Recruiting Strategy

[Guy Chad]

Seeing some hand wringing both on this board and on X regarding the Utes current recruiting situation. It’s clear that the Utah program is taking the same approach in regards to recruiting the portal as they have with HS recruiting over the past few years.

This is the first year that we’re seeing the full impact of NIL and the transfer portal on college football. Up to this point teams/players have been feeling out the new rules (or lack of rules) regarding how entering the portal and offering bags to players will work out. We’re seeing it play out in full force now.

Players entering the portal to feel out the NIL market, players being actively recruited from current teams without even being in the portal, and the traditional player entering looking for more playing time.

It’s almost a year round game now. The only ‘ranking’ that really matters at the early signing period is the Avg rank of the guys that are locked in. The Utes are #4 in the B12 at this point with an 87.83 avg.

Regarding the strategy, Utah is adapting the same approach they used in prior years. They don’t completely fill classes early with commitments from lower ranked players (typical BYU class). They get some solid guys (bulk of the current signed players), win a couple high profile battles (corner canyon kids, a Clark Phillips or Jaylon Johnson in the past), take a few flyers on guys that they think may be under recruited (some pan out (D LLoyd, Bishop), others provide necessary depth for special teams/scout team).

What has pushed Utah into consistent top 30 classes is the strategy of leaving a larger number of spots open until near the last moment and filling that with guys that were in the running to potentially play for a larger program only to see roster spots fill up and a solid Utah program waiting in the wings. We’ll see that same approach play out over an extended timeline with the portal.

TCU, one of the higher ranked B12 teams is sitting on 35 commits (to Utah’s 19). They, and lots of other teams, are basically done building out their rosters for next year. Take a look at the absolutely gigantic number of players still in the portal, and that will still be entering the portal as bowl season ends.

Utah will do what Utah does and slide in late in the process and pick up some great players (HS 4* guys, guys that actually contributed to P5 teams) that didn’t quite land due to the craziness that is the portal and we’ll see that avg commit rank be consistent or even climb.

This staff gets it, they’ve proven it over the past few years and they’ll prove it again.

[Tony (admin)]

I know the specific tweet you’re alluding to. The comments there are very entertaining. Seems that a certain fanbase is mocking our recruiting ranking and pounding their chests in moral victory, as usual. But they are not realizing we have 6-7 less players in our ranking, and also not realizing our average score per player is better.

[Ted Lasso]

Utah’s average player ranking is still higher than BYU’s, but the gap has been shrinking the last 2-3 years. Idk if BYU will ever fully surpass Utah. I think they could if Whitt retires and BYU gives Jay Hill the HC position

[Utah]

If Hill is a better recruiter than Scalley then he better be the next HC. The good news is, I don’t think that’s the case.

There is no excuse for that team to recruit better than us.

[Ted Lasso]

Idk man I’m not trying to be a dick on your site, but I think Hill out-recruited Scalley this year. But that’s just pure observation and I don’t know the average player ranking on the defensive side, so I can definitely be wrong. But it sounds like Hill is also flipping Satuala to BYU from Utah.

But the cycle isn’t over yet so I’m sure there are a lot more recruits they’ll pick up over the next couple months.

[DataUte]

Sounds like he is being offered offense (which he wants to play TE more than defense) by byu, but Utah wants him to stay on defense. He’s an incredible athlete, but that dynamic probably has more to play than anything.

[Utah]

No offense taken. A one year anomaly will happen every now and again, if you can even call this that.

Utah has 5 of the top 10 kids in the state and is in the running for a sixth. BYU has two and is in the running for a third.

BYU’s overall rank is 60. Utah’s is 54. High school is BYU:54, Utah: 63. Utah has 15 commits. BYU has 23. That means BYU 8 more kids recruited than Utah.

BYU’s avg recruit is rated an 85.48.

Utah’s is 87.54.

Yes, BYU signed more kids. Outside of that, Utah has out recruited BYU in every metric.

[Ted Lasso]

No I agree that Utah has out-recruited BYU as a whole. I’m talking strictly about the defensive side of the ball.

[Utah]

That’s so tough to judge. BYU did really well on the defensive side, for sure.

[Yergensen]

Technically, Satuala has to be committed in order to be flipped. He’ll be a good recruiting win for you, if he signs with you.

Last time I checked BYU is ranked last in 2024 B12 HS recruiting talent. Your talent scores have improved YOY, but with your niche and small recruiting pool, not sure how you would fully close the gap. You would have to have a really high success rate with the limited 4* and high 3* recruits in your pool to close the gap. Or you would need to transform/grow your pool.

One thing that was interesting this year is the Polynesian player commitment rate in BYU and Utah classes. I believe that all or at least a high rate of Polynesian recruits with offers from both schools all chose BYU. Did I get that right? This could be an anomaly or an interesting development and potentially transformative to a degree if continued.

[EagleMountainUte]

I will always concede the recruiting ranking Championship to TSPP. It has actually amounted to a whole lot of nothing. I don’t even know when Star rankings,averages and made up chest thumping got created. The results speak for themselves. Utah has surpassed TSPP for a very long time and it isn’t even close.

They can have the win in the recruiting as long as Utah wins in the fall it is meaningless.

[UTEopia]

I don’t think the recruiting framework used by the Utes will change going forward. However, I can’t help but believe that the change from the PAC12 to the Big12 in late July resulted in some adjustment in thinking by some west coast recruits. I suspect that Utah will dig deeper in Texas and Florida moving forward. They might also take a look at Ohio. The thing that will hurt schools like Utah that rely on getting and developing players is the portal. I wish the NCAA would go back to the 25 initials per year. I think that would reduce the school hoping.

[Ute Dub]

Great email. Thank you! I have some rhetorical questions.

Why open the portal before the end of bowl season? Does the NFL, MLB, or NBA start free agency while their playoffs are still happening? That would be nuts for the pros and is nuts for college football. The fact that college football does this screams to me that it doesn’t care about the integrity of its product.

How often does a school have to negotiate NIL with its players each year? Is this a year-round type of thing, or are there standard timeframes? Imagine the pros having free agency every month, every year, for every player. How exhausting. Clearly, the presidents, Universities, and NCAA didn’t think this one through and have added so much work to an already heavily worked coaching staff.

[concerned]

The portal opens beforfe bowl season so that transfers can be enrolled for spring sememster in early January.

[DataUte]

The school doesn’t negotiate the NIL deal. They connect them with folks like the Collective and they do know and understand what the offer may work out to be, but it’s more where agents and collectives/endorsers come in. I think that could also be quite fluid and maybe stuff like, ‘NIL up to …’ But then others could come in (someone wants a player for a commercial, pull them in for an interview or signing session, etc.) that might not be all planned and worked out for the whole year. It’s all Wild West right now.