BYU Football: Who are Mitchell & Garrett Juergens?

Throughout fall camp, when folks were talking about the BYU wide receiver unit in 2014 the names Jordan Leslie, Devon Blackmon, Mitch Mathews, Trey Dye, & Nick Kurtz were popping up. Not many people were talking about Mitchell Juergens factoring into that wide receiving core.

Mitchell and his identical twin brother who plays defensive back, Garrett, both saw significant time in Friday’s win against UConn. Many Cougar fans were wondering, who the heck are these guys?

If you follow recruiting extensively, you’ve probably heard their names. But it has been awhile. The Juergens’ both graduated from Langham Creek High School (Houston, TX area) in 2010. Yes, that’s been four years ago.

Prior to Friday, it had been five years since the Juergens twins played in a game that meant anything. 2009 was the last season of their high school careers.

Mitchell, who is two minutes older than Garrett, was the higher regarded prospect from recruiting services out of high school between the two. But the brothers were set on playing at the same college together. They made it clear to any colleges showing interest that they were a package deal.

Along with BYU, a handful of power five schools did show interest in the brothers but none ultimately offered due to their size and the package deal situation. Few power schools could offer two scholarships to prospects that were undersized, and were developmental players.

Despite the twins’ size, BYU was very interested in the two who were selected as District 15 1^st Team selections at wide receiver by the Houston Chronicle in their senior years. The problem was that BYU was in the midst of one of their greatest recruiting years in their history.

The 2010 class for BYU was a nationally ranked group headlined by #1 quarterback prospect, Jake Heaps. BYU didn’t have any scholarships to offer the Juergens brothers. But Mendenhall offered the two preferred walk-on status to attend. For those not familiar with the term preferred-walk-on, these players would be at the top of the consideration chain within the program when it comes to receiving an available scholarship.

Preferred walk-ons tend to be players that the coaching staff views as eventual contributors within the program. So it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that these two are making waves on the two-deep and seeing reps this year as sophomores. These aren’t your typical walk-on stories like a Ziggy Ansah who walks in to Mendenhall’s office and says he wants to play football. Coaches were recruiting and evaluating film on these guys.

More from BYU Football

The two arrived at BYU in 2010 and they redshirted their first year in Provo. They both participated in the spring football in 2011 before leaving on an LDS mission.

On our weekly podcast titled Cougar Center, we had a spring football preview that year with KSL’s Jeremiah Jensen. For some reason, the players I was intrigued to watch was the Juergens twins. I was intrigued by the prospects of this speed that they were known for down in the heart of Texas. At a 7-on-7 camp in College Station back in 2008, the two clocked in with sub 4.6 40 times. But let this be a lesson for all of you, the Cougar Center Podcast gives you all the in-depth knowledge that a passionate Cougar fan needs to know. In the words of the man who coaches Mitchell Juergens position, Guy Holliday, that’s #NEXTLECEL!

The twins both left for their missions in the summer of 2011, which was one of the first times they were separated from each other. The twins were always together during their high school career, and at BYU for the brief year and a half they were there. Mitchell went to Mexico City while Garrett served his mission in Peru.

Both came back last fall and were members of the scout team for their redshirt freshman seasons. Now, after productive spring and fall camps, the two are going to be significant contributors in all three phases of this BYU team in 2014.

Now when you see Mitchell receiving passes from Taysom, and Garrett making plays in the Cougar secondary this Saturday in their home state of Texas, you won’t be saying, who are these guys?

Home/BYU Football