BYU Signing Day 2016 Primer
PROVO - The last two months have been a whirlwind for the BYU Football program. From Bronco Mendenhall leaving for Virginia, the hiring of Kalani Sitake as the new head coach, assembling a brand new staff, & amidst all of this change, the 2016 class needed a strong finish.
Kalani Sitake has had six weeks to recruit this 2016 class, and of the prospects he inherited that were already committed to BYU, zero have de-committed from the Cougars. Along with reaffirming commitments, Sitake and his staff have added the likes of four-star defensive tackle Handsome Tanielu and three-star linebacker Jackson Kaufusi from Brighton High School.
Will there be any surprises for BYU and first-year head coach Kalani Sitake on Signing Day? To steal a line from the TV show Big Brother, “expect the unexpected.”
Will BYU flip any Utah commits?
One of the big storylines in the final weeks leading up to today was the commits that had given verbal pledges to Kyle Whittingham and the Utah Utes.
For the first time since these two rivals were in the Mountain West Conference, there are a handful of prospects that have narrowed down their college choices to either BYU or Utah.
Utah commits Alema Pilimai (OLB) & Cole Fotheringham (TE) are the two prospects that are currently Utah commits that could potentially flip to the Cougars. Both took visits to BYU on the weekend of January 22nd, but then followed up their visits to Utah on the 29th.
Where does defensive lineman Keaton Bills stand? The Corner Canyon High School prospect will announce his decision between BYU & Utah this afternoon. Bills has deep family ties to the BYU program, but until late in this process, the Utes were looking like the clear-cut favorite to land the prospect some locally consider Utah high school’s version of J.J. Watt.
Mique Juarez: Nation’s #1 Linebacker
Mique Juarez is considered by some as the most college-ready prospect in the country for the 2016 class. The nation’s #1 linebacker here on Rivals.com, and a top-10 prospect nationally (#9) will be announcing where he is going to continue his football career in college this afternoon at 1:30 p.m. (MT).
Juarez took his last official visit before Signing Day to BYU on January 29th. The talented linebacker has always been impressed with Kalani Sitake, but how much is BYU realistically factoring into his decision? According to Juarez’ mom via her personal Instagram, she says, “The trip [to BYU] has definitely made Mique’s decision a lot harder.”
But how hard can it be when Alabama is in the picture? The Crimson Tide are the defending National Champions, the school that has nearly produced $100 million in NFL contracts for players that wore the crimson under Nick Saban. How can Juarez turn that down?
BYU was one of the first programs to offer Juarez as a sophomore, and at that time Juarez was lining up in shotgun at quarterback. Those quarterback days have long faded for Juarez, but the feelings for the school that represents his religion have never faded, but how strong are those feelings?
Or will we see Juarez stay at home in Los Angeles and play for the hometown UCLA Bruins?
Decisions, decisions, decisions.
Make sure to keep it locked here at Cougar Nation, as we will keep you up-to-date with everything you need to know for BYU’s 2016 Signing Day class.
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Mitch Harper is the Publisher of CougarNation.com and host of the Cougar Center Podcast available on 1320KFAN.com & iTunes. Follow Mitch on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.