In the wild west of the college basketball landscape, bandits and gunslingers dominate the recruiting space. Top players all look to stake their claim with whoever can offer them the greatest rewards. Now BYU has a legitimate gunner of their own; Kevin Young's recruiting pistol is red hot, and he's still firing bullets.
Upon hiring Kevin Young, BYU made a declaration to the rest of the college basketball world that they are serious about building a contending basketball program in Provo. With Coach Young's pro hoops background, he plans to turn BYU's basketball program into the best place in the country to prepare for the NBA.
His recent recruiting activity has been very indicative of that plan. Since his introductory press conference, Young has already landed two of BYU's highest-rated recruits in history in 2024 top 100 prospects Brody Kozlowski and Elijah Crawford. On top of that, he retained 4-star transfer players Dallin Hall and Richie Saunders, saving Cougar Nation from significant grief. Young has only been the head coach for a little over a month and the program seems healthier than ever.
Though Young certainly isn't alone in his recruiting efforts, bringing on Brandon Dunson from Stanford (which already landed the Cougs their point guard of the future) and Chris Burgess, who is among the most respected recruiters in the state of Utah.
But like I mentioned before, this gunslinger ain't finished fanning out offers and visits to some of the best available players in the nation. But which players have their faces plastered on wanted posters across town?
Kevin Young's Most Wanted
In recent weeks, BYU has been a prominent name in recruiting circles, often finding themselves in players' top 3 options among some of college basketball's blue bloods--the Cougs fought off Kansas and Florida among many others to land Crawford this week, which sparks optimism in Young's ability to seal the deal with promising talent.
Several players have already taken trips or currently have scheduled visits to Provo following the dead period where universities can't meet recruits in person until the 2nd of June.
BYU got a portal visitor in yesterday right before the dead period. Dead period starts today and runs through 6/2, meaning no in-person contact (can still text, talk on phone, etc.). BYU is in for a lot of guys and has multiple contingency plans.
— Robby McCombs (@rtmccombs) May 22, 2024