Speaker 1: You're listening to Cougar Sports with Ben Krettl, and it's
time for Crewing the Cougars and inside look at the
latest news on the recruiting trail surrounding Cougar athletics.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Couger Sports here on one O three nine.
On you there, Ronald three man.
Speaker 3: We were here holding down for a second for being credal.
We are going to get out too the hotlines momentarily. Oh,
Banker's back, I'm gonna turn it back over to him.
Mike's Hobin.
Speaker 4: Alrighty guys, let's get into this cruit and the Cougars segment.
And I can't wait to talk some two thousand and
twenty six recruiting class here on your Utah ESPN Radio
Network with Cougar Sports Insider, Recruiting Insider Moose Bingham, former
BUYU kicker, punter, special team or Extraordinair Moose.
Speaker 3: How you living, buddy, Ben?
Speaker 2: I am hein. I actually just got tickets for the
up Turt Bowl. I'll be going there for a good
old fob. Can't wait to see Cougar Nation in the
second best state in the Union.
Speaker 4: Well, hey, you're living in Tampa now, right, yeah.
Speaker 2: I'm only in an our hour fifteen from Orlando. I
might go see Rider Lions. Tell them what's up? Go cat?
Speaker 4: Oh my, how many times have you got over to
like Universal Studios in Disney World since you moved there
to Tampa.
Speaker 2: I was just there with my family over Thanksgiving. But
I don't go there very often. I get motion sickness
because I'm an old man. Now, Ben, I don't even
ride the rides, but I have a glorious time there
nonetheless love it.
Speaker 4: Man, Well, I'm glad you're doing well. Look I'll tell
you who's doing well right now. Colodia taking these BYU
Cougar football team, this Bo Cougar football team and players.
They just signed a top twenty one class in the
college ball. This is the best class recruiting class in
bya football history. I want to break it all down
with you.
Speaker 3: Number one. What's that hey man.
Speaker 2: Treats about it? It's the best class about twenty rankings.
My goodness, I'm hyped about this class.
Speaker 3: Yeah, what do you like about it? Specifically? What do
you make of the twenty twenty six commitment list?
Speaker 2: Well, right now, you look at the twenty five class,
our top signing from the twenty five class what have
been probably about number seven or eighth in this class.
That's the depths up top, which is absolutely nuts. And
then you start getting into the weeds of this class.
I mean, I like the bottom players. Devon Eka is
a stut but you get all the way to the
top rider Lions. We haven't had a quarterback like Listen
Ben Olsen. Let's freaking go.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I mean Lucy tom wy Peer who played started produced.
Speaker 3: As a true freshman this year.
Speaker 4: It was a fifty ninth rated overall class and we
saw what Doocy did. You can also add, you know,
the the transfer portal players I guess to the to
the list tel Celia Khanna ended up being a good
player for the Kougs. You combine all that, you're like, man,
well this the future is bright for BYU.
Speaker 2: Well look at what Colonie is doing. The current roster
is ranked between sixty and eighty, depending on what fight
you go after. With a roster like that, it's a
good roster, but it's not an NFL caliber roster. Signing
classes in the top twenty five that brings us an
NFL caliber type roster, where if you're signing guys in
the top two fifty. Those are guys that are projected
to the NFL draft picks, and we have about six
or seven of them just from this class.
Speaker 4: Crazy times, man, you have Rider, Lions, Botmoltalo, Brock, Harris,
Adam Bywater, Tygetchi, all four stars, Jerem Poula, Lopetti, Muala,
Kennan Pula. I don't know if By's had every of
these many four stars in a signing class. Who's your favorite?
Frost and why oh.
Speaker 2: You're asked me to pick my favorite child? Day have Ben?
I love him all equally, But my goodness, there's some
absolute star. It's like, let's talk about writer. Writer should
be a five star quarterback. He was robbed. He's an
absolute dog wolf wolf when you see him on the field,
bob let Metallo. When he switched to tackle, I said,
that's a horrible mistake. Then I watched him the first day,
I'm like, what a genius? Whoever told him to move?
Because he was amazing playing offensive line and he improved
leaps and bounds throughout the season. But I still love
him at three tech Rock Harris, he is massively under raked,
just disgustingly so he's rated an eighth in his position. No,
that kid should be number one. He's an absolute dude.
