Mountain West Recruiting Roundup 4-17-23. The Transfer Portal is back open.

It’s another week of the MWC Recruiting Roundup.

April is a tale of two halves as far as recruiting is concerned. The first half is similar to March, with schools hosting recruits on campus for Junior Days, especially when they have their spring games. Then, the latter half of the month (starting Saturday) transitions into the evaluation period, where coaches can go out on the road and evaluate players on both athletic and academic performances.

The Transfer Portal opened back up on Saturday and you can keep up with all the Mountain West action here. This window is from April 15th through April 30th.

In other big recruiting news, the Division I Council approved a proposal to eliminate the maximum amount of official visits a recruit can take. Previously, a recruit could only took 5 official visits. Now, they can take as many as they want, but only go to one per school (unless there is a coaching change, then they can take an additional visit). It will be interesting to see how many visits the average recruit takes. Most will likely take a few more but still be in single digits. However, there will probably be the rare case where a player takes like 15 OVs by the time the cycle is over. It remains to be seen how this affects Mountain West schools, but the outcome figures to range from neutral to positive.

Last week, we highlighted other recruiting reform proposals and those have all been approved. The recap is here:

• Schools would have 33 evaluation days in the fall during the season. Only authorized off-campus recruiters could visit a recruit’s school and on only one calendar day.
• The Monday of the week that includes the initial date for the regular signing period of the National Letter of Intent through the first Sunday in March would be a dead period.
• Coaches would have 140 recruiting person days from April 15 through the Saturday prior to Memorial Day for a contact period.
• Off-campus recruiting contacts could not be made with an individual (or their family) before Jan. 1 of the individual’s junior year in high school.
• A school would be limited to eight off-campus, in-person contacts with a recruit and their family during their junior and senior years. Contact could occur only one time per week. During their junior year, it could only be at school, not at their home.
• Schools would be allowed up to two off-campus contacts during the January contact period of a prospective student-athlete’s junior year of high school. A school would also be allowed one off-campus contact during the spring contact period of a prospective student-athlete’s junior year of high school.
• The head football coach could make only one off-campus contact during the prospective student-athlete’s junior year and one off-campus contact during the prospective student-athlete’s senior year in high school with a prospect or their family members.

A few teams had good weeks on the offer front, with Air Force, Hawaii, and SDSU all offering a number recruits. But it was UNLV that secured two (of the three) commitments, meaning they are on the cover photo for the second straight week.

Class of 2024 Cover Photo Total:

• San Diego State: 2
• UNLV: 2
• Air Force: 1
• Colorado State: 1

Recruiting Calendar:

From now through the end of May we are in an evaluation period. Coaches will be out visiting high schools during the spring.

Next College Student Athlete says:

The NCAA Evaluation Period is a specific time of year when college coaches are allowed to watch an athlete compete in person or visit their school. However, coaches are not allowed to communicate with that athlete (or parents) off the college campus. Coaches can sit in the stands during a recruit’s practice or game, as well as visit the recruit’s school. This gives college coaches a chance to talk to the recruit’s coach, teachers, or guidance counselor to get a better understanding of the student-athlete’s character. After the visit, the coach may call or email the recruit and let them know how their experience was at the school or game.

The NCAA Evaluation Period is just that: a time set aside for evaluation. While coaches can’t talk to athletes off the college campus, they can still call, email, text, and direct message recruits.

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: 5

Recruiting Updates:

Offers:

• DB Gerayas Grimes was offered by Air Force
• WR Paul Kuhner was offered by Air Force
• TE Cole Harrison was offered by Air Force
• OL AJ Hasson was offered by Air Force
• TE/LB Frank Cusano was offered by Air Force
• QB Brody Fortunati was offered by Air Force
• OL Rayne Mayo Jr was offered by Air Force
• LB Aizik Mahuka was offered by Air Force
• OL Ryan Wolfer was offered by Air Force
• QB Navi Bruzon was offered by Air Force
• TE Grayson Brousseau was offered by Air Force
• DE Keegan Shank was offered by Air Force
• RB Herschel Turner was offered by Air Force and Utah State
• DB Carson Williams was offered by Boise State
• LB Kyle Hill was offered by Fresno State
• TE Kaden Anderson was offered by Hawaii
• TE Jayden Fortier was offered by Hawaii
• OL Chris Lino was offered by Hawaii
• OL Tu’i Muti was offered by Hawaii
• 2025 WR Tanook Hines was offered by Hawaii
• 2026 QB Michael Mitchell Jr. was offered by Hawaii
• TE Kaden Anderson was offered by Nevada
• DL Jaliel Jackson was offered by SDSU
• WR/DB Plas Johnson was offered by SDSU
• OL Manuel Serna was offered by SJSU
• WR/DB Isaiah Williams was offered by SJSU
• OL Jezniah Thurston was offered by SDSU
• OL Xavier Thorpe was offered by SJSU
• Edge Devoux Ma’a Tuataga was offered by UNLV
• RB Devin Green was offered by UNLV
• OL Justin Hylkema was offered by UNLV
• DT TJ Ford was offered by UNLV
• OL Payton Stewart was offered by Utah State
• LB Taniela Latu was offered by Utah State
• JUCO OL Aloalii Maui was offered by Utah State
• OL Max Parrott was offered by Wyoming
• TE/DE Hunter Kallstrom was offered by Wyoming

Visits:

Commits:

• DE John Betts III committed to Air Force
• DB Kela Moore committed to UNLV
• LB Kahekili Pa’ao’ao committed to UNLV

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.