MWC Recruiting Roundup 9-9-19

After a few week drought, recruiting is picking up some steam again. Offers, visits, and commitments are all present once again. It was a big week on the commit from actually, with five new recruits giving verbal pledges to schools in the Mountain West. Wyoming picked up a nice commit and was active on the offer front, plus we interviewed the Wyoming Director of Player Personnel, so this week features the Cowboys on the cover photo.

2019 Cover Photo Total:

• Air Force: 5
• Nevada: 4
• Colorado State: 4
• San Jose State: 3
• Boise State: 2
• UNLV: 2
• Wyoming: 2
• Fresno State: 1
• Utah State: 1
• Hawaii: 1
• New Mexico: 1

Recruiting Calendar:

We forgot to mention this last week, but along with this contact period there is another big thing going on. September 1st isn’t just for going to Hogwarts, it’s also a big day in the recruiting world. From the NCAA website:

For this year, that means the first direct contact with members of the 2021 class. Offers could’ve been handed out prior to this, but any kind of graphics or recruiting tools you have been or will be seeing are a clue as to who the top 2021 targets are for schools. For example, Boise State was pretty active this week on that front:

Or Utah State:

Recruiting Director Interview:

MWCConnection had the opportunity to talk with Ian McGrew, who is the Director of Player Personnel at Wyoming. He oversees all of the recruiting as well. Below are the questions we asked with his answers.

MWCConnection: How did you get into your current position?

McGrew: I joined the program in August 2016 as a recruiting intern. From there, I did my best to just be where my feet are, work hard, and not worry about what or where my next opportunity would be. The next couple seasons, I was the recruiting graduate assistant before being promoted to Assistant Director of Recruiting for the 2018-19 season and now Director of Player Personnel. I was blessed with a great support system and am grateful for the opportunity I have here.

MWCConnection: What is Wyoming’s general philosophy for players you recruit? It is said sometimes that the Cowboys under Bohl recruit “under the radar” players who are projectable who can develop in the system, to what extend do you believe that is accurate?

McGrew: We recruit student athletes who love football, are tough, competitive, want to get a meaningful degree, and are focused on winning championships. The University of Wyoming has great support that allows us to provide our student athletes with all the resources they need to be successful on and off the field.

MWCConnection: What is program's process when it comes to identifying, evaluating, and communicating with recruits?

McGrew: Again, it all comes back to finding student athletes who fit the Wyoming Profile. We want young men who are passionate about the game, competitive, and want to get their degree from the University of Wyoming.

MWCConnection: What are the aspects of Wyoming and the Cowboy program that you find gets pitched most often to recruits? Or on the flip side, when players commit to Wyoming, what are some of the common reasons they choose the Cowboys?

McGrew: When we are recruiting a student athlete to the University of Wyoming, we don’t want to sell them on our program, but we want to educate them on what Wyoming can do for them athletically, academically, and personally. We have a state-of-the-art facility and even better people in the building to help our guys excel on and off the football field. I feel recruits are able to see that when they visit our campus.

MWCConnection: Illinois seems to be an area you recruit that is definitely not a traditional MWC recruited state. How did that pipeline come to be?

McGrew: We stick to our process of looking for student athletes who love football and want to get a meaningful degree. Illinois plays a good brand of football and our staff does a great job evaluating guys through their senior seasons and that has allowed us to get really good players from that area.

MWCConnection: How do you evaluation the recruiting approach of the program at the end of each recruiting year? There is always room to improve, how are improvements made in recruiting?

McGrew: It’s important to take some time at the end of the year to look at your operation and the different processes that go into it. What do we do well, where can we get better, what and/or where are the opportunities to grow our operation…. We need to be able to answer those questions if we want to keep getting better.

MWCConnection: Being the Recruiting Director, you mange a few different staff. What are the roles of your team and how do you all communicate and work together to be as effective as possible?

McGrew: I am fortunate to work with a great group of people. It’s important to have clearly defined roles and let the guys attack their job. There is no job too small and every little detail matters in what we do.

Recruiting Updates:

Offers

• WR Omar Manning was offered by Boise State
• 2021 QB Luke McAllister was offered by Colorado State
• 2021 ATH Will Schweister was offered by SJSU
• 2021 OL Jackson Light was offered by Utah State
• OL Malik Williams was offered by Wyoming

Visits

• OL Nathan Cardona visited Boise State

Commits

• RB Jayle Stacks committed to Air Force
• WR Parker Wroble committed to Air Force
• OL Nathan Cardona committed to Boise State
• WR Gabe Stonewall committed to New Mexico
• DB Isaac White committed to Wyoming

Follow @Mike_SBN on Twitter for all the latest recruiting news and updates.