BYU Continues Climb to Top Tier Program

Nobody saw this coming. Even the most die-hard of the Cougar-loving blue Koolaid crowd couldn't have predicted what has been happening in Provo.  

Since 2006, the Cougars have amassed an impressive record of 32-7, including two bowl victories over BCS opponents and two MWC Championships. And the best is yet to come.

Don't look now, but what is happening within the BYU Football program is only just beginning. After two consecutive "best in conference" recruiting classes, next year's class is currently ranked 14th nationally on Scout.com.  

Moreover, the Cougars have 19 commits in the tank, including No. 1 ranked prep QB Jake Heaps, and are likely to pick up yet another top-tier D-lineman from Hawaii in the next week. No other MWC team has a class ranked in the Top 50.  

If that No. 14 ranking holds, it will be by far the best new class in BYU's history, and could signal the Cougs entry into an entirely different echelon of College FB elites.

Make no mistake, this is no flash-in-the-pan phenomenon. Young LDS high school athletes are asserting themselves across the nation, and appear to be disproportionately represented among the national HS prep star rankings. This year's 78,000 LDS 18-year old students (actually a 10-year low) enrolled in US public schools will soon rise to over 108,000 by 2013, thereby increasing even further the demographic pool for quality athletes likely to consider BYU.  

Moreover, the fertile fields of Hawaii and other Polynesian pipelines have once again opened up for BYU. Last year's Cougar roster was close to 33 percent Polynesian, while over 45 percent of this year's recruiting class hails from a Pacific-island heritage.

Credit this resurgence primarily to one man with a singular vision for BYU Football—Bronco Mendenhall. When Bronco took over as Head Coach at BYU in 2005, the program was floundering badly. Everything that BYU Football had at one time come to represent—faith, tradition, honor, and most importantly, big wins—seemed like some distant past.  

Bronco's vision restored to BYU a sense of tradition, a trust in the abilities of athletes who could live the BYU Honor Code (no premarital sex, no alcohol, no drugs, etc.), and most important of all—the expectation of winning.  

He changed the uniforms, restored the traditional "Y" logo, raised the bar of discipline, sacrifice, and expectations, and in the process won over the hearts and minds of his young team. Say what you will, these guys believe in what Bronco is doing.

To be clear, BYU isn't quite there yet. Baring some sort of miracle, they won't be able to hang with Oklahoma in their 2009 season opener in Dallas, but they won't show up without some weapons. They'll be respectable. Look for a much stronger effort two weeks later, when Florida State makes its way to Provo and LaVell Edwards Stadium.

The Cougars are always tougher at home, where they haven't lost a game since November 2005. Just ask UCLA, who suffered their worst defeat EVER in that same stadium just last year (59-0). UCLA may not have been all that last year, but 59-0? That, my friends, was a statement.  USC didn't spank their arch rival that badly last year. BYU plays at a different level in Provo.

As for how high Bronco can take this re-surging program, time will tell. Due to mission service, many of these highly tauted recruits won't see the field or play in meaningful roles on the field until 2013 and beyond. In the mean time, expect to see BYU squarely in the hunt most every year for a BCS bowl berth.  

Expect to see the caliber of athlete coming to BYU continue to improve. Expect to see more 10-win seasons. Expect to see BYU battling TCU and Utah for future MWC Championships—and winning more than it's fair share. Expect the unexpected. Before long, it could be 1984 all over again.