- How The Grinch Stole the Rivalry
- 9-Line Prediction: BYU v. UMass
- 9-Line Prediction: BYU v. UNLV
- 9-Line Prediction: BYU v. Fresno St.
- 9-Line Prediction: BYU v. SJSU
- 9-Line Prediction: BYU v. ECU
- 9-Line Prediction: BYU v. Mississippi State
- 9-Line Prediction: BYU v. Boise State
- 9-Line Prediction: BYU at Utah State
- 9-Line Prediction: BYU v. Wisconsin
- How BYU’s offense & defense have stacked up since 2005
- 9-Line Prediction: BYU v. Utah
- 9-Line Prediction: BYU v. LSU
- 9-Line Prediction: BYU v. Portland State
- By the Numbers: 2017 Season Preview
BYU Recruiting Most Efficient in Nation; Utah Worst
- Updated: February 19, 2015
Coach Mendenhall has said that the recruiting evaluation at BYU is the most rigorous of any school in the country. In order for BYU to offer a scholarship to a recruit, they must have Division I athletic talent and work ethic, be an excellent student, and have demonstrated high character. The combination is referred to as a “BYU kid”.
This evaluation process dramatically limits the pool of possible BYU recruits, and the numbers bear this out. According to data at Scout.com, BYU offered 65 scholarships this last recruiting season, the lowest number in the country. Compare that to the national average of 179 scholarship offers handed out per P5 school. Notwithstanding the low offer count, what makes BYU the most efficient recruiting program in the country is a “close rate” of 33.8%.
Top 5: Most efficient recruiting teams
| Team | Offers | Signed | % Signed |
| BYU | 65 | 22 | 33.8% |
| Stanford | 76 | 22 | 28.9% |
| Texas A&M | 106 | 25 | 23.6% |
| Texas | 121 | 28 | 23.1% |
| Kansas | 104 | 24 | 23.1% |
For recruits, this means that an offer from BYU really is unique — more unique than any other college in America. For BYU fans, you’ve got to tip your hat to the BYU staff. They identify “BYU kids” and close them at the best rate in the nation.
If BYU is the most efficient recruiting team, it begs the question, which school is the least efficient? You don’t have to go too far up I-15 to answer that question.
Bottom 5: Least efficient recruiting teams
| Team | Offers | Signed | % Signed |
| Utah | 217 | 15 | 6.9% |
| Louisville | 349 | 24 | 6.9% |
| Miami-Florida | 277 | 21 | 7.6% |
| Nebraska | 258 | 20 | 7.8% |
| Mississippi | 283 | 22 | 7.8% |
(Pre-emptive note for Ute fans…I didn’t make up the data, find it on Scout.com and summarized here)
Utah is in company with some very well-known programs; but seriously Louisville, you offered 349 kids scholarships? If I’m a recruit, I send my tape to Louisville first, just to get the offers started.
There is no doubt that BYU’s staff has a very difficult job in recruiting, but as these numbers show, they are doing a fantastic job working under so many limitations.
Follow John Ahlander on Twitter at @NoneTheYser
Related Posts
15 Comments
About John Ahlander
Joey
February 19, 2015 at 3:33 pm
I Didn’t realize they were “charging” by the scholarship offer these days.
Another interpretation of this data is that BYU coaches are just lazy.
On the field results indicate that whatever Utah is doing lately as far as recruiting is better than BYU.
cdoubleafortune
February 20, 2015 at 6:05 pm
Ute Fans,
This study merely shows that BYU is very good at identifying potential recruits. Obviously, the Utes have an excellent athletic program and deserve due credit. Since BYU is highly specialized, it is easier to identify those who would even want to attend BYU. Utah, being a secular school, has to compete directly against Nebraska, UCLA, etc. Best wishes to you all.
Bob
March 4, 2015 at 9:14 am
And what every pac12 school except colorado and wazoo are doing is better than u.
M.
February 19, 2015 at 4:33 pm
You are also neglecting that Utah had more than 15 commits. I think about 5 were sign and sends, so they did not sign a NLI. Check your facts first.
Annie S.
February 19, 2015 at 5:42 pm
The sign and sends will end up coming to BYU anyways
Jim
February 19, 2015 at 5:54 pm
Hey john,
Ha once again cherry picking random facts that try and paint ybu in a good light, wow. Oh and btw, scout isn’t counting utahs 5-7 players that didn’t technically sign this year that are going on missions, so not a good piece of data to create and article now is it? But either you didn’t look into this enough or you knew and said what the hey, I’m gna do it anyway, us ybu fans need anything to hold onto. Anything at all!
philmontfanatic
February 21, 2015 at 1:46 pm
Do you not think that BYU also isn’t counting players that didn’t technically sign this year that are going on missions? After all, BYU does have a few of those too.
Jim
February 21, 2015 at 2:25 pm
Read my comment below…
Kevin
February 19, 2015 at 7:57 pm
217 offered and 20-22 signed does sound better than 15, I guess….
Brian
February 19, 2015 at 8:38 pm
The spirit of Paul James lives on. Yet another meaningless statistic that has no bearing on the field. Alright, you win this battle.
TheDeek
February 20, 2015 at 8:41 am
Jim,
If those “Sign and sends” didn’t sign, then you can’t call them “SIGN and sends” they’re just “Sends”, which means they didn’t sign… How can they be counted if they didn’t sign?
Your UofU education is showing
Robert
February 20, 2015 at 4:44 pm
Can we stop with the term “Holy War” as applied to college sports in Utah? There is a very threatening situation in the Middle East that invalidates what takes place in Utah. Thank you.
BDay (@bday311)
February 20, 2015 at 5:02 pm
Utah fans complaining about their missionaries not counting…… You realize were talking Byu here, where more kids go on missions than anywhere else. If your system with missionaries hurts your % than maybe look into what Byu does with it’s missionaries.
The “problem” for Utah is they are trying to upgrade their talent to the P12 level. So they are offering many high ranking recruits. They are only getting a few right now which is hurting its % but IMO not out of the normal. Surprised Colorado isn’t in the same boat.
Jim
February 21, 2015 at 12:06 am
Uh Deek, you completely whiffed on my point bud. I realize utahs lds didn’t sign so they shldnt be counted, obviously. That doesn’t change the fact that they were recruited the same as the others and the coaches put just as much time and effort with them in this recruit cycle to try and get their commit. It’s a convoluted situation unique to utah alone (byu signs their lds now where utah doesn’t til after mission). So byus got counted and utahs didnt. My point was the author shld have realized this and not ran an article based off if incomplete data do to a unique quirk from utahs class. It reeks of reaching for straws IMO. Ha
Bob
March 4, 2015 at 9:28 am
And why doesn’t the u sign them? So they don’t commit a scholarship that won’t benefit them for two years and can use it to offer someone else they are TRYING to sign.