BYU football picking up pace to overcome effects of COVID-19 recruiting like most

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PROVO — After a year of being stuck inside, confined to Zoom calls and virtual visits in putting together the lifeblood of college football — that is, recruiting — Aaron Roderick pulled into a jam-packed parking lot near BYU's intramural fields for the first day of summer sport camps.

The masks were off (mostly, at least), and the sun was beating down on a hot June day. But the campers were there — some 200-300 strong for that first day, a number that only grew since — and Roderick looked out over the sea of people waiting for football instruction and to be evaluated by the first-year BYU offensive coordinator, recently promoted from quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator.

Before he got going, he stopped in his car and smiled.

"The parking lot was packed," he recalled. "And I thought, 'wow, here we go.'

"It was fun to walk out there and just feel the energy," Roderick continued. "I feel for these high school football players in the last couple of classes who we're going to find now, just overlooked — really good players who are playing lower-levels of football or didn't get notice for whatever reason, just because you didn't get as much of a chance to go see them in person. Recruiting the last couple of years has been difficult. I'm happy for these kids who get a chance to be seen now."

The NCAA ended the recruiting dead period in all sports, effective June 1. That means that more than a year after the pandemic shut down recruiting operations nationwide — pushing all visits, workouts and contact with recruits to FaceTime, Zoom and text messages — coaches are finally free to see local prospects again in a return to "regular" recruiting activities.

Of course, for football, which would otherwise be in limited recruiting activities right now, that doesn't mean coaches can hit the road and find the next diamond in the rough. Instead, recruits are required to come to campus. While so much attention is turned toward athletics, the NCAA's recent end to the recruiting dead period has shifted eyeballs back toward the most basic need of roster management.

And for BYU, that's just fine. The Cougars are running sport camps throughout June — another casualty of the missed 2020 season and the COVID-19 pandemic — and estimated that anywhere north of 600 high school students were on campus over the past three weeks.

"As soon as it ended, we were up and going with our camps," BYU running backs coach Harvey Unga said. "We wouldn't have had time to go to places and schools, anyways. We were here just trying to get our camps going.

"We had a few unofficial visitors coming in with camp, and that helped us recruit some guys."

Many schools held a "Midnight Madness" event for local recruits as soon as restrictions ended on June 1. For BYU, the "madness" struck all day. Around 200 unofficial visits were conducted in the first week of the period, Roderick estimates, with players and parents traveling to Provo to tour campus, view facilities, meet with coaches and — for the first time in NCAA history — receive a one-on-one evaluation from position coaches.

In most years, that type of recruiting buzz would be handled in April, as spring camps are winding down. Maybe some of it would take place in August, just before the school year, or in January, with the February signing day on the horizon. But the COVID-19 pandemic didn't allow for any of that.

Instead, schools and coaches have June.

"Not having those April official visits is making June really, really busy," 247 Sports' Steve Wiltfong said.

There's a lot of recruiting to make up over the past year. No time to waste.

"It's like the wild, wild west. It's been nonstop — busy, but also fun," Roderick said with a laugh.

"I won't lie, in the past, those camps were a bit of a drag, hard work out in the sun. But this year, I've enjoyed it a bit more, because we didn't get to interact with all those guys for almost two years."

CFB Recruiting

At the center of it were the sport camps — once a part of the dog days of summer, a necessary evil at times that helped coaches identify talent as young as seventh or eighth grade. Now they're a vital tool for all ages — including the incoming high school juniors and seniors, who were adversely affected by the pandemic's recruiting restrictions as anyone else.

BYU has received 10 commits in the Class of 2022, according to 247Sports, which tracks recruiting nationally. The group is headlined by American Fork star linebacker Noah Moeaki and Corner Canyon linebacker Micah Wilson, the younger brother of NFL-bound quarterback Zach and current Cougar linebacker Josh. Wasatch safety Jarinn Kalama, Weber receiver Canon DeVries and West linebacker Liutai Kinikini are also local prep standouts who have committed to head coach Kalani Sitake and his staff.

All but one of those recruits committed since March, and four of the 10 committed in June.

"The recruiting part has been crazy during these last couple of weeks," said new offensive line coach Darrell Funk, who replaced former coach Eric Mateos in February. "I arrived at BYU about three or four weeks before spring ball, so that was a whirlwind. Spring ball and getting back to recruiting has been fun. It's been busy but in a really good way."

Recruiting never ends. Used to working at least a year ahead, the Cougars — like many other programs — are already behind with their 10 commits of 2022, down from the 16 that signed in 2021. In this, BYU is on par with the national average.

Because of the pandemic, the NCAA froze eligibility a year ago and allowed seniors to return for another year.

BYU defensive lineman Uriah Leiataua talks to media during BYU football media day in Provo, Thursday, June 17, 2021. Leiataua is one of two "Super Seniors" on BYU's defense taking advantage of a free season of eligibility by the NCAA. (Photo: Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)

BYU only had two such "Super Seniors," but the frozen eligibility stacked all the way down to last year's freshmen. For example, BYU's current three-way quarterback race includes Jaren Hall and Baylor Romney — two redshirt sophomores who are each entering a fourth season with the Cougars.

The NCAA has provided for scholarship and roster adjustments to allow this year's "Super Seniors" to return for another season, but haven't made adjustments for any other year. At least, not yet.

Add in the bevy of talent still in the NCAA transfer portal — some outside estimates insinuate close to 1,000 players are still in the portal — and the scholarship crunch gets even more real.

"I think it's going to take a couple of years for things to even back out," Roderick said. "With last year not counting against players' eligibility, you're going to see the logjam on teams' rosters. Then you add in the transfer portal madness, and it trickles down to these high school guys."

BYU is likely better equipped to deal with the logjam of talent, both because the Cougars didn't have as many Super Seniors or graduate transfers as some schools — Utah State took in as many as 13 Division I transfers in head coach Blake Anderson's first season, and rival Utah has nine D-I transfers on roster, including current quarterback frontrunners Charlie Brewer (Baylor) and Cameron Rising (Texas) — and because BYU regularly juggles roster spots due to the abundance of players leaving every season to serve as missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

"It's a little more natural for us, dealing with the transfer portal and new recruiting rules," said Roderick, who helped send out and receive around a dozen missionaries last year with the program. "The game is changing a bit right now, but I think we'll manage it as well as anyone else. That's kind of what we do all year.