Adam Bywater was an absolute star, and when I watch Adam,
I'm like, this kid is the true ty. I haven't
watched as much film on him, but I really like
his potential. He can block. He's just like Brock. I
mean he's almost a twin. And then right below them
you have actual twins in Jaron and Kennan Gula. Those
kids are two of my favorites. I've been watching them
since their freshman year. Loved their family, Kirson Pula, all
of them are awesome. And then we get Repeitie Malala
in there, Repeiti Juny. He's an absolute dog Juny. He
took over games where they're like, oh, you only had
three sacks, and I'm like, I was watching the game
and whoever's doing stats at Orum is doing it long.
The kid had like six sacks a game. I mean,
he's one of the kids. I had an NFL scout
called me and said, who should I be watching at Orum?
And like, watch Judy because that Milala kid is going
to be an absolute force on the defensive line. I
love Jack Tanner he's a dude. He reminds me a
lot of Jackson powers Johnson, which is the highest compliment
I can give to any interior alignment. I mean, he's
a kid that can lock down forever. The receiver from Washington,
Terrence Sariak, that kid is amazing. You get Braston Linsley
where you're getting him away from SEC schools, getting an
Arkansas kid like that. Kalawaey Aconna was a four star,
got dropped down to a three star. I need to
question some of these rating systems because I think they
might be blind, because kalaway Acona might have the most
NFL potential when we get him to his natural position
of safety or linebacker, I don't know where he's gonna
end up. Collway is an absolute force and he would
have been one of the top five recruits in almost
any class, and we would have been over the moon
to get them. Legend Glass. You watch him receiver extraordinari
He runs a four to four. He says he's six
to one. Yeah, coming out of high school. I was
six to though. I don't know if he's six one,
but he's an absolute force there. Matthew Mason, I actually
they're a breakdown of Matthew Mason going into the season
before he committed to BYU, And I'm like, this is
a hitting gym right here. Graham Livingston there hasn't been
as a productive or receiver in the state possibly ever,
and he did it in less games. Graham Livingston is
the absolute truth, Harper or another tight end that you
can just throw into the fray that you love. Stefani
a Latini, I mean any Latinis you can get here.
He's a stud coming out of Saint Francis in California.
Antonio Johnson like him at corner six three and a half.
I mean, where do you fight in these giants playing corner?
Another d lineman in Cologne, NAHMANI I love that kid.
Justice Brayle, I mean er Brathwaite. I'm talking a lot.
So that's a lot. But Justice is a stud coming
out of Higley in Gilbert, Arizona. And then sign me
back down to the VAUG. Definitely solid class from top
to bottom. When you're lowest rate is a three star
eighty four, You're just like, Okay, this class is stacked.
Speaker 3: It's truly a great day to be a Cougar.
Speaker 4: Look, I was listening to Brian Santiago recently, and and
you know, one of the things that he.
Speaker 3: Discussed was investing.
Speaker 4: In in the future of BYU and investing in these
student athletes that can enter to learn and then go
forth to serve. You bring in high level talent, high
level kids that are going to ball out on the
field and also off the field, and I think, you know,
anything is possible. I think the board of trustees, I
feel like the byus An institution. Obviously the athletic department
has been bought in, but I feel like everybody else
is getting bought in now with the foundational why behind
everything we do, and there's better alignment now than ever,
the alignment of the silos that I've been preaching from
my hope it is fondly coming to fruition.
Speaker 2: I believe you're correct, and I haven't said that like
ever since I've been looking at the YU. But it
seems like everyone's like, Hey, when we have a good
football program, good things happen all throughout campus. Why not
invest in the football program, invest in the basketball program,
invest in athletics so that we can actually get things
done and make BYU cool again.
Speaker 4: Well, we're on the trend right now towards that. We
got Moose Bingham here on your Utah. ESPN ready to
network a little Crewton the Cougars segment and delving into
all the knicks and crimes of this twenty twenty six
class as b what you football prepares for their pop
tards bawl the best ball outside of the CFP. It's
the it's a nice consolation prize. Noeubt about it. But
you look at BYU season, these back to back seasons,
and it's it's it's the glory days. Now you look
at twenty twenty, twenty twenty one, twenty twenty two, there's
a little drop off in twenty twenty three, but then
we got back into prominence the last two years. What
Kalani has able to accomplish since twenty twenty is nothing
short of remarkable.
Speaker 3: It truly is the.
Speaker 4: Glory days that our forefathers talked about in the modern era.
