Honest question about recruiting against the TDS

[Larry B]

With the success we’ve had putting guys in the NFL and our conference affiliation, it got me thinking, why would kids (especially in state kids) choose BYU over Utah? What do they have to offer that is so much better than what we can offer? Is it just the religion part of it?

And yes, I understand our recruiting classes are overall WAY better than theirs, but it’s odd to me that we would lose many head to head battles with them.

I know I’m biased, and honestly I don’t know if BYU has any players other than  Ziggy currently playing in the NFL, but it seems like a no brainer to me. If I was a high school kid, I’d say conference affiliation? Advantage Utah. NFL opportunity? Advantage Utah. Coaching staff? Advantage Utah.

The only real advantage I can think of that they have is religion. Although, kids can get a good LDS experience at Utah as well.

[ironman1315]

Depending on the position, playing time since our D is stacked for years.

[noneyadb]

What head to head battles were lost that were with players BETTER than either what Utah recruitted or already on roster?

[Larry B]

I’m not arguing that they got better commits than us. I’m just saying that they won several “head to heads”. If a player of any caliber is being recruited by both teams, why are they choosing BYU?

[Utah]

Could you name a couple of these players? I think if you do that, you’ll find out that it isn’t as big as it seems. 

[Larry B]

Chaz Ah You

Langi Tuifua

Alden Tofa

Isaac Rex

Tyler Batty

Just to name a few.

[Tacoma Ute]

We didn’t want em anyway.

[Utah]

Thanks. Let’s look at these:

Chaz Ah You. He was never coming to Utah. BYU hired his dad. Not really a loss there.

Tuifua – he didn’t want to play with Tufele in college. We chose Tufele, Tufele chose USC. Had the coaches known Tufele was going to USC, Tuifua would be a Ute.

Tofa – This was a miss. BUT, he wasn’t going to play here for awhile anyways. Look at who he’d have to beat out: Anae, Hamilton, Tupai, Hart, Repp, Vimahi, Suguturaga..So, yeah it was a miss, but you can’t blame the kid going to BYU. He has a shot to play right away.

Rex never had a Utah offer.

Same with Batty. Batty had an offer, but he didn’t have an offer. Come January, Utah wasn’t interested in him.

So, in your list, there was one miss, Tofa, and even then, that’s tough to call it a miss, when he’d be our 7th DE.

All the uproar over all the “misses” this year really aren’t that big of a deal. Heck, they all boil down to one thing: Tufele. If Tufele would have come here, no one would even care about everyone else.

[cjd1]

If your dad went to BYU and your grandfather went to BYU it could hard to brake the tradition.

[Edutecator]

Just to note, Van Oy is playing with the Patriots.

[Tony (admin)]

I’d think family, friends of their faith pressuring them is a big factor.

[UteBacker]

I’d say for some of these kids there’s a certain church “credibility” that you get from attending BYU.  You are a more of a pure church member if you attend that school.  I happen to think you can be whoever you want no matter what school you go to but this HAS to be one of major reasons you’d choose them over us at this point.  If your goal is to get to the NFL you probably have a better shot playing on a Pac12 team against Pac12 talent on a weekly basis.  If your goal is to become an upstanding church member with a bright future in the upper echelon of church-callings then BYU is your school.  And, yes, I know several key church members are Utes.  I’m just trying to think like a young kid that would choose them over us (Harvey Langi).

P.S.  I’m not religious but as a life-long Utahn have a pretty good understanding how the church works.

[Utemachine]

I am a Mo No Mo, and what I recall from my time in their religion is a serious desire to be in an environment that is comprised 99% of your people. The ultimate status of this is BYU. For a staunch LDS kid BYU is the full Mormon experience. In theory all of your teammates are married or virgins like you. They don’t drink, party, and read from the same book you do. Frankly I’m always surprised when Utah does win head to head for that type of kid.

[Stradlater]

^^this^^  The BYU experience i.e. “the bubble”.

[Utahute72]

If you try to figure out the decision making process for most 18-19 year olds you will drive yourself nuts. Mix in parents trying to push their kid one way or the other and you get some very strange results.

[Duhwayne]

Playing time.

[Rick]

What big time recruit have we lost to tds-P since joining the Pac 12?  I really can’t think of any off the top of my head.  Langi came to Utah first and was recruited on his mission to switch over to tds-P.  We have lost more kids to USC and Stanford than the zoobs.

[Utah]

Yeah, BYU is no real concern to Utah. Utah’s biggest job going forward is to win the freaking south so that we can keep kids home. Imagine if we’d kept Tufele, Jones, Lund and Katoa home. Then we’d be a top 15, top 10 class.

BYU is largely irrelevant. We need to protect against PAC-12, Big 10, etc schools. Not BYU.

[COUte]

For guys like Tofa, it was the best opportunity, close to home, where he has a realistic shot at starring. At Utah, he wouldn’t see the field for at least a year, maybe two.

[Author]

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