Speaker 1: If you're listening to Cougar Sports with Ben Kretel, and
it's time for a cruping of Cougars and inside look
at the latest news on the recruiting trails surrounding Cougar athletics.
Speaker 2: Welcome back Cougar Sports.
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to the hotline. Welcome in, Brandon Huffman, National recruiting Editor,
were two four seven sports.
Speaker 2: Brandon, how the heck are you?
Speaker 4: Man?
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us?
Speaker 4: Oh, you know, I was doing better like forty eight
hours ago and I was still in Hawaii. But I'm managing.
You know, I'm in Arizona now, so it's actually warmer
here than it is in Hawaii, So I can't be
too bad. Right. We got the national Chemishibon.
Speaker 3: Valley of the Sun. That's my home state, baby. I
love a z But Hawaii that's our vacation spot. How
was Hawaii?
Speaker 2: How was the Polynesian Bowl? Brother? It was awesome?
Speaker 4: You know, it was one of the better games, and
largely because they made a real emphasis on inviting underclasses.
So there was over thirty twenty twenty seven prospects in
the game, both the MVPs on offense and defense for
twenty twenty seven. But you also got to still see
a good chunk of the twenty twenty six. I think
there's sixty plus twenty twenty six is in the game.
A lot of YU players in that game as well.
So it was a nice combination of graduating seniors, guys
that have actually already enrolled in school and been there
for a week and then came to Hawaii, and then
guys that we're going to spend in the next year really
focusing on.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's always fun to see the stars, right,
the rising stars that are coming out of the prep world.
And obviously we have the college football Championship on tonight.
Where you leaning right now, Miami or Indiana?
Speaker 2: And why I'm telling you what.
Speaker 4: I was at the Rose Bowl when I watched Indiana
against Alabama, and I was at the Fiesta Bowl, and
I saw Miami and illness, and that Indiana team is
not losing to any one. And I think it's going
to be thirty one to fourteen, which means Miami, congratulations
on the national championship, because me picking Indiana almost automatically
needs is going to be opposite day. But I'll tell
you that Indiana team I saw against Alabama and then
watching him against Oregon down and whatever that was. The people,
I mean, they just look like they're on a complete
different level than everybody else in college football.
Speaker 2: This season.
Speaker 3: Well, like I was looking at the recruiting rankings of
these two teams and like.
Speaker 2: Their team cars, I knew it was coming, you know what.
Speaker 3: I mean, You're looking at it like, look, I think
the team composite talent score of Indiana was like seventy second.
They went out and got a pretty good transfer portal
class this past offseason. I want to say it was
I want to say it was like top twenty five,
but Miami went top five. I mean it looks like
they were one of the heavy spenders in the transporport
of this last go round. From a talent level standpoint,
what do you see here?
Speaker 4: Well, I'll tell you know one thing that's not being
mentioned nearly enough. And everybody keeps talking about the composite
rankings and how you know how Indiana has such a
good team despite their ranking. Well, you know, they are
very veteran, they're very experienced. They've got guys that are fifth,
sixth and seventh year guys. They've got a quarterback who
has been around, who was talented, who you know, his
story was much traveled. But you can't knock experience too.
That's one thing in this game. But we also have
to you know, ranted the talent fit and it worked
out exactly how curst Anetty planned, but it also worked
to Mario Tristiball's plan. You know, they had a couple
of games during the season they probably shouldn't have lost,
game that they should have won where they had the
more talented roster, but they lost. But Mario Cristobal has
his team in the National Championship game because he made
it justice. They did what they needed to do down
the stretch. So I think this is one of those where, yeah,
the rosters made them very different from a ranking standpoint,
but coaching, you know, Mario Chris Bauls never had a
problem accumulating talent. His knocket always been can he have
those in game? You know, questions get answered, whereas Krits Signetti,
nobody ever knew what he could do at a high level.
