How important is BYU’s race to lasso Latter-day Saint talent?

How important is BYU’s race to lasso Latter-day Saint talent?

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How important is BYU’s race to lasso Latter-day Saint talent?
BYU coach Kalani Sitake, right, watches Will Ferrin compete in BYU’s Pro Day in Provo on Friday, March 20, 2026.
BYU coach Kalani Sitake, right, watches Will Ferrin compete in BYU’s Pro Day in Provo on Friday, March 20, 2026.
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Laura Seitz, Deseret News

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If you drove down University Avenue across from LaVell Edwards Stadium this week, you could see BYU football youth camps going on in the practice fields and even some seven-on-seven team competition from those fields to the Indoor Football Practice Facility on campus.

This is the engine of a lot of recruiting exposure and pitches for Kalani Sitake and his staff during a key portion of the recruiting cycle in June. One of the prospects who made an official visit to Provo this past week was receiver Blake Wong from Norco High in California. Jay Drew highlights this player in this piece.

Question of the week

Is it critical for BYU football to get 2027 Latter-day Saint four-star recruits in this cycle, and if it does not get its share, is it a step back?

Jay Drew: As we’ve detailed several times here at the Deseret News, Kalani Sitake’s 2026 BYU recruiting class was perhaps the best in school history, and continued the momentum that the program has generated the past few years.

The Cougars are off to a decent start with the 2027 class, especially with the landing of Jeremiah Williams from Tustin, California. The next couple of weeks will be critical for Sitake and his staff, especially because there are two four-star prospects who have BYU among their list of finalists and who also happen to be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Those prospects are Blake Wong of Norco, California, and Bode Sparrow of Kaysville, Utah. Sparrow had a sensational junior season at Davis High and is the No. 1 prospect in the state of Utah. I’ve been told that Sparrow reminds some BYU coaches of Austin Collie and Wong is similar to the great Puka Nacua. That’s high praise.

After seemingly losing out on top Latter-day Saint prospects to Utah, Oregon, Stanford and others in the years before they got into the Big 12, the Cougars have made significant inroads lately in getting those types of guys. Landing Wong, or Sparrow, or both of those players won’t make or break BYU’s 2027 recruiting class, but it will be huge if Sitake wants to build another top-25 class on Signing Day in December.

Dick Harmon: The Class of 2026 ranks among the best ever at BYU. It is hard to duplicate a top-21 class for a school like BYU, but it did set a standard to follow in 2027. Getting Blake Wong and/or Bode Sparrow is a key cornerstone of making that happen even with Williams and Maa’imoa Havili, two of five hard commitments so far in that class.

Heading into this week in June, BYU’s recruiting is ranked 71st by 247Sports, mainly because of just five commitments, all three-star prospects. That is a good start but it is an effort that is expecting some key June returns to bolster that ranking.

What we are seeing is several former Pac-12 teams really dialing things up in recruiting despite athletic departments that are operating in the red. I’m talking about UCLA and Cal. The Cal Bears hired one of the best recruiters in the country in Tosh Lupoi and he’s pulling out all the stops with West Coast recruits.

Cal ranks No. 19 in the 2027 Class. UCLA, which ranks No. 9, has suddenly found some momentum and money and is killing it. Combine this with BYU’s tough competition for recruits (Oregon, Washington, Stanford and USC) and Utah’s Morgan Scalley trying to make his mark, and it becomes critical for BYU to continue to push hard for Sparrow and a player like Wong.

I’m told most of BYU’s coaching staff will make a trip to Tonga this summer. That’s by design and is a strategy. But if BYU is to recruit now like it did the last two years with Jay Hill onboard, it will need to bring in some four-star talent to keep pace. This is a time many schools like Utah and Cal are demanding players declare where they are going because scholarships are scarce in the era of the transfer portal and NIL.

What I’m looking for is some commitment news in the coming weeks that will bolster BYU from just five to at least a dozen commitments and jump-start that No. 71 ranking. A good start already is nice, but Sitake’s staff has to finish strong, and June is dance time in recruiting.

BYU defensive coordinator Kelly Poppinga talks to his players during spring camp Feb. 27, 2026, in Provo.
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Aaron Cornia, BYU Photo

Cougar tales

BYU five-star recruit Bruce Branch III earns silver medal at 18-Under World Championships. Jackson Payne takes a crack at where Richie Saunders might end up in the NBA draft in this piece.

Here is a projection by Brandon Judd on the five biggest Big 12 games of the upcoming season.

With Bruce Brockbank’s retirement, AD Brian Santiago announced the elevation of director of golf, Todd Miller, as the next head golf coach for the Cougars.

BYU football coaches have found NBA-bound AJ Dybantsa a huge resource in recruiting prospects as detailed in this piece by Dave McCann.

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Comments from Deseret News readers:

Going to the Wizards would be tragic from the standpoint that they just traded for two aging all stars who will not be with the team in just a few years. Going to the Jazz, with their young core of talent would give him the ability to grow with the team for the long haul. I would love to see him join the Jazz, but the Wizards would be crazy to pass on him. Peterson has been injury-prone, but he is a remarkable talent that would probably fit the Wizards needs more right now. — Water Rocket

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  • June 10 | 2 p.m. | track and field| NCAA outdoor championships, Eugene

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