What to Make of BYU's Recent Misses on the Recruiting Trail

The Cougars missed out on two of their top targets this week

Four-star recruit Bode Sparrow on his BYU official visit | X: @bode_sparrow

On Friday, four-star athlete and top in-state prospect Bode Sparrow committed to the Oklahoma Sooners. Sparrow had been on the top of BYU's wish list dating back many years, and despite a lot of BYU momentum over the last few weeks, Sparrow committed to the Sooners.

The Sparrow news came just two days after BYU missed out on its top quarterback target: Brody Rudnicki.

In this article, we'll outline what BYU fans should make of these recent recruiting developments, and whether it's time to hit the panic button on the 2027 class. To relay the message, we'll use a classic parenting approach: the good news and the bad news. Because in the case of BYU's 2027 class, there is a little bit of both.

The Bad News

Let's get the bad news out of the way first: these two misses really sting. There's no denying that Bode Sparrow had enough talent to change the back-end of BYU's defense. While the Cougars are pursuing a handful of really talented safeties in this class, there isn't another player on BYU's board with the high-end talent of Bode Sparrow. Sparrow has NFL potential at safety.

Sparrow could have made an early impact at BYU. Instead, he will start his college football career in Norman. It's a priority for BYU to retain in-state talent. In the case of Sparrow, BYU came up just short.

As far as the loss of Brody Rudnicki goes, BYU doesn't have another high school quarterback to fall back on. At least not as of this writing. The Cougars put all their eggs in the Brody Rudnicki basket. More on that in a moment.

The ceiling on BYU's 2027 class was already lower than the 2026 class. There were so many high-end recruits in BYU's natural recruiting pool in the 2026 class. There is not the same quantity in the 2027 class. Missing out on Sparrow and Rudnicki lowers the ceiling of this class another tier, at least in terms of recruiting rankings.

While the accuracy of recruiting rankings can and should be debated, for the most part, they are a pretty accurate indicator of recruiting success. Sparrow, especially, would have really helped BYU's team ranking, Now, the goal for this class likely becomes a top 50 class instead of a top 35 class, which might have been a stretch goal in the first place.

BYU's 2027 class would be in a much better place if Bode Sparrow and Brody Rudnicki were on board.

The Good News

The good news is there are still plenty of reasons to be encouraged by BYU's 2027 class. On defense, BYU is putting together a really impressive class. The Cougars have landed perhaps the best trio of cornerbacks since recruiting rankings became popular in the early 2000's. On the defensive line, the Cougars have landed two interior anchors in four-star Jeremiah Williams and high three-star Moa Havili. If four-star Uhila Wolfgramm picks BYU, it will make for one of the better defensive line classes, if not the very best, in the Kalani Sitake era.

Over the last several weeks, BYU hosted more than a dozen of its top targets on campus. At least 11 of them arrived on campus as uncommitted prospects. Of the 11, 4 have announced their college decisions. Two of them chose BYU (Jaxson Rex and Kamoni Adams) and two of them didn't (Bode Sparrow and Brody Rudnicki).

That means there are still seven of BYU's top targets that haven't announced their college decisions yet, and BYU is in play for most of them:

1. Uhila Wolfgramm
2. Blake Wong
3. Lakepa Satuala
4. Jag Ioane
5. Moa Brown
6. Kyle Nabrotzky
7. Owen Leishman

There's a real chance that BYU could go on a run over the next few weeks and land the majority of its top targets. In that scenario, BYU fans can start to feel a lot better about the 2027 class.

There's one more bit of good news: BYU's quarterback position is still in a really good place. Recruiting high school quarterbacks is critical. On paper, BYU needs to land one high school quarterback per class. In this class, it was Brody Rudnicki. However, Ryder Lyons returns home from his mission in January, meaning he would actually be the high school quarterback in the 2027 class. Rudnicki would have counted towards a later class.

If Lyons was a member of the 2027 class, he would have been BYU's top target. The Cougars got their guy and he is planning to enroll in just over six months. Why did BYU put all its eggs in the Rudnicki basket? Because they could. They had a chance to land a really talented player. Having Lyons on board allowed the Cougars to take a big swing without a backup plan.

BYU's quarterback room certainly would have been in an even better place with Rudnicki on board. Fortunately, BYU has time to find a high school quarterback for 2028.

It's not time to hit the panic button on the 2027 class, at least not yet. Some of BYU's top targets are about to make their college choices, and BYU has the chance to land some really talented players. This class might not be as big as the last class and it certainly won't rank in the top 25, but this class still holds plenty of potential for finding impact players

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