recruit. Its to tell a better story. They need to find their swag. What separates them.
Relationships, confidence, swag, that is huge right now in recruiting. BYU needs to step into recruits rooms thinking that they can win, not that they are just happy to be there. And we have seen an improvement over the last 3 years, especially this 2024 class. But BYU needs these good, LDS players against these good other well built programs in order to take the next step.
BYU Football News
BYU did make the top 8 schools for Corner Canyon QB Helaman Casuga. He is a 4 star QB and the #13 ranked QB in the 2026 class. His other 7 schools are Utah, Arizona, Auburn, Nebraska, Texas A&M, USC, and Washington. Sheesh. Talk about being a part of some top tier programs. These are the types of battles that BYU needs to win though, top tier LDS Utah born talent.
We also just have to shout out due to the fact that we are in the Big 12 now are we able to be in these battles. BYU is able to have conversations with the top tier recruits because we are in a better conference. Just ask basketball. More on them later.
Preseason AP Poll Released
The preseason AP Poll came out for college football this past Monday. The Big 12 has 5 teams ranked in the Top 25. They are #12 Utah, #17 Oklahoma St, #18 Kansas St, #21 Arizona, and #22 Kansas. BYU plays all 5 of those teams. Wow. But luckily 4 of them will be at home with the away game against Utah.
Fall Camp Updates
Aaron Roderick, the offensive coordinator, and Kalani Sitake, the head coach, both spoke to the media on Monday as week 3 of Fall Camp commenced. Roderick spoke about the QB battle and said that he is “not in a hurry” to decide the starting QB yet. He referenced when Jaren Hall and Zach Wilson were battling for the starting QB position and said how they didnt name the starter till game week.
Kalani Sitake spoke and said that starting RB LJ Martin is ready and will be good to go for game 1 against Southern Illinois. Thats a huge sigh of relief as there had been a lot of rumors and reports that he might be out for the first 3 or 4 games of the season. Sitake also said that he would like to have a decision on who the starting QB is by game week. Again, another reference to the starting QB decision being on game week. That means we should have a decision publicly by August 26th. Just a little longer.
BYU Basketball Makes Another List of Teams
Ryder Frost, a 2025 4 star recruit, whos a 6’6 small forward, announced his top 8 teams with BYU as one of them. His other 7 teams are Penn St, Michigan, Notre Dame, Iowa, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, and Wisconsin. Man, this list looks more like a football list than a basketball list. I give BYU a real good shot after looking at this list. BYU is really the only top team on this list.
Frost is a lights out shooter. He has a quick release and can shoot of the dribble, fading, sideways, any angle. He would be a great get for the Cougars and a great compliment to Dybantsa and Staton if BYU is able to land both of them.
Out of the 11 recruits that hold offers from BYU in the 2025 class, four are 5 star recruits and seven are 4 star recruits. BYU basketball hasnt even offered a single 3 star recruit in the 2025 class. And they are making the cut lists for most recruits. That is raising the bar for the program and team as a whole. Kevin Young is WORKING it right now and he hasnt even been a coach in his first game as a BYU Cougar yet.
BYU Basketball also released their non conference schedule for next year. It is as follows:
- October 30th vs Colorado Christian (Exhibition)
- November 5th vs Central Arkansas
- November 8th vs UC Riverside
- November 14th vs Queens
- November 16th vs Idaho
- November 23rd vs Mississippi Valley St
- November 28th-29th – Rady Childrens Invitational in San Diego vs Ole Miss, NC State, or Purdue
- December 3rd @ Providence
- December 11th vs Fresno St
- December 14th vs Wyoming at the Delta Center
- December 20th vs Florida A&M
BYU only plays one true road game against Providence. If you remember last year, BYU did a very similar thing and it sort of hurt them come March Madness time in not getting the preferred seed to come and play in Salt Lake. We will see how that goes this year, but I expect BYU to maybe lost only game during non conference with this schedule, especially with them possibly playing Purdue. Other than that, I expect them to win all of these games.
Thank you for reading! You can check out my previous blogs here.