And I think the coaching is so overlooked with what
Indiana has done. And while they're they're roster may not
be full of four and five stars, it's very veteran,
it's very experienced. But more importantly, he gets those guys
to play together schematically, and that's why they've been able
to just blow out and everybody pretty much the entire season.
Speaker 3: Yeah, look, both of these teams are fantastic. Both of
them are very talented, and both of them are are
well coached, and they have good cultures. That's what I
would say about each one of these these teams, in
each one of these coaches. So I'm excited to see
what happens in this game. And there's actually there's a
bit of a rooting interest for some BYU fans. Some
want to say Kiena Marin their former Cougar ball out,
and and then others are like, they just love the
Kirk Signetties, the Indiana Hoosi, your stores. They have a
bit BYU fans have a bit, you know, they have
a bit of a chip on their shoulders, the underdog.
Speaker 2: So they're rooting on the underdogs.
Speaker 4: But let me say one thing on this, and I
think this is actually makes a lot of sense. This
is an outlier, you know, in a sense that remember
it was fifteen years was speaking of Indiana the game,
the team that plays their games in the arena where
Hoodres was filmed. Butler, maybe it's the National championship game
and almost knocked off Duke, and you know you're gonna
have cases like that where the rosters made look different.
But in this era where you're having the portal so
readily available and for a quick fix process, you know,
Chris Signetti has just ruined the life of every college
coach who is being hired at a school that maybe
didn't have the season at the school that they just
got hired at that they won. And Indiana was a
losing his power for program of all time, and what
he's done is magical. But now every school is going
to expect their new coach to utilize the portal and
have the success that Chris Signetti has done. I think
this guy's one of one. I think this Indiana he
was one of one, And I don't know that this
is going to be the rule rather the exception of
the rule. Even moving forward.
Speaker 3: What makes Kirk Signetti so good at maybe coaching and
even evaluating and acquiring talent from high school and from.
Speaker 2: The portal to put himself in this position, Well.
Speaker 4: Again, you go back to experience. I mean, the guy's
in his mid sixties. He's probably been around football for
so long that he's been able to pick up on
tendencies and what he's looking for, and he knows that.
You know, you cannot discount the fact that this guy
spent a year working under Nick Staban was Nick Saban's
recruiting coordinator when he first was hired at Alabama, and
you know, you just can't put a price tag on that.
And I think that's something that you know, people don't understand,
is that him being around the game of football, him
taking lower level jobs and working his way up. He
knew what he was looking for, he knew what he
was doing, and he's had success in every stop along
the way. And again, I think this guy's a unicorn.
I think he is a coaching unicorn and just happened
to be the guy that you know, people waited too
long to hire and now Indiana gets.
Speaker 2: To reap the rewards.
Speaker 4: But I don't even know if there's a special sauce
you can really describe. I just think this guy is
that much of an outlier himself.
Speaker 3: Love the breakdown that only you can give. Brandon Huffman
two four to seven Sports here on your Utah ESPN
Radio network, Let's talk BYU. I thought they did a
pretty good job of acquiring talent in the twenty twenty
sixth class. I think two four to seven put him
at number twenty one overall, with seven four stars and
fourteen high level three stars. In the portal, they've I think,
acquired nine guys via the portal. They sit at I
want to say, around forty first in the rankings. They
only have nine guys, which is a bit of an outlier.
Not many teams have stayed under that ten player threshold.
But how would you evaluate the acquisitions via the portal
thus far?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I think mean this is where you
go back to, you know, to culture, and you talk
about the culture Signetti has built. I want to talk
you built ten years ago and now it's about maintaining
that culture. And so you don't need a lot of guys.
When you're signing a class of twenty and you've got
returning missionaries coming in, you get to be very picky
on what you're doing in the portal. And while they
only have nine guys coming out of the portal, these
are guys that I think are going to be, you know,
outstanding additions. I love what I've seen, you know, from
Kadu the lobby the last couple of years.
Speaker 2: The Lady.
Speaker 4: It was this tactful freshman of the year's season in
twenty twenty three, when they had a quarterback on that
same team named for Nana Mendoza that you might be remembering.
