Four-Star DL Aisea Moa Commits to BYU
Only 11 days after decommitting from the University of Utah, four-star defensive lineman Aisea "Ice" Moa has committed to BYU.
Aisea, who is the son of former Utah tight end Ben Moa, picked BYU over offers from Utah, Oregon State, Utah State, and Colorado State. Though his Father played at Utah, he also has family ties to the BYU football program. Aisea's uncle is former BYU tight end Carlos Nuno.
Moa preps at Weber High School in northern Utah with fellow BYU commit Cannon DeVries. At Weber High School, Moa lines up at multiple positions along the defensive line and he also plays some linebacker.
Moa is nearly the highest-rated defensive lineman to commit to BYU under Kalani Sitake. Moa is a four-star recruit with a .900 247Sports composite grade - that is second only to 2017 DL signee Langi Tuifua.
Moa joins fellow Utah prep star Cody Hagen as the second four-star commit in the class of 2022.
BYU's momentum bearing fruits on the recruiting trail
Although BYU will drop in the rankings follow a home loss against Boise State, the Cougars have taken advantage of the program-wide momentum on the recruiting trail.
Successful, consistent recruiting is like baking a cake. It requires all the ingredients and proper preparation. Rarely, if ever, will a recruit make a college decision based on the outcome of a single game or a single facility upgrade. While on-field success and facilities are important, they must be paired with the other ingredients. For example, conference affiliation, NFL track record, academic success, relationships with the coaching staff (this might as well be flour in our analogy, everything else goes out the window without good relationships), brand recognition, and geography, to name a few. Every recruit will prioritize those key ingredients differently, but successful recruiting boils down to a school’s ability to bundle those key cornerstones into a recruiting pitch.
Since Kalani Sitake was brought on as BYU’s head coach, the coaching staff has been able to create meaningful relationships with highly-touted recruits that signed elsewhere. That will happen, recruiting is competitive! But there a few recruits that come to mind that probably would have signed with BYU if the Cougars’ recruiting pitch looked back then like it does now.
Think about the different arrows BYU has added to its quiver over the last 12 months. The Cougars went 11-1 last season and finished no. 11 in the final AP poll. Five former Cougars were selected in the 2021 NFL draft including Zach Wilson who was taken second overall. Now you pair those things with wins over Utah (where dozens of recruits were in attendance) and two other PAC-12 schools, a top 10 ranking in the AP poll (well, it was fun while it lasted), receiving and accepting an invitation to join the Big 12, and recent improvements to the player experience including facility upgrades. BYU is trending up in many of the key areas and recruits, like Cody Hagen and Aisea Moa, are taking notice.
For example, Tapuvae "Snoop" Amaama is another in-state recruit who is weighing offers from BYU, Miami, Virginia, and Syracuse among others.
Emmanuel Waller is a 2023 defensive lineman from Alabama with an early offer from Mississippi State. Waller is traveling all the way to Provo for an unofficial visit to attend the BYU-Boise State game.
Jakobi Lane is a four-star wide receiver (class of 2023) out of Arizona who will also attend BYU-Boise State.
It's highly unlikely that these players would have paid their own way to visit BYU even two years ago. BYU has a lot of momentum as a program right now, and that momentum is bearing fruits on the recruit