BYU is one of the heavy weights in Mountain West and has an outlet to get athletes that normally would not come to the area. That would be the affiliation the school has with the LDS church, which allows BYU to get some recruits not in their recruiting area. Also, coach Bronco Mendenhall has mentioned many times that he wants players to recruit BYU and not for BYU to recruit players.

That is backwards, but that can also back fire because there could be football players dream to play at BYU, and they may be ok but not great players. These guys would give anything to play for BYU, since it was their dream. This is not to say BYU coaches do not go on the recruiting trail to scout players, but it seems that they want these high school players to seek out BYU and not the other way. The quote below puts this in perspective of coach Bronco Mendenhall's recruiting style:

"Players that want to be coddled and want to be catered to don’t come, and some are good LDS players. We want them to be passionate about the chance to play at BYU. I really don’t have much time for those that want to be convinced.
"I think it’s degrading as a coach to try to convince an 18-year-old young man why he should come to your place. I know that’s contrary to most recruiting thoughts, but I like young men that know what they want and are willing to pursue it, and they convince others of where they’re going in life."
—BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall

This could be why BYU just lost out on the nations top line backer and number two recruit overall, Manti Te’os. He had his visit and there are many rumors of what happened, and nothing has come out yet. A few have been that when Manti Te’os was in town that there was a party involved with alcohol, this one has legs since two BYU players, Shiloah Te'o and O'Neil Chambers, were involved. However nothing was noted if Manti Te'os was involved, but the other rumor is that BYU was too much religion and overwhelmed him. Whatever the reason is BYU is off his list and it is now done to USC, UCLA, and Notre Dame.

If BYU wants to be content with winning 10 games a year, and winning the conference every other year or so, they need to go out and pursue athletes that are LDS who are highly touted and give them good treatment. Also, they need to go after athletes that may not be LDS, but want a clean enviroment. There are great players that do not party or drink and are religious, just look at Florida''s Tim Tebow he is very religious.

In my opinion is that BYU needs to get the best LDS athletes and try to get athletes who want that clean environment, and it would be ok for the staff to woo players. Follow the jump to see who has committed to BYU.

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SIGNED COMMITS

Lee Aguirre

DB

5-11

200

-

Fullerton, CA

Jordan Atkinson

LB

6-3

235

VERBAL COMMITS

<!--Rating#80.81-->

<!--Rating#79.8-->

Terry Alletto OC 6-3 265 Ponderosa H.S. (CO) OC #4

<!--Rating#78.11-->

Richard Wilson TE 6-3 224 Spanish Fork H.S. (UT) TE #4

Kyle Van Noy ATH 6-4 200 McQueen H.S. (NV) ATH #61

Brad Wilcox OT 6-7 265 Edmond North H.S. (OK) OT #37

<!--Rating#77.65-->

Mitch Mathews WR 6-4 187 Southridge H.S. (OR) WR #122

<!--Rating#75.07-->

Craig Bills S 6-2 200 Timpview H.S. (UT) S #148 <!--Rating#74.66-->74

Tui Crichton OG 6-4 280 Timpview H.S. (UT) OG #139

<!--Rating#74.38-->

Remington Peck TE 6-4 212 Bingham H.S. (UT) TE #79

<!--Rating#74.37-->

Trevor Bateman CB 5-10 170 Palm Desert H.S. (CA) CB #75

<!--Rating#74.11-->

Adam Timo ATH 6-1 190 Snow Canyon H.S. (UT) ATH #144

<!--Rating#74.01-->

Malosi Te'o RB 5-11 195 Kahuku H.S. (HI)

Peni Maka'afi FB 5-11 215 Northridge H.S. (UT) FB #34

<!--Rating#69.0-->

Brett Thompson WR 6-2 200 Oak Ridge H.S. (CA) WR #190

<!--Rating#69.0-->

<!--Rating#67.6-->

<!--Rating#66.75-->

<!--Rating#40.0-->

<!--Rating#40.0-->

Ryan Mulitalo OG 6-3 310 Hunter H.S. (UT) OG #219

Thomas Bryson TE 6-5 215 Layton H.S. (UT) TE #121

Jray Galea'i S 6-0 180 Kahuku H.S. (HI)

Anthony Heimuli RB 5-11 225 Mountain View H.S. (UT)

Cody Hoffman WR 6-4 200 Del Norte H.S. (CA)

Fono Vakalahi OG 6-4 320 Bryan H.S. (TX)

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