Mountain West Recruiting Roundup 5-22-23. Discussing Recruiting Philosophies.

It’s another week of the MWC Recruiting Roundup.

The calendar has turned to May and the Spring Evaluation period is in full force. While we don’t cover every school or area that a Mountain West team is visiting, we do highlight the states each team goes to in order to give an idea of where teams are prioritizing their efforts in the early going.

The offers have been plenty this week, with 11 of 12 teams handing out a total of 80+ offers. The amount of offers is not a complete surprise. With college coaches out visiting high schools and getting to evaluate recruits, check their academics, and talk to coaches, it makes sense that coaches are pulling the triggers on recruits they are interested in.

Along with all the offers, there were two known commitments this week. Teams like Air Force and Nevada had good weeks in terms of handing out offers, but it was Fresno State who landed both new MWC commits. Because of that, the Bulldogs take their first week on the cover photo.

This past week, I was in some good twitter discussions about conference realignment, the pros and cons of teams going independent, and also recruiting. I made a few points about different teams having different recruiting philosophies, and it gave me the idea to discuss some of them. It is important to remember that there is more than one right way to build a recruiting class and the teams in the Mountain West are good examples of that. Here are some examples of different teams’ recruiting philosophies. Note that while some of these things have been confirmed by teams, many are my own observations over the years.

Air Force: They seemingly recruit players nationally and don’t seem to have preferences in when they host players or gain commitments.

Boise State: Prefer to have recruits visit campus in some capacity before committing. This means they tend to get commits in June during OVs and camp season and then during the fall when they host visitors for games.

Colorado State: On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Norvall regime prefers to secure much of their class as early as possible. They take advantage of June official visits as well as anyone, hosting a plethora of players in the summer so they can have more interactions rather than during game weekends.

Fresno State: They mainly recruit locally, rarely leaving the state of California. They also tend to do official visits either at the end of the season or after.

Hawaii: The Hawaii staff aren't afraid to hand out offers to present and future classes. They are attempting to keep some talent on the Islands by recruiting local players.

Nevada: As many new coaching staffs do, they are choosing to hand out tons of offers to recruits in hopes of something sticking. They are also attempting to get in early with future classes by extending a lot of early offers.

New Mexico: Coach Gonzales said they had to alter their recruiting philosophy last year to shift their focus to more transfers and junior college players. However, they still prioritize lots of local players from New Mexico and Texas.

San Diego State: Historically, they prefer to do the vast majority of their official visits with recruits in late November and December. However, it doesn’t keep them from building a class throughout the year, meaning many players who take OVs tend to be commits and the top remaining targets. They have dipped more into Texas in recent years, but still take most of their class from California.

San Jose State: Being a California school, they almost exclusively recruit in-state. They tend to do most of their work in the fall, although not exclusively.

UNLV: It will be interesting to see what kind of philosophy the new staff has. So far they are handing out lots of offers, which is a pretty common strategy when taking over a program. Also, they appear to be dipping into southern states to go along with prioritizing local players.

Utah State: The Aggies staff does a great job recruiting locally in Utah, embracing players who take LDS missions. They have done a lot of work in the first half of the recruiting cycle in past years and then also have a big push in November and December.

Wyoming: The Cowboys have always focused more of their recruiting efforts in the midwest and plain states, not overlapping much with other MWC teams. They have traditional recruiting efforts, hosting visitors during the fall during games

Class of 2024 Cover Photo Total:

• San Diego State: 3
• Air Force: 2
• Nevada: 2
• UNLV: 2
• Colorado State: 1
• Fresno 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: 9

Commitment Interviews:

Recruiting Updates:

Offers:

• DB Donovan Aidoo was offered by Air Force
• WR Noah McNair was offered by Air Force
• OL Camden Smith was offered by Air Force
• OL Rakeem Johnson was offered by Air Force
• OL Corey Johnson was offered by Air Force
• OL Tanner Stokes was offered by Air Force
• DL Connor Warkentin was offered by Air Force
• OL Peyton Knoebel was offered by Air Force
• WR Aiden Nicholson was offered by Air Force
• WR Aiden Hall was offered by Air Force
• TE Charlie Crowell was offered by Air Force
• DE Tyrese Johnson was offered by Air Force
• WR Tommy Poe was offered by Air Force
• OL Kene Anene was offered by Air Force
• TE Arthur Ban was offered by Air Force
• TE Jack Brumbelow was offered by Air Force
• DE Luke Harpring was offered by Air Force
• WR Tyson Turner was offered by Air Force
• WR Kingsley Purcell Ah You was offered by Air Force
• LB Easton Baker was offered by Air Force
• RB Laython Biddle was offered by Air Force
• K/P Ryon Sayeri was offered by Air Force
• EDGE Tristan Waiamau-Galindo was offered by Air Force
• OL Eyitayo Omotinugbon was offered by Air Force and Boise State
• DL Jayland McGlothen was offered by Air Force and UNLV
• DB Tre’Jon Fulton was offered by Boise State
• DB Sammie Hunter was offered by Colorado State and SDSU
• 2025 WR/DB Drew Cofield was offered by Colorado State and SJSU
• RB Dylan Riley was offered by Fresno State
• LB Angelo Petrides was offered by Fresno State
• WR/DB Jordan Pierre was offered by Fresno State and SDSU
• 2025 QB Jake Higgs was offered by Fresno State
• 2025 TE/DE Nicholas Townsend was offered by Fresno State
• OL Joshua Tavui was offered by Hawaii
• LB Dre Sio-Fetaui was offered by Nevada
• EDGE Chinedu Onyeagoro was offered by Nevada and SJSU
• 2025 LB Mark Iheanachor was offered by Nevada
• 2025 WR Ryken Moon was offered by Nevada
• 2025 OL/DL Willi Wascher was offered by Nevada
• 2025 WR Khris Norris was offered by Nevada
• 2025 WR/DB Xavier Ahrens was offered by Nevada
• 2025 WR Jerome Myles was offered by Nevada
• 2026 DB Andre Johnson II was offered by Nevada
• 2025 OL/DL Paxton Naegle was offered by Nevada
• 2025 OL/DL Zion Finau was offered by Nevada
• 2026 DB Jasiah Denmark was offered by Nevada
• 2026 OL/DL Blake Graham was offered by Nevada
• 2026 EDGE Bronx Letuligasenoa was offered by Nevada
• 2026 TE/DE Damaad Lewis was offered by Nevada
• 2026 TE/LB Samu Moala was offered by Nevada
• 2026 LB Ezaya Tokio was offered by Nevada and SDSU
• 2026 RB/DB Damari King was offered by Nevada and UNLV
• 2027 DB Tayven Collins was offered by Nevada
• 2027 DB Liufau Loumoli was offered by Nevada
• 2027 WR/DB Sirjewel Glover was offered by Nevada
• 2025 DE Elijah Riley was offered by SDSU
• 2026 DB Cynai Thomas was offered by SDSU
• OL Brandon Nazworth was offered by SJSU
• DB Foster Slaughter was offered by SJSU
• TE Kalolo Kaihea was offered by SJSU
• JUCO DB Amarion York was offered by SJSU
• 2025 QB Alonzo Esparza was offered by SJSU
• 2025 DL Matthew Johnson was offered by SJSU
• 2025 RB Dominic Kelley was offered by SJSU
• 2025 DB Robert Santiago was offered by SJSU
• TE Kalolo Kaihea was offered by UNLV
• DB Kamani Jackson was offered by UNLV
• 2025 QB Toa Faavae was offered by UNLV
• 2027 ATH Wesley Winn was offered by UNLV
• WR Savion Taylor was offered by Utah State
• OL Camden Jury was offered by Utah State
• WR/DB Josh Joyner was offered by Utah State
• DL Noa Siaosi was offered by Utah State
• LB Dominique Dixon was offered by Wyoming
• WR Trevor Rogers was offered by Wyoming

Visits:

• Air Force: Arizona
• Boise State: Arizona, California
• Colorado State: Colorado
• Fresno State: Washington, Arizona, California
• Hawaii: Washington
• Nevada: California
• San Diego State: California
• San Jose State: California
• UNLV: Oklahoma
• Utah State: Texas
• Wyoming: Texas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming

Commits:

• DL Auckland Asiata committed to Fresno State
• QB Jack Jacobs committed to Fresno State

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.