Speaker 2: It absolutely is. And what you see from these guys
they completely believe in themselves. This isn't an NFL roster
by any stretch of the imagination, but Lani's preaching of
love has really dictated one score games. When these guys
get behind of two scores, they're like, it doesn't matter,
We're gonna come back and win. The belief in that
locker room is absolutely phenomenal, and it's just fun to
watch them really outform where they're at. I mean, this
is a team where you're like, I I love watching
these guys. They put forth a ton of effort and
they really have gone above and beyond reflect who their
head coaches on the field, and it's fun to see
what this twenty twenty five roster has done.
Speaker 4: Ronald at the end of the day, right, you're gonna
look at all these prospects as they come into BYU
and you hope that bay you can retain them all.
I look at last year's class, Lemson Waller is in
the transfer portal, but it looks like for the most part,
everybody else, Actually Cale Breslin went to Montana State.
Speaker 3: If I'm not mistaken, I.
Speaker 4: Think everybody else is still committed, still bought it.
Speaker 3: So you have a little bit of attrition.
Speaker 4: Does BYU experience less attrition than most schools? And is
there anybody that you could compare BYU two? As it pretension,
they may maybe their retention of their recruiting classes under Lane.
Speaker 2: This is an interesting question. It used to be Stanford
had incredible retention, but it was because they couldn't take
any transfers in any mid year enroll ease, so they
were very selective about who they brought in. With BYU,
they create such an amazing environment from the teachers, to
the student body to the coaches, that kids just don't
want to leave. And most of the time they not
forced out. A lot of schools that's take a few
kids force out the rest, but by he does a
great job getting kids to graduate, helping them all throughout life,
and even if they don't make it through forever and ever,
it's a different atmosphere and I love what they're doing
and how they're developing kids. You even look back to
twenty twenty four, you're seeing volatile thoughts, wall of really
coming into his own. You're seeing a lot of these
guys where you're like Trey Anderson or Alexander Sorry, he
is an absolute force. You're watching Kenny Lyttle come into
his own. A lot of these guys. You're like, this
is a phenomenal group, and you see a lot of
different kids contributing, and I love to see that they
buy in the b YU. If you buy in the BYU,
you will be successful. I can tell you that right now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a.
Speaker 4: It's intriguing time, no doubt in BAU football history b YU.
Though I've asked this question a lot of BYU football
players that play to BYU and are seeing what we're
seeing right now. B YU wasn't able to beat and
even compete against Texas Tech, an elite team.
Speaker 3: We're a great team, Okay.
Speaker 4: How far away are they from becoming an elite team
right now?
Speaker 3: You would you say?
Speaker 4: Because from a point total, standpoint competition standpoint right, it
seems as if you know by you still far away
from closing that gap.
Speaker 3: What say you?
Speaker 2: I would actually have to agree. I don't need to
be a bearer of that news. But BYU has honestly
like a seventy roster when you look at the talent gap.
Excess Tech has probably a top and fifteen roster in
the country based off of stars, based off of stats.
For BYU to be competitive in that game, they need
to have a roster that's at least top thirty. And
this first class in twenty twenty six is really starting
to change the way that it's seem because last year
our overall rank was fifty nine. The year before that,
when you're looking into twenty twenty four, it was sixty two.
So we still have a lot of those guys. Some
of them have really stepped it up, but it takes
a minute to be there to really get to the
roster that you need. And I think Justin Anderson is
really stepping it up now. And he's been in the
program for the last couple of years, but this is
the first told class where he's been recruiting kids since
they were sophomores freshmen and bringing them in and really
loving them up with that amount of time and making
sure that they come to BYU.
Speaker 4: My guy MOUs Bingham Here on your Utah, ESPN Radio, Neverica,
Little Cruton, the Cougar Segment and it's brought to you
by Odion Menswear, Odeon Menswear dot Com, uh VIP Products,
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Couple last things before I let you go, I look
back at the twoenty and twenty signing class. Okay, body
schoonover Cody Apps, Tate Romney, Logan Peeley, Alex Mouti, as Kowfusi,
Michael Harper, Josh Wilson, Devin Downing, Preston Rex Sol, Jamiava Peters,
Isaiah Perez, Miles Davis, Josh Larson, Nu Kuhlou ahlu CoA Eldridge,
Jake Griffin, Chris Jackson, Terrence Fall, Dean Jones, p D two,
Polo two, John Nelson, Jock Wilson, uh tyber Kinkleuropat Shone, Moa,
Isaiah Tupo, Tuapolo to Lai, Bruce Garrett, Drason havea Sittalingijvea
and then DeVante Henry Cole. You look at that, it's
like that crazy like how how crazy like? Look at
how far boy has come? Look Askafusi is still on
the roster, Boddy screwed over. Both of those guys are contributor.
