The biggest challenge:
The biggest challenge going forward for the Cougars is whether BYU can recruit at a high enough level to compete against Power Five teams regularly. The Cougars have had plenty of high-level talent in the past. But when it comes to making the jump to playing Power Five football, the biggest decider is not the high-level talent of a program but often the depth of a program.
Last season, according to 247Sports’ composite talent rankings, the BYU program ranked 76 in the country, which would’ve been not just the lowest of any Big 12 team but any Power Five program in the country. This is not a problem that the other three new members of the Big 12 in UCF, Cincinnati, or Houston are facing, as they were ranked 36, 48, and 56, respectively. The good news for BYU is that this hasn’t always been the case. Over the last five years, their composite talent has been ranked as high as 55.
Below you can see BYU’s national ranking according to 247Sports’ composite talent rankings compared to that of the average Big 12 ranking.
Please note due to their impending departure from the conference, we did not include Oklahoma or Texas in the average but did include Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF in our calculations as they enter the Big 12 alongside BYU.
| YEAR | NATIONAL RANKING | AVERAGE BIG 12 RANKING | RANK IN BIG 12 |
| