According to people who make a living compiling rankings of the best teenage football players throughout the country and watching hours and hours of video from camps and games, Davis High rising senior Bode Sparrow is the best player from the state of Utah in this recruiting cycle, and the No. 2 athlete (two-way player) in the country.
On Friday, after listing BYU, Utah, Oregon and Oklahoma in his final four weeks ago, Sparrow committed to Oklahoma and head coach Brent Venables, sparking plenty of elation in Norman and all kinds of heartbreak along the Wasatch Front.
Simply put, Sparrow is another really good one who got away, a consensus four-star prospect who chose an SEC school and its superior schedule over the safety and comfort of the hometown teams and the flash and allure of the Big Ten’s Oregon Ducks.
Not only is the 6-foot-2, 210-pound safety and receiver a rare local product who has garnered offers from more than two dozen power programs since breaking onto the scene as a ninth-grader in Kaysville, he’s a devout member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That makes his departure across state lines even more painful for BYU — which is supported by that faith — and new Utah coach Morgan Scalley, who wants to get his fair share of Latter-day Saints in his tenure as well.
I’ll make the case that this loss is even greater for BYU this month, seeing as how BYU was the first school to offer then 14-year-old Sparrow a scholarship, and also seeing as how the Cougars had made Sparrow their No. 1 recruiting target from the class of 2027.
Also, don’t look now, BYU fans, but Utah is having a good recruiting month. BYU is off to a slow start.
Sparrow’s decision is not a surprise
Sparrow told me on June 12 when I made the trip to Layton to watch him compete with his Davis teammates in a 7-on-7 passing competition and interviewed him at length in between games that BYU and Utah had made him their No. 1 recruiting priority and were telling him he could choose his position, receiver or safety, at their respective schools.
Even as most experts had “crystal-balled” Oklahoma as the front-runner for Sparrow’s services, Sparrow told me then that all four schools in his finalists list had an equal chance of getting him.
Still, I could sense in his voice when he talked about Oklahoma, and possibly playing the likes of Alabama and Georgia on a regular basis, that the Sooners had won his heart. Sparrow reiterated those sentiments Friday afternoon at his commitment announcement at Davis High, flanked by his parents.
“Yeah, like I said, not an easy decision,” he told Blair Angulo of 247Sports. “I think in the end, what it came down to is a lot of what my gut told me. I think I needed to be at Oklahoma. I just get excited when I think about Oklahoma, playing at the highest level, playing at Georgia, at Alabama, and that’s just who I’ve always been, is (wanting) to be the best. want to play the best, and that’s just what’s got me excited to go play for Sooner Nation.”
Sparrow told me two weeks ago that he is leaning toward not going on a two-year mission, as many young Latter-day Saints do when they graduate from high school. Now he has to decide whether to graduate this December and enroll at OU in January, or remain at Davis and play his senior season of high school basketball.
He’s an outstanding basketball player as well, having played for the Utah Prospects in the EYBL summer circuit a year ago.
Friday, before donning an Oklahoma cap and an OU T-shirt, Sparrow mentioned that he had BYU and Utah in his final four because of the “best relationships with the coaches and where I could play and be developed at a high level. … I went through all my visits. I tried to do my due diligence and do my homework and try to just absorb as much information as possible and make the right decision.”
Sparrow visited Utah the weekend of June 12-13, and was at BYU last weekend, along with several other top recruits, including a couple who committed to the Cougars shortly after their visits: athletes Jaxson Rex of San Clemente, California, and Kamoni Adams of Marietta, Georgia.
BYU and Utah fans will now turn their attention to Norco, California, receiver Blake Wong, who is making his announcement on Saturday. Wong is also a Latter-day Saint and took official campus visits to Provo and Salt Lake City, in addition to UCLA, Oregon and Ohio State.
Should BYU fans be panicking?
BYU also got Las Vegas cornerback Demichael Burks to flip from Fresno State last week, so it hasn’t been all bad news for coach Kalani Sitake and his staff recently. But Sparrow is just the latest whiff, joining a list of top BYU targets to go elsewhere that includes a quarterback, a tight end, an offensive lineman and an athlete with a brother playing quarterback for the New York Giants.
With just eight commitments from the class of 2027 as of midday Friday, BYU’s current class ranks dead last (16th) in the Big 12 and No. 80 in the country.
Utah is No. 7 in the Big 12 and No. 49 in the nation.
The top quarterback on BYU’s wish list, Brody Rudnicki of Folsom, California, narrowed his choices to BYU and Cal before picking the Golden Bears. Rudnicki is from the same high school that produced four-star QB and BYU signee Ryder Lyons, who is currently on a church mission in Orlando.
American Fork tight end Christian Hanshaw, son of former BYU great OL Tim Hanshaw, committed to Michigan last Sunday.
Cal also got three-star offensive lineman Isaiah Bertola away from BYU in early June, landing the 6-foot-5, 305-pound Hawaiian.
Corner Canyon athlete Diesel Dart, brother of Giants QB Jaxson Dart, picked Utah over BYU and others on June 17.
A BYU football recruiting expert weighs in
Jeff Hansen of Cougar Sports Insider, which is on the 247Sports network, follows BYU football recruiting as closely as any person in the market, and acknowledged that the loss of Sparrow will sting for quite some time.
“Bode Sparrow is a special player. BYU would have loved to keep him in Provo, and in all likelihood, he’d be a quick contributor,” Hansen said via text. But BYU can still have a really good class without him. … Sparrow makes anyone’s class better and losing that kind of talent is a gut punch for any program. But there are still too many talented targets on the board to lose too much sleep.”
Among those remaining uncommitted recruits are the aforementioned Wong, a four-star who visited BYU on June 8. Some BYU insiders have compared Wong to Puka Nacua of the Los Angeles Rams.
BYU is also chasing four-star edge rusher Uhila Wolfgramm of Maple Mountain High, who many believe is trying to decide between Oklahoma and BYU.
Corner Canyon edge rusher Manase “Moa” Brown, Salem Hills athlete Peyton Higginson and Orem edge rusher Jag Ioane are other three stars still considering BYU. The Cougars are also closing in on Bountiful athlete Lakepa Satuala (Faletau’s brother) and Ridgeline receiver/linebacker Owen Leishman.
“There is still plenty of meat on the bone with players like Blake Wong, Moa Brown, Uhila Wolfgramm and others still available,” Hansen noted.
Among the players who have committed to BYU that Hansen likes are Jeremiah Williams and Maa’imoa Havili on the defensive line, Las Vegas running back Ezra Sanelivi and “the best class of corners they’ve ever had.”
BYU losing a tight end from 2025 signing class
Also on Friday, a tight end who signed with BYU as part of the Cougars’ 2025 recruiting class has asked for a release from his financial aid agreement. A family member of Jackson Doman, who is currently on a church mission, wrote on Doman’s X account that they are representing the missionary and that the Canby, Oregon, native, is reopening his recruitment.
“It was not an easy decision and he wants to express his gratitude to coach (Kevin) Gilbride and (Justin) Ena and the staff at BYU who helped him get to this point,” the family member wrote on X.
A 6-foot-6, 220-pounder who was also a two-time state wrestling champion, Doman committed to BYU in June of 2024. He played safety for Canby Union High, while also accumulating 2,100 receiving yards and 17 receiving touchdowns.
Tight end is one of the most loaded positions on the BYU roster, with USC transfer Walker Lyons, Oregon transfer Roger Saleapaga and 2025 contributors Keayen Nead and Noah Moeaki expected to get the bulk of the reps in 2026.
Also in the program are recently returned missionary Matthew Fredrick, redshirt freshman Jacob Nye and a pair of missionaries who are expected to be available in 2027 — former four-star prospects Brock Harris and Ryner Swanson.
A few hours after the post on X, the account noted that Jackson Doman had already received an offer from the University of Utah.