BYU Insiders Dick Harmon and Jay Drew take a look at the upcoming early signing period, which begins Wednesday and runs through Friday. How is the BYU football team positioned, and who are some of the prizes still out there for the taking? They also talk about the big decision awaiting tight end Matt Bushman. Will he stay (in Provo) or will he go (to the NFL)? Lastly, they talk BYU basketball, which is coming off a nice win over Utah State in the Beehive Classic. What kind of dividends might that victory yield come March? That and more on this week’s episode.
Dick Harmon: This edition of the Cougar Insiders podcast, we’ll be talking about recruiting, we’ll break down the losses, the gains and the comebacks. We’ll also be talking about bowl preparation for BYU football team and give you our latest take on BYU’s success against Utah State in an in-state rival basketball game. And thanks to our sponsor, Mr. Mac. This and much more on this edition of the Cougar Insiders podcast.
Welcome to this edition of the Cougar Insiders podcast. I’m Dick Harmon, along with Jay Drew, beat writer for BYU, and we’re going to be talking about BYU football and about recruiting in this edition of this podcast. We’d like to thank our sponsor, Mr. Mac. We appreciate his sponsorship. Jay, this is a big week for BYU as it is for a lot of college football teams when they have their early signing date. A lot of teams are building up to this date. There’s been a few really good talented guys that BYU’s missed, on but also Utah missed on another player that BYU was really interested in, a legacy kid, is going to Utah. Does this cast kind of a pallor over BYU’s recruiting class or is it just the normal kind of class that we’ve seen out of the Cougars the last few years?
Jay Drew: It’s a little bit of a pallor I think. You’re talking about Andrew Gentry, the big offensive lineman, four-star guy out of Colorado. Columbine High. He chose Virginia on Saturday. Obviously, Bronco Mendenhall is Virginia’s coach, as everyone knows. I tweeted out that it’s a big blow to the CougarS recruiting efforts. Some people got on me and said I was being a little overdramatic, but this is a legacy kid. His father played at BYU. His brother is here now. His brother IS J.T. Gentry. And I was told a year ago that he almost committed to BYU, they had him on campus. He almost committed. They thought, he’s a BYU kid and to have this happen is, you know, I don’t know how you want to paint it. I think it’s a tough blow for them.
DH: Well, they do need to get the Latter-day Saint talent. And, you know, the fact of the matter is there’s a lot of kids that have chosen over the past few years to not only not go to you Utah, up the freeway of the Pac-12. But they’ve chose to go to other schools. And that seems to be the norm now is that a lot of schools. And now Virginia has entered that. We’ve had Oregon, we’ve had USC, we’ve had LSU, we’ve had Alabama, Washington, Oregon all come in and start taking players. Last last year it was at Orem High — Puka Nacua, the talented receiver out of there, he chose to go to Oregon. You’ve got the Siaki Ika that went to, I think, LSU. And you go down the list. There’s Noah Sewell, who is maybe the player of the year in the state of Utah, and he’s chosen to go to Oregon. So it’s not unusual for this to happen and this trend. But if it continues to happen, could BYU ever really peek in at a top 40 class anymore if they’re losing these kind of players on a regular basis?
JD: I don’t think they can. They’re probably never going to get a four- or five-star guy who is not a Latter-day Saint. That’s just probably not ever going to happen. So if they’re ever going to boost their ratings, they’ve got to get some of these top-flight kids and they just really haven’t lately. A couple of three-star guys they’ve been able to snare and they’ve beat Utah and other schools for those guys. But I think we had it in the paper yesterday, in the Deseret News, a list of BYU’s rankings over the past 10 years, and not since 2010 when they got Jake Heaps and Ross Apo and Zac Stout and others have they been in the top 50. And that’s a pretty troubling trend when you’re trying to play top 50 teams year in and year out. Five or six Power Five teams a year. When you don’t have Power Five talent, then that’s a struggle.
