The Cougars topped off an impressive June recruiting run on Tuesday in securing the commitment of 5-star prospect Ryder Lyons who could have literally decided to play anywhere in the country. But the Folsom High School product chose BYU, declining late pushes made by some of the nation’s top programs, which included Oregon and its massive NIL war chest and USC, where his brother, Walker Lyons, plays tight end.
So why did Ryder Lyons opt for the Cougars and why is his commitment different than those of the 5-star-rated Ben Olson back in 2002 and Jake Heaps, who was rated as the country’s top quarterback prospect in 2010?
Let’s take on the second part of the question first.
I was there at Iggy’s Sports Grill when Heaps famously made his pledge to sign with BYU in the summer of 2009. His inclusion was anticipated to vault the Cougar football program to new heights, becoming what a lot of observers, myself included, thought Ben Olson would ultimately do when he signed on during Gary Crowton’s promising second season as head coach.BYU has always been able to offer top recruits enough unique and favorable components to cash in occasionally on the recruiting front. But those unique components have never been married with a level of credibility necessary to consistently compete with the so-called ‘Big Boys’ of college football.
That level of credibility has been raised substantially in recent years, however, and recruits are taking notice, causing a lot of justifiable excitement among the Cougar faithful.Of course neither player realized their promise at BYU, with Olson never playing a down in Provo before transferring to UCLA while Heaps moved on to Kansas after playing a couple of somewhat tumultuous seasons in Provo.
So why will Ryder Lyons succeed where Olson and Heaps did not?
I’ll argue that it’s all about credibility. Not the somewhat fleeting credibility both Olson and Heaps signed on to when the Cougars were offering a lot of promise and potential without the necessary infrastructure in place to truly compete with the elites in college football.
That necessary infrastructure includes top conference affiliation, which BYU has with membership in the Big 12 where it has the pathway to legitimately prove itself on the field of play. BYU made a lot of that opportunity last season, coming just a few plays away from securing a berth into the Big 12 Championship with the chance to play for an automatic invite into the College Football Playoff.
Recruits, and particularly Ryder Lyons took notice.
The Cougars instead gained an invitation to the Alamo Bowl, where they dominated the play in a resounding 36-14 win over Deion Sanders’ Colorado Buffaloes and Heisman Trophy Winner Travis Hunter. The game served notice that BYU could not only perform on the big stage against one of the most notable teams in college football, but completely dominate the course of play that actually wasn’t as close as the 36-14 score would indicate.
But it’s more than just that.
Money plays, and BYU now has a budget necessary to cover extravagant recruiting costs, but more importantly beef up their staff personnel while offering a very competitive and often superior NIL package from third parties. Basically BYU now has the infrastructure necessary to legitimately compete where past Cougars teams simply were unable.
“In the past, it was always about what we didn’t have and what we couldn’t provide,” summed up BYU Coach Kalani Sitake to the media the day before Ryder Lyons made his commitment. “Those were things a lot of recruits hung on to not come to BYU. Those aren’t there anymore.”
Sitake pointed out Big 12 Conference affiliation and the subsequent added resources which have helped boost BYU’s credibility and sustainability considerably on just about every front.
No, not every recruit pans out and realizes their promise, but a lot of them do. Attract enough top recruits to any given program and the odds are that same program will compete among the best in college football so long as that recruitment pipeline keeps flowing. BYU now has the means to provide top recruits, like Ryder Lyons, a consistent influx of top talent on a year-to-year basis.
And the unique aspects BYU has to offer that caused recruits such as Olson and Heaps to ignore other infrastructure deficiencies in signing on with BYU are still there. It’s a marriage of assets that makes BYU very formidable on the recruiting currently and should work toward acquiring similar or even bigger gains in the future.
