Mountain West Recruiting Roundup 9-11-23. Discussing Official Visits.

It’s another week of the Mountain West Recruiting Roundup.

Recruiting is heating up in the conference. Official visitors are back and many teams are hosting visitors. It is interesting though, that a number of Mountain West teams prefer not to host official visitors during the season. The coaching staff at Colorado State for example, has long preferred to have the majority of their OVs done in the summer in order to get their class early and also to concentrate on the game on gameday. Other teams, seemingly Fresno State, Hawaii, San Diego State, and maybe San Jose State, prefer to do the majority of their official visits either at the end of after the season. Commits will often due unofficial visits in order to experience the atmosphere of a game. With the new rule giving recruits the opportunity to take unlimited official visits, it will be interesting to see how teams approach it. Some teams are sure to host a larger amount on visitors on the year, while others will operate business as usual. Or, as one recruiting staff indicated, having later visits will show which recruits are interested in a school and which ones are interested in taking a bunch on free trips.

This week, a number of teams were able to secure new commitments. Air Force, Boise State, Nevada, and Utah State all added new players to the fold. While the Falcons led the way with three new commits, the Aggies handed out numerous new offers, hosted at least one visitor, and gained a new commit. Utah State takes their first week on the cover photo.

Class of 2024 Cover Photo Total:

• San Diego State: 5
• UNLV: 5
• Air Force: 4
• Boise State: 3
• Fresno State: 3
• Nevada: 3
• Colorado State: 1
• Hawaii: 1
• San Jose State: 1
• Utah State: 1

Recruiting Calendar:

From September 1st until the last week of November, we are in an evaluation period. During this time, official visits can happen on campus and coaches can watch recruits play in person during their high school seasons.

Next College Student Athlete defines it as:

The NCAA Contact Period is exactly what it sounds like—all communication between athletes and coaches is fair game. Coaches can email, text, call, direct message and generally contact athletes and their parents through any NCAA-approved method. In-person contact can occur on the college campus, as well as at tournaments, at the recruit’s school and home. In other words, the communication floodgates are open, so take advantage of this opportunity to get unlimited access to talk to coaches.

Air Force Commitment Tracker:

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

Number of Falcon verbal commits: 94

Visit Recap:

WR Daulton Beard (Nevada)

“My favorite parts of the visit were touring the campus and then watching the game was fun too. The campus was beautiful. My favorite thing about the game day was probalby seeing the players walk out. and checking out the locker rooms and team rooms. With the coaches, we talked about a lot of stuff. Mostly about how they like to run their team and treat it like a family.”

Commitment Spotlight:

LB Harry Caskey (Air Force)

“I have many reasons why I chose the Bolt Brotherhood! First, they were the first school to offer me and they pulled out all the stops with home visits, the best campus visits, and overall just the best culture by staying in touch with me and wanting me the most. Second, they are a great program. Great people are what make a great program and Air Force has the best staff in the country, not just football wise, but education wise as well. Not to mention, Air Force wins football games. Third, being from Western Nebraska, Colorado Springs is the perfect location for me to go to school and play football. My family can attend many of my games because of the location of the Mountain West Conference, which I love, and the city of Colorado Springs adds the beauty of it. Lastly, Air Force was my best offer out of the offers I have currently and I really couldn’t pass up all the positives I see from them.”

DE Sam Rhoades V (Air Force)

“The Air Force Academy allows me to have the opportunity to be a leader for my country. It will also help me to become the best person I can be. I’ll be able to push not only myself, but others as well to help them succeed. One thing that really made it clear was I wanted to be surrounded by people with the same values of hard work and integrity. And of course football wise I always dreamed of playing football at a high level. With Air Force having 3 seasons in a row with 10 wins, it felt like a no-brainer.

DE Ryan Gaea (Nevada)

“My top reasons for choosing Nevada was they made me feel like apart of the family ever since they started recruiting me. They took me on a campus tour and I fell in love with not only the football aspect of the school but the school itself the campus was beautiful. I got a chance to go to a game also and got to feel the game day atmosphere and it was amazing the amount of people there blew my mind. Another big reason I chose them was because I didn’t want to be to far away from home and Reno is the perfect distance so my parents can still come to my games while I still get the full college experience.”

Recruiting Updates:

Offers:

• DB Nokoi Maddox was offered by Colorado State
• 2026 WR Daylen Sharper was offered by Colorado State
• 2025 TE/LB Sale Fano was offered by Hawaii
• 2026 WR/DB Adam Auston was offered by UNLV
• DB Eldric Griffin was offered by Utah State
• WR Tate Kjar was offered by Utah State
• JUCO DB Michael Ray was offered by Utah State
• JUCO DB Amarion York was offered by Utah State
• JUCO DB Eldric Griffin was offered by Utah State
• 2025 WR Deion DeBlanc was offered by Utah State
• 2025 DB Joseph Albright was offered by Utah State
• 2027 TE/DE Krew Jones was offered by Utah State
• 2025 OL Alex Warden was offered by Wyoming

Visits:

• RB Bryson Donelson visited Boise State
• TE Kaden Anderson visited Boise State
• EDGE Roman Caywood visited Boise State
• ATH AJ Hasson visited Boise State
• WR Daulton Beard visited Nevada
• Transfer DE Marlin Dean visited Utah State

Commits:

• LS Luke Granzow committed to Air Force
• LB Harry Caskey committed to Air Force
• DE Sam Rhoades V committed to Air Force
• TE Kaden Anderson committed to Boise State
• DE Ryan Gaea committed to Nevada
• TE Grayson Brousseau committed to Utah 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.