DH: You know, I think when we look at those lists, though, you can’t really compare. It’s like apples to oranges because BYU’s honor code, the higher admissions standards, a lot of other things are really barriers to going after kids and having to creep up on those recruiting lists. You’re actually limiting your universe by about, I would say 80% maybe 90%, about who you can go after, who you can sign, who you can talk to. And unless BYU loosens up some of those things they’re actually throwing up barriers, you know, for themselves. And I’m not talking about the coaching staff, but the university and the way that they’re operating the school. You look at Liberty. Liberty seems to have been throwing down the gauntlet to let anybody in. Their basketball team is ranked in the top 25. Their football team is just building million dollar facilities. It’s like they’re saying we want to do everything that we can to recruit top talent. BYU seems to be saying, well, we’ll let you come but this or but that or this and the administration and the different departments are actually almost working against the football program. It’s not a comparable thing to even Utah I don’t think.
JD: Yeah, we haven’t seen from BYU’s administration where they’re willing to let the tail wag the dog and I think, you know, no offense to Liberty but it’s starting to look like Liberty is going to let athletics, which in this case is the tail, wag the dog. And I don’t think BYU will ever do that. You’ve been around longer than I have, Dick, and you know the administration better and the governance of BYU, which is the board of trustees. I just haven’t ever seen anything from them that would lend itself to believe that they want BYU to be a top 25 program in football and basketball. They just don’t want to be embarrassed.
DH: There’s been some critics, I mean, we’ve seen some former players that have come out and said well then you’re being you’re being kind of disingenuous or being kind of a fraud. You’re taking all this money from boosters and all the heightened ticket prices and asking people to come and support, but you’re not giving the tools to do that. So you know there’s some criticism out there publicly that we’e both learned.
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DH: This week we saw a couple of real good inspiring stories. Chris Jackson, receiver from a JC down in Southern California. Brandon Gurney is not here with us but we would like to credit him for coming up with this story and this feature on this kid who was actually in the streets a couple of months during his life, of his junior and senior year, and he’s committed to the Cougars. Ace Kaufusi is another one, they just had a commitment from Ty Burke from Syracuse High. There are some good stories that are happening for BYU and with some pretty good athletes.
JD: Yeah, this class is not awful. I don’t want to mention that. I don’t want to say that. They’ve got Zach Wilson’s little brother Josh Wilson, a linebacker who’s a good player out of Corner Canyon. They’ve got some other really fine talent. They’ve got a quarterback, a dual threat quarterback out of Washington, D.C., who grew up playing at Kahuku in Hawaii. Sol-Jay Maiava is his name. So they do have some talent coming in. I don’t want to undersell that. And the other thing to remember is the signing period begins Wednesday and it’s only a three-day period. It goes Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. And from listening to what Kalani Sitake has said the last few times we’ve asked him about it, I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of these guys that are committed don’t sign or aren’t announced this week. I think they’re going to use most of their publicity efforts on returning missionaries and also on juco mid-year transfers or mid-year signees. So just a warning out there to people that when you look at the list that comes out Wednesday, don’t be shocked if it’s a really small list and if it doesn’t have a lot of these kids on it that have committed.
DH: That’s become kind of a part of what they do during these signing days is to throw a bone to these kids coming back. And quite frankly, Jay, there are some very good talented players coming off the missions. You got Tyler Batty, he’s from Payson, he’s a three-star defensive lineman. Seth Willis, who is from Sandy Hook. He’s an offensive lineman. Sandy Hook, Connecticut, a big kid. Ryan Rehkow. He’s a kicker and a punter from Washington and they may need to look at that kid. But Ryan is coming off his mission. You have this Lewis kid who’s a linebacker from Lone Peak High School, he’ll probably be announced. You’ve got this Donovan Hanna.
JD: Yeah, Max Hall coached him down in Arizona.
DH: And I talked to Ben Cahoon who recruited him before the mission and he said that they really liked the way this kid moved, his speed, his size, his hands. And if Max Hall has referred him and likes him a lot, Max Hall threw to the best tight end that BYU has probably ever had in Dennis Pitta. And so he knows tight end talent. He’s been off his mission since September, he’ll be announced in this group. Henshaw, he’s a legacy kid, a tight end, has been on a mission from the San Francisco area. Tanner Baker. He’s a defensive end out of Georgia. He’s a defensive end. Connor Pay, who was a big recruit back in the day out of Lone Peak High School, an offensive lineman, you remember talk about Connor Pay. He was up there in some lists at the time. But these guys go away for two years. They’re almost forgotten. They’ll take a little bit of time to get back in the flow of things. But this will be the core of BYU’s signing day, as you mentioned, Jay.
JD: Yeah, and we should also mention that they’re in the running for a couple other players that are going to be real close to whether they go to BYU or Utah or somewhere else on Wednesday. So there is a little bit of drama as well, that would take this class from a pretty average class maybe to a good class, you know, maybe closer to top 50 than where they are right now which is ranked around 70 by most recruiting services.
DH: Another thing that didn’t show up in last year’s December or February signing date is the signing of Ty’Son Williams and Emmanuel Esukpa. Those those guys didn’t come on board until the spring, you know, I think it was probably in April or May. So there’s always the possibility with the senior transfer rule that you’re going to pick up a player here or there. Speaking to AJ Steward and some other coaches last week, they said that that certainly is a possibility to look at that. I ran across one article, Jay, I’ll get your comment on it. Stanford is losing one-fourth of its starters that started on the opening day in September for their football program are going into the transfer portal. One-fourth of their starting lineup of 22 players. It could be more than that in the next couple of weeks. And BYU is probably going to lose a few players like they did last year to the transfer portal. This is part of college football now.
JD: Yeah, absolutely. Kalani Sitake has already said if a guy wants to go, I want him to go. I’m gonna release whoever. And obviously they lost Riley Burt to Utah State. He really didn’t have an impact there. But BYU probably could have used him with the running back situation they have. But that’s just the way it goes. BYU benefited, obviously, with having Ty’Son. They probably don’t beat USC and Tennessee without Ty’Son Williams. And they probably beat a couple teams that they lost to if they had him. So those guys are really impactful and can have a big impact. Emmanuel Esukpa had turf toe and wasn’t able to play the last half of the season, which was kind of a shame.
But yeah, like you, I was speaking to a couple of coaches the other day and Jeff Grimes said yes, we need receiving help. We need probably a fifth-year transfer receiver, maybe talk a guy into coming here — say you only have to be here for one year. If you can kind of live the honor code just for that one year and we can tell you you’re going to play a lot. You’re going to get the ball a lot. You’ve got a really good quarterback that can deliver you the ball. Maybe that could be their sales pitch. But he literally said yes, we’re probably going to need some receiving help.
DH: BYU is building that tight end corps. They’re going to have guys coming off injuries and missions like Donovan Hanna and some others. But Matt Bushman, he’s got a decision to make. You did an article I believe on Matt’s situation. What can you update us with on your thinking there?
JD: Matt’s been doing a lot of homework. Obviously, his father-in-law’s Chad Lewis. He’s been talking to a lot of people. He’s doing his due diligence. He doesn’t want to lean any way or make any sort of decision till after the bowl game. He doesn’t want it to be a distraction. He wants to play in the bowl game. My gut feeling, and this is just me talking, is that he’s going to leave. I don’t know, that’s just the vibe I get from talking to scouts and reading some things about him. But we’ll see. But yeah, that’ll be tough. He’s a great player. He’s probably top five players on the team this year and they could use him next year for sure.
DH: They certainly could. And the bowl game bowl. Bowl prep is on. The team is up to its ankles, up to its hips in getting ready to take that trip to Hawaii. They’ll be leaving I think this coming weekend to get ready for that. This Thursday, so that’s coming right upon us. What’s your take on their bowl preparation so far, Jay?
JD: Yeah, I like it. You remember with Bronco Mendenhall, the fans were always worried that they weren’t using up all their 15 allotted practices or whatever but for sure they are under Kalani Sitake. He’s made it known to the players that hey, we’re not just going over there. We’re not just developing players. We’re not just looking to next year. We want to win this football game. And I think that’s the proper message and I think that every player I’ve talked to has reiterated that. So I think that’s the goal. We’ll see if they can pull it off.
DH: The last time they went to Hawaii was a regular-season game, the one that they didn’t go to a bowl game. It was in 2017, that four-win season, and when they got over there they had a lot of guys that were goofing off and it really ticked off Kalani. When they got back he laid down the law the Monday after that bowl game and a lot of things in the culture changed. He’s not as trusting as used to be. He’s not as lenient as he used to be. He’s still a player’s coach, but I think that he’s put the grindstone to the blade this coming week after that loss to San Diego State.
JD: Yeah, for sure. And that was a troubling loss. That was a loss that if they had won that game and the momentum they would have had been on a six-game winning streak. So I think everybody’s eager in the program to get that bad taste out of their mouth and get the offense especially back on track and see what they can do over in the islands.
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DH: Jay, we’ve watched the BYU basketball team all of a sudden climb right into a bracket situation over the past month. They’ve they played hard. They’ve had big wins. They went on the road and beat Houston. They went over to Hawaii had a couple of big wins over there. We saw them face a real talented and formerly ranked Utah State team and hand them a real painful defeat for the Aggies, but a great great win for BYU basketball.
JD: Yeah, I’ve been impressed by this team. There have been a couple games where they failed to finish — the Utah game. I’m trying to think of the other one. Boise State in overtime. And even San Diego State. So they’ve lost two overtime games, they lost on their home floor to a San Diego State team that’s still unbeaten. And then obviously they lost to Kansas, which is No. 2 in the nation right now. Undefeated. So I’ve been impressed. I think Mark Pope and his staff has instilled some toughness in these guys and they’ve been able to finish. That win over Utah State’s going to be really big, I think, come March because I really think Utah State’s gonna have a great year.
DH: You know, and they needed those games because when they get into that West Coast Conference play, you’ve got Gonzaga and St. Mary’s, you’ve got four games against those teams which are going to be the upper tier type of games that really help you to get in the NCAA tournament. If you can split with them or sweep them or do something like that, that would be huge. The other teams are probably going to drag down your rating, your RPI, they’ll be impacted by that. And these are important wins, the Utah State game was important.
This team is starting to shoot 3-pointers in a regular way that they have not done in a long, long time. Last year I think they were ranked somewhere in the 250th in 3-point field goals made in percentages. Now they’re, I think, in the top is top five, if not 15, in those categories and that’s huge.
JD: Yeah, and that’s the name of the game when you’re the size that they have. They’re missing Gavin Baxter and they just got Yoeli back. So they’re going to have to make 3-pointers, they’re going to have to take a lot of them and make them and and then they’re gonna have to rebound out of their area and do some things to compensate for their lack of size. And they’ve done that. You’ve got to give hats off to the coaching staff. If you had told me they’d be 9-4 and without Yoeli for nine games and all that, I wouldn’t have believed you. So I think everything’s pointing in the right direction.
DH: One real surprising thing. Sam Merrill is a great player. He’s an elite player. He’s a very good guard, maybe the scoring leader for Utah State. Career scoring leader. In that game I think he was only limited to three or four field goals and some horrible shooting. He was injured, you gotta give that. He wasn’t probably 100%. But this team is playing defense and probably playing defense the extent that we haven’t seen in probably at least four or five years out of a BYU team.
JD: Yeah, and you know, I don’t know what that is. If it’s just this new coaching staff is better at coaching defense or if the players have bought in or what, but yeah, that’s really noticeable. Last year, I still remember Weber State, obviously they host Weber State coming this Saturday, Last year up in Ogden, Weber State scored over 100 points on them. Weber State. And I just thought that might be the worst defensive showing I’ve ever seen from a BYU team in any sport. And you know, Weber State’s coming in now Saturday and you know, all I gotta say is times have changed.
DH: They have changed. Jay, your final word in this podcast will be?
JD: Just excited about the bowl game. I’m heading out there to see the game for the Deseret News and report on it. And it’ll just be really interesting to see how how the Cougars fare, if they solve their problems that they had against San Diego State and if they can head into the offseason on a high note.
DH: My final word, again, my condolences to Jay on the passing of his mother. Her funeral is going to be Tuesday up in South Jordan. And so best of luck to you and your family as you put that together and go through that day because it is a very taxing day right before you get on the plane to leave when there’s probably a lot of things up in the air for you and your family and things that need to be taken care of. My heart goes out to you, Jay.
Thanks for joining us in this edition of the Cougar Insiders podcast. We appreciate you being with us and please go and find this podcast. And for Jay, I’m Dick Harmon, thank you for joining us today.
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