Cody Apps ended up transferring and then essentially retiring. Tate Romney.
I think he's still at a SU right. I don't
know how much he's playing in a Okay, he opted
in the portal, how I have to pull up his stats.
I don't know how good he was last year for
a issue. Logan Peeley ended up transferring to Utah State.
Alex Moutie I don't know whatever happened to Alex. Michael
Harper's at Montana's Montana. I think University of Montana. Josh
Wilson ended up kind of retiring. I think medically retiring,
or maybe he graduated after his career was done. Devin
Downing is at Utah Tech. Preston Rex still at BYU.
He's in the running back room now is a RB
three sol Jiamiava Peters ended up transferring to New Mexico.
Isaiah Perez I think went to Eastern Washington transfer. Miles
Davis transferred to Utah State. Josh Larson I think medically retired.
Nu Koluvihilu ended up in the portal, but I don't
know if he ended up anywhere. CoA Eldridge I believe
is he at University of Hawaii. Co Eldridge, Okay. Jake
Griffin's in the portal. Chris Jackson I think graduated or
into the portal and never got back. I think he
was at University of Hawaii as well, though. Terrence fall
I think medically retired. Dean Jones went to Northern Colorado.
If I'm not mistaken, Pete, he's still on the roster.
I think he's still on the bou roster, still working
his way. John Nelson was great John Nelson. You can
make an argument John Nelson so far in this class,
the best player in this class. Body Scooover's got something
to say about it. But my guy John Nelson, the
Salem Sandman, who was like ranked like twentieth on the
twenty four to seven Sports rankings, Kay was maybe the
best guy in this class. Jock Wilson got injured, never
really played ty ber Is Ti where he retired went
the portal. I don't know if he ended up anywhere.
Henklew Apati obviously a good play for Buyu yep Shoni
mo Shooni moa.
Speaker 3: That's gonna be a good one of it.
Speaker 4: He was ranked like last. He didn't even have any stars.
Uh Isaiah two pole. I don't know where Isaiah went.
Bruce Garrett like quit after like three practices at by
you running back out of Pleasant Grove, Texas. Drason Havevea,
I don't think he ever really played at Buyu. DeVante
Andry Cole got to springball and then left. I mean,
that's crazy how much attrition is from that twenty twenty
signing class when I go through that, and that was
overall ranked eighty first in the concept by the way.
Speaker 2: And that's a hard class because you're pulling up the
COVID year, so you're just like, can we really evaluate
these kids where they at? And that's what's really hard.
But that's the thing with that year. There were a
lethora of misses where you're just like, oh, no, what
has happened here? Because we need to not be eighty
We need to be a quarter of that at a
composite rate of twenty to be a really successful team.
And the sad thing is you see these kids that
hop in the portal. None of them are really going
to other big time programs beside like Tate Romney. Yep,
You're like, okay, where these guys valued at at the
end of the day, And they're not valued high in
recruiting circles. They're going to lower G five teams or
FCS teams. So this whole class was probably a miss
in my mind, but it's definitely gotten better in the
last few years. I mean, like the twenty twenty one
class you hopped up almost twenty spots when you got
Logan Foto Raiders of Moody, John Henry Daily guys that
are absolute contributors and absolute dudes. But then it took
a steep drop. You had Idiah Glasker in that class.
That's obviously amazing. Josh Sink hopped in the portal and
went to Vanderbilt and is playing really well. You still
have other guys in there where you're like, okay, these
are absolute dudes. Well, that's kind of the hard thing
where it's like you don't want to be in the
portal too much. You want to develop the high school kids,
and you can only develop them if there's some talent
in there and they just wasn't talent in the early
twenty twenty classes.
Speaker 4: Crazy times, Moose Bingham Ladies and gentlemen, Moose. Best way
to support you, what you do.
Speaker 3: How you do it?
Speaker 2: Oh, just follow me on Twitter at MOOSB nine. I
still have recruiting for parents out. If you think your
kid is good enough, let's get him rated, Let's see
where he's at and see if he can help DYU
get into that immortal status of a top twenty recruiting class.
Speaker 4: Love it most who always appreciate your time, man, great
content as always.
Speaker 2: Oh appreciate you, Ben, have a merry Christmas and hopefully
you get out into the palmp tarts full so you
can come golf and with me and Ronald Weaver.
Speaker 3: The third let's go appreciate you man, love you.
Speaker 4: That's Moose Bingham, ladies and gentlemen, and it was brought
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brief time out. We'll be back.
Speaker 3: This is Cougar Sports on one of three nine ninety
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