Win, and your world changes.
Kalani Sitake is finding that out as his team has climbed to 9-0.
Suddenly, more and more recruits listen a little harder. Critics fall back in the shadows. More boosters open their wallets. Press interviews are easier. Administrators seem more affable and supportive. Food has more flavor.
Bronco Mendenhall quoted experts saying this was the flywheel effect — once it started turning faster, the momentum pushes everything faster with less resistance.
In the ‘80s, American political strategist Lee Atwater coined the phrase “Perception is reality,” and it became a well-used quote in our culture.
Fact is, when BYU lost many rivalry games, and had four- or five-win seasons, everything met friction, especially recruiting. But today the Cougars are 2-0 in the last two rivalry clashes, ranked No. 6 in the CFP, and sit all alone atop Big 12 standings.
Right now, Sitake and his staff are on a run. People are taking notice. Especially recruits.
This weekend five-star QB recruit Ryder Lyons from Folsom High School will make his second visit to BYU. The last time he came, his favorites were USC, where his brother tight end Walker plays, and Oregon. But sources say the way the season has unfolded, Lyons has warmed up significantly to considering BYU among his top choices.
Lyons is a 6-foot-3, 215-pound star for Folsom High, a team that destroyed California powerhouse St. John’s Bosco by 40 points. He has a cannon arm and scrambles through defenses like a man playing against junior high schoolers. He is ranked by 247sports.com as the No. 2 prospect in California, a top 11 national recruit, and the No. 4 quarterback in the Class of 2025.
Bound to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints before attending college, Lyons has generational family ties to BYU, including his parents, who are graduates, grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins. His father Tim played safety for BYU.
He attended a BYU game in Provo back in September and was guided on a campus tour by university President C. Shane Reese.
This weekend, word is he’s asked his Folsom teammates and buddies to make the visit with him. USC declined to have him bring his friends on his trip to Los Angeles, but BYU agreed, saying, “bring them to town.”
Those friends include Vlad Dyakonov, a Ukranian, who is a four-star offensive tackle at 6-foot-7 with offers from USC, Washington, Texas A&M, Auburn and others; wide receiver Jameson Powell, a four-star recruit with offers from Oregon, Ole Miss, Washington, Arkansas to name a few; Isaiah Williams, a three-star receiver with offers from Colorado and San Jose State; and tight end Beckham Andrus.
As a bonus, Folsom’s head coach, Paul Doherty, will also accompany these players to experience BYU game weekend.
No question, the fact BYU is ranked No. 6 and USC is not in the top 25 has impacted perceptions this late fall as the season winds down. Also at play is the fact that Trojans coach Lincoln Riley’s future is in question.
Young Walker has offers from every major college program in the country, including Alabama, the Trojans and the top-ranked Ducks. As BYU becomes part of the national discussion, it enables him to warm up to going to Provo, especially if his friends more fully understand why, according to sources close to his situation.
BYU was not in the right “situation” a few years ago when Ryder’s older brother, five-star tight end Walker decided to commit to Stanford, then signed at USC. It wasn’t fashionable for him, and his peers wouldn’t understand a BYU choice. There were concerns about BYU’s support programs, which have mostly been addressed the past two years.
Today, Walker is seldom thrown to at USC, his team is out of the rankings and wandering around the Big Ten like a lost puppy. Friends tell me he’s dating a Utahn who is on “Dancing with the Stars” and it doesn’t take much imagination in the age of the transfer portal to see his parents’ alma mater appearing much different these days.
The Pac-12 Walker signed to play in — that Conference of Champions California’s elite players loved to be connected with — no longer exists.
Missing on Latter-day Saint talent like Walker and Ryder, legacy recruits, is not on BYU’s recruiting white board priorities.
In a chat with a high-ranking BYU official the other day, he outlined the three silos of recruiting the school must use to build successful, winning sports teams, especially football.
First, BYU must go after and sign as many of the top talent who are members of the faith as possible, admitting that many will choose to go elsewhere. But that effort has to be top priority.
Second, BYU must secure recruits who are legacy or BYU-born and bred cultural fits whose ties make them ready-made and accepting stalwarts of its programs; those who will support, lead and be the foundation of the teams they play for. In this regard, women’s track and field, soccer and even volleyball have taken the lead in accomplishing No. 1 and No. 2.
Third, BYU must accentuate recruiting efforts by targeting outstanding talent from across the globe who fit into the culture at BYU and are anxious and willing to embrace Provo, the school and its ideals.
Today, one can see how those pillars fit into the success of current teams, including football, which is riding a positive culture Sitake installed, a team featuring a Jewish QB, a Muslim receiver, and non-Latter-day Saint cornerbacks, receivers, linemen, linebackers mixed in with foundational BYU players. They play for each other.
This is a big weekend for Ryder Lyons and his buddies in Provo.
But it’s even bigger for BYU football.