You know, Zach Yamouchi coming over from Stanford, who had
been at Bishop Gorman, a a program where he's used
to winning pockey fin now who started I think five
games this year at Washington. You know, was in the
midst to be a starter as a redshirt freshman. You've
got Roger Saliapungo, you know, who had a touchdown I
believe in the in the Fiesta, are in the Peach
Bowl for Oregon, you know, and he comes home and
you know, you throw in Walker Lions and what he
was able to do as a weapon at USC, and
you know it's hard at USC when you always have
the amount of receivers at a high level that us
he has for the tight ends to really get the ball.
And now he goes there and you know, I think
it's any you know, BYU fans were freaking out a
little bit about you know, some of the stuff that
came out of the under Armoured.
Speaker 2: Game about Ryder Lions.
Speaker 4: You know, he realizes he's going on a mission and
so that's not going to stop schools from recruiting him.
I think it certainly does help that that Walker is
going to be there for a couple of years. You know,
even if they may not ever really cross paths for
more than a year, that doesn't hurt to have him
be a part of that culture. So Walker lyons talent
on the field. But then it also kind of ties
us loose ends. And then Tyler Caster is a kid
that you know, believe or not. I saw him in
high school when he was playing at Williams Steels High School.
Went up to one of the better high school matches.
I saw Benjamin Morrison, who ended up being a secondround
draft pick. We're talking best on best in that game,
and Kyler Caster got the better of him. He didn't
really stay healthy. He enrolled early at Oregon, actually skips
his senior year, got to Oregon, and then Oregon did
a really good job of recruiting receivers out of the portal,
and then they did a really good job of recruiting
talent who was a little bit more dynamic. And so
Kyler Caster is one of those guys that just needs
an opportunity to get on the field and you're going
to get to see. You've got the NFL bloodlines there
with his dad Kevin having played in the NFL. So
you know, a couple of known names, but then a
couple of guys that you know, were really highly tile
to come out of high school that they just need
that opportunity in Kyler Caster being one of them.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's uh, it was an interesting acquisition. Like you know,
Kirk Saghetti talks a lot about production, Kyler Casper doesn't
have much production at organ, but he's got a lot
of potential. Can he be a wide receiver one for
BYU this next season?
Speaker 4: Absolutely? And again, you know, this is one thing, and
I had this talk last week when I was in Hawaii.
There's one thing to not have production when you're at
a four and eight program, if you're not able to
get on the field of a bad program. It's another
thing to not have production when you're at a school
like Oregon where they have, you know, as good as
a recruiting department as any in the country. They're always
recruiting top five to top seven classes. Remember he was
a part of that first Dan Landing class where they
also able to hit the porter. But then they went
after guys like Edam Stewart. They went after guys that
were experienced, very talented players who needed to change his scenery.
So it wasn't like he wasn't playing because of the talent.
Issue was he wasn't playing because there was more talented
older guys. And then they brought some younger guys that
were five stars that I'm one rep receiver in the
country into Korean Moore, you know, so it was never
a challenged shop for him. It was really just a
traffic cam that he got stuck in.
Speaker 3: Is the crowning jewel of this traansportal class. Kd ula Lav.
Speaker 4: Oh, no question. I mean Kato Lulav is the kind
of guy that you know, he is an easy, early
impact guy. He's coming in. You know, he could have
stayed at Cal, he could have gone to the NFL.
He had other schools that were pursuing him. I know
the UCLA was trying really hard with him because Dick Soto,
the former YU player himself was his coach at Cal,
was the codec in Berkeley. Utah was also making a
big push. But I mean kay Do Lulav because it
was kind of a later portal entry. He became one
of the most attractive linebackers.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 4: The reality is the linebacker position is kind of in
the value position. It's not going to move the needle,
say like a left tackle, like an edge rusher, like
a receiver, like a quarterback is in the portal. But
you still need an elite linebacker or an elite leadership
at linebacker, and if you can get the player to
go along with it, then that's a kind of a
double edition. And I think that he would have been
the crown Rule for a lot of schools that were
pursuing him, But for BYU that really didn't feel like
they're missing many pieces. You bring in his experiences, veteran leadership,
playing in a conference that's got a team playing for
the national championship tonight. That is a huge pickup for BYU.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love that breakdown.
