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BYU Football Signee Preston Rex on His Lifelong Dream to Play for BYU
BYU Football Signee Preston Rex on His Lifelong Dream to Play for BYU

How Does the Extended Recruiting Dead Period Impact BYU?

The NCAA extended the recruiting dead period through August 31 - how does that impact BYU recruiting?
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Today, the NCAA extended the recruiting dead period through August 31 due to COVID-19. During a recruiting dead period, recruits are not allowed to visit campuses and coaches are not permitted to do in-home visits with recruits. How does that announcement impact the 2021 recruiting class?

First of all, here are the things we know:

  • The 2021 class will be very small - I'm expecting anywhere from 10 to 15 commits depending on mission plans
  • BYU will extend fewer offers than normal during this recruiting cycle (no evaluation period & BYU extends fewer offers in general)
  • BYU is focusing resources on their top targets and swinging for the fences

So, how will the extended dead period impact BYU? The dead period won't impact BYU as much as other schools because most of their top targets have been on campus. For example, the top five recruits on our recruiting hot board (Kingsley Suamataia, Raider Damuni, Logan Fano, Isaac Vaha, Bentley Redden) have been on campus. Those guys are very familiar with Provo and the BYU environment - it won't have a great impact on them. For guys that haven't been on campus, however, this could impact BYU's chances in a negative manner. The coaching staff frequently talks about their high success rate when they are able to get guys on a visit. So for a few guys (Kimo Makaneole, Migao brothers) that haven't visited BYU, I believe this puts BYU at a disadvantage.

Like I mentioned in the things we know, BYU is swinging for the fences and offering fewer guys this cycle. Because of the extended dead period and cancelled evaluation period, BYU might not have a third or fourth option ready should they miss on their top targets. Ultimately, the extended dead period could contribute to an especially small recruiting class.

The extended recruiting period could also impact the decision timeline for a few players that don't want to make decisions until they've done visits. For example, Isaac Vaha postponed announcing his top 10 until he could do visits.

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