There are a host of ways to evaluate how successful a given recruiting class is for a college football team. The recruiting experts at 247 Sports do excellent work and use a pretty complicated formula to calculate team recruiting rankings. The good things about the 247 Sports model is that it’s comprehensive by including every player signed in a given class. The downside of the 247 Sports model is because it is so comprehensive, the baseline number doesn’t change much year-over-year.
I, on the other hand, like to simplify things a bit by simply asking this question:
What are the ratings of the Top 10 recruits in each class?
Generally speaking, players with higher ratings in high school should go on to have more successful college careers than those with lower ratings. With only 22 starters at any given time on BYU’s roster, every recruiting class needs to generate a handful of players who will eventually become quality starters.
So rather than looking at an entire recruiting class from top to bottom (though depth is important), let’s looks at the 247 Sports ratings of the Top 10 players signed in each of BYU’s last six recruiting classes:
BYU football's Top 10 recruits by class, 2020-2025 pic.twitter.com/xa2IaqfIWu
— Diggin’ Brigham (@DigginBrigham) January 23, 2025
The obvious conclusion is this: The top end of BYU’s last two recruiting classes is in a different stratosphere when compared to a few seasons ago.
Raised ceilings and higher floors
In three recruiting classes between 2020 and 2022, BYU signed a total of seven players rated 87 or higher.
Between the 2024 and 2025 classes (two recruiting classes), BYU has landed 19 players rated 87 or higher.
Switching gears to the most elite recruits, between 2020 and 2023 BYU landed zero recruits rated 91 or higher. In 2024 and 2025 they’ve signed three of those players in Faleteau Satuala (94), Hunter Clegg (92), and McKay Madsen (91). (Note: I included Clegg as a 2025 signing since he didn’t commit back in 2023 before serving a mission, then recently flipped his commitment from Utah to BYU. His signing was too significant to just ignore.)
As far as the bottom-tier of the Top 10 in every class goes, back in 2020 seven of the Top 10 carried 83 ratings. In 2021 seven of BYU’s top recruits were rated between 83 and 85. Fast forward to the class of 2025 and the new floor for Top 10 recruits in an 87.
Rejoice, BYU fans!
When looking at the 247 Sports overall recruiting rankings, it’s easy for BYU fans to get frustrated and even discouraged by what appears to be a lack of progress. After all, the class of 2025 that I’ve been gushing about is currently ranked as the 13th best class in the 16-team Big 12 and just 57th nationally.
But do not be discouraged.
What BYU fans should celebrate is that the caliber of the Top 10 players in BYU’s last two recruiting classes is in a completely different place than it was a few short years ago. Going one step further, the results are trending in a positive direction and getting better year-over-year.
Under coach Kalani Sitake, BYU has prided itself on player development and getting “four-star production out of three-star players.”
With the clear improvement in the top-end talent of each recruiting class in recent years, BYU fans should be excited about where the Cougars can go from here.