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I have a confession to make: I am not a recruiting freak. Don't get me wrong--I know recruiting is the lifeblood of the football progam, and sure, I track incoming recruits in the months leading up to signing day. I'm also aware certain signees can mean a great deal to the future of the program, but I much prefer the competition on the field to the competition for letters of intent.
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I have enough BYU Football Media Guides from years past to know that the list of players who sign on the line only occasionally ends up translating into a recognizable two-deep in the years that follow, and that's the beauty of sport. For every McKay Jacobson, there's a Jonny Harline. For every Austin Holt, there's a Chad Lewis. Does anyone recall the day John Beck joined the program? Do you remember when Cameron Jensen signed?
Signing day lists are littered with players who never play a down for BYU, or who never develop into significant contributors. Sometimes, the big "get" on signing day turns into exactly the player you hoped he would be, but just as often, a walk-on, or a mid-year addition, or a lesser-known recruit ends up being the guy that outshines his more publicized teammates. And that's why I will always get more excited about the first day of Fall Camp than I will the first Wednesday in February.
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That said, BYU's preliminary list of recruits (21 firm commits, with "fingers crossed" on one or two others), is impressive. Of the players firmly in the BYU camp, 11 are defensive players, with 9 on offense and one special teamer. The breakdown is as follows (with letters pending):
LB-5
DB-4
WR-3
OL-3
RB-2
DL-2
TE-1
PK/P-1
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What does excite me about football recruiting at BYU is the way Bronco Mendenhall has gone about it--identifying prospects early, implementing established criteria based on caliber of player and caliber of individual, and locking down commitments before many other schools are ready to offer. Bronco's approach has appeared to engender in his recruits the same level of commitment that he has shown to those players. There is little wavering or uncertainty--players are "buying in" to the "Bronco way."
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Basketball notes:
It's an important stretch for the Cougars, with a realistic shot at getting to 10-1 in conference play. With three of the next four games at home and the only road game at CSU (0-8 in the MWC), BYU could turn a 5-game win streak into a 9-game run and assume front-runner status for the sprint to the finish.
TCU did open 3-1 in league play, but has since dropped 3 in a row, and stands last in shooting and last in field goal percentage defense in conference play. The Horned Frogs are 6th nationally in steals per game, but Dave Rose has always excelled at press break, and expect to see the Cougars make the Frogs pay for pressing tonight.
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