Mountain West Recruiting Roundup 3-6-23.

It’s another week of the MWC Recruiting Roundup.

This week will be the first week to put the class of 2023 in the rearview mirror and now it is full speed ahead to the class of 2024 (and beyond). Mountain West teams haven’t taken too much of a break on the recruiting front, with several of them being active with offers this past week.

We take the first week of March to crown our Class of 2023 Cover Photo “Champion,” and this year, the Falcons took the title in a close battle.

Class of 2023 Cover Photo Total:

• Air Force: 8
• Boise State: 7
• Colorado State: 6
• Nevada: 6
• San Diego State: 5
• UNLV: 5
• Hawaii: 4
• San Jose State: 4
• Fresno State: 2
• New Mexico: 2
• Wyoming: 2
• Utah State: 1

Recruiting Calendar:

For the month of March, plus half of April, we are in a quiet period. The biggest change is recruits can take unofficial visits to campuses, which usually occurs in the form of Junior Days.

Next College Student Athlete says:

The NCAA defines the quiet period as a time when “a college coach may not have face-to-face contact with college-bound student-athletes or their parents off the college campus and may not watch student-athletes compete or visit their high school.” To break it down, the NCAA Quiet Period is a time you can talk to college coaches in-person on their college campus. However, the coach is not allowed to watch athletes compete in-person, visit their school, talk to them at their home—or talk to them anywhere outside of the college campus. Coaches can still text, call, email or direct message coaches during this time.

Air Force Commitment Tracker:

Since the Air Force Academy regularly has by far the most commits among Mountain West recruiting classes, it’s kind of fun to track them over the course of the year.

Number of Falcon verbal commits: 0

A look ahead to the 2024 Class.

• Hawaii gained the first commit in the Mountain West’s 2024 class.
• San Jose State followed up with a commit of their own shortly after.
• Arizona looks stacked with recruits this year. Will any Mountain West teams reinvest their efforts there?
• Expect all 12 teams to recruit California once again and most if not all to do the same in Texas.
• Many of Colorado’s best players seem to be offensive linemen. Air Force recruits them well and Colorado State needs good ones. How will those teams do in the state?
• Hawaii has already secured the 5th best local player in the class. Will their efforts to recruit the islands continue to pay dividends?
• Boise State got in early on Idaho’s 2nd best recruit. Will they be able to secure them?
• Will the next UNLV coaching staff fulfill their promise of recruiting locally? It looks like it’s a talented class in Nevada this cycle, so it will be interesting to see how the two MWC in-state schools (plus others) do in the state.
• At this point in time, 247 isn’t high on New Mexico’s recruits this year. This may not matter to the Lobos. Ditto for Wyoming and the Cowboys.
• Oregon seems ripe for the picking if any Mountain West schools want to venture in the state this year. Nevada seems to have already gotten an early start in Oregon.
• Utah has its usual flush of talented recruits. The Aggies have predictably owned the state as far as the Mountain West is concerned. Will any other state get a foothold?
• Washington is another state filled with talented players this year. While schools like Oregon and Washington will likely always take the top players in this state, some MWC schools could glean some talent there if they prioritized it.

• Idaho has a deep class of D1 talent, more than it has in quite some time. In total, they have 7 prospects who are rated as a 3-star by 247.
• After somewhat of a down year for Arizona, at least as far as Mountain West recruiting was concerned, the state’s 2023 class looks to be one to bounce-back.
• New Mexico only has one prospect listed in the state in this cycle, so it will be interesting to see how that looks for the Lobo’s recruiting efforts. The same goes for Wyoming, as no players are currently listed.
• Colorado and Nevada look to have a smaller number of players but those players are highly rated overall.
• Utah looks to be a strong recruiting state this year.
• Washington looks like a solid recruiting state. Oregon less so.
• California and Texas will always have a large number of talented recruits.

March Team Recruiting Rankings

Obviously, recruiting rankings mean nothing right now and really won’t truly start to take shape until around July after junior days, the spring evaluation period, and camps can take place. However, we will continue to post monthly team rankings regardless.

1. SDSU

2. Hawaii

3. San Jose State

4-12. Everyone else

Commitment Spotlight:

ATH Stacy Bey (SDSU)

“San Diego State always made it feel like home, even before they kept in contact with me Coach Sumler built a real relationship with me, so when I visited talking to the rest of the staff, it felt like the right place to be! On the defensive side, I’m fast and explosive, especially for a linebacker helps me get to holes before linemen when they pull, and on offense, I’m a big back, but I have the vision and speed of a smaller back.”

Recruiting Updates:

Offers:

• WR Jonah Dawson was offered by Air Force
• WR Santino Varvel was offered by Air Force
• WR Reign Broadway was offered by Air Force
• WR/DB Blake Lowe was offered by Air Force
• DE Jackson Ford was offered by Boise State
• 2025 LB Christian Thatcher was offered by Boise State
• OL Jackson Hildebrand was offered by Air Force
• OL Berlin Lillard was offered by Colorado State
• OL/DL AJ Hasson was offered by Colorado State
• 2026 OL Jacob McRae was offered by Colorado State
• WR/DB Landon Wright was offered by Fresno State
• OL Payton Stewart was offered by Hawaii
• LB Ashtin Kekahuna-Lopes was offered by Hawaii
• 2025 DL Tyler Parker was offered by Hawaii
• WR Marshel Sanders was offered by Nevada
• WR CJ Reese was offered by Nevada
• WR/DB Kamani Jackson was offered by Nevada
• OL Rustin Ezekiel Ka’alokuloku Young was offered by Nevada
• DE Ben Beatty was offered by Nevada
• 2025 WR Jace Brown was offered by Nevada
• Edge Salesi Manu was offered by SDSU
• WR/DB Justus Woods was offered by SDSU
• 2025 LB/TE Maximum Moe Fonoimoana was offered by SJSU
• 2026 DB Jaden Jefferson was offered by SJSU
• 2025 TE/LB Cyrus Polu was offered by UNLV
• QB Carson Su’esu’e was offered by Utah State
• OL Ikinasio Tupou was offered by Utah State
• TE Jett Zabel was offered by Wyoming
• OL/DL Logan Brasfield was offered by Wyoming
• WR/DB Ashton McShane was offered by Wyoming
• TE/DE Jordan Ochoa was offered by Wyoming

Visits:

Commits:

• ATH Stacy Bey committed to SDSU

Decommits

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

For recruits and coaches who want to connect and find a good match in the recruitment process, consider downloading the Athletes In Recruitment app.