Speaker 3: Three offensive linemen that they got Zach Yamoucci, obviously Pocky
Final and then Junior Sia. They also went heavy on
the tight ends with Walker Lions and Roger salia Paga.
It looks like they want to go with some twelve
personnel this next season.
Speaker 4: I know it's good because I think that the more
versatility you can get in your offense. The more at health,
the more you can get the ball spread out to
your big receiver, your big tight end. That helps. And
I mean in getting both Roger and Walker, who are
both traditional you know they're im sorry, they're not your
traditional just we're only going to use them in blocking situations.
We want to get those guys involved in the passing game.
That's huge. And I think that both those guys have
the sides, they have the range that they are going
to be absolute weapons for Yu's offense and give bart Backmeyer,
you know, some guys at the tight end position to
get the ball to. You know, Walker played i think
at every single game this year for USC except maybe
the Bowl game. Roger was coming along strong at the
end of the season. Just happened to have you know,
quite possibly the freakiest tight end in college football. And
Kenyan Citique, who was the starter there and he wasn't
going to pass him up, you know, being a year
behind him in Kenya Steek probably gonna be a first rounder.
So again, it's just a matter of opportunity for both
those guys. And I think if you're bare Backbayer, you
got to be looking your chuck. You got guys protecting
me up front, and you have two really good pass
catching receivers at tight end that you're going to be
instituting you to that offense.
Speaker 2: Is there anything at BAU needs to acquire.
Speaker 3: Some people want an RB two, Some people want like
a wide receiver one as well to maybe create separation.
They lost to Quilan Marrion last year would have been
nice to happen this year for instance.
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's no question. And I think you know when
you look at what was available in the portal this year,
there were a lot of elite wide receivers in the
portal this year, and I think part of that is
because what we've seen in the past couple of years,
especially with revenue sharing, is that schools are doing a
better job of locking up they're wide receiver ones. They're
realizing that, you know, a quarterback is the most important position.
To get a left tackle is the most important position
after quarterback, ed dresher and receiver. You don't need to
overspend on receivers, but you've got to take care of
those ones that you do have. That Jeremiah Smith, the
Malachai Toni types, and the reality is that you didn't
see a lot of schools wide receiver ones go into
the portal, so you know, if anything, yeah, they along
with one hundred and thirty other power forward or I'm sorry,
FBS schools wanted a wide receiver well, but those just
weren't as available out of the portal this year as
maybe some of these other traditions. So I think when
they do, they go and get you know, two really
good tight end one and a half that will help
in that passing game as well.
Speaker 3: Brandon huff been two four seven sports best way to
support you, what you do, how you do it for
all of our listeners.
Speaker 4: Twenty four seven Sports is the place to go. You
can find me on Twitter at Brandon hupbin on on
Instagram Brandon Hutton twenty four or two four seven the league,
the portal might be clothes. There's still some guys tying
up to loose ends figuring out where they're going to go.
But hey, we've got junior days, we've got camp, seasoning,
we've got numerous I know TJ. Woods got to the line
coach for BYU was in Hawaii at the end of
last week at an in home visit with Isaiah Bertola,
who's the number two player in the state of Hawaii.
These coaches don't get any time to rest right now.
Then they get the whole month of February off, So coaches,
we have to work you around. You can work for
the rest of January, but be following all the action
because there's plenty of twenty seven and twenty eight info
going out right now.
Speaker 3: Love the breakdown, appreciate you Behuf, Brandon Hupp and ladies
in general.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much. There you go, two four to seven Sports.
Speaker 3: Subscribe today, stay up to date on all the recruiting
news and notes around the country, and definitely what's occurring
here in Provo. That's our segment, and we'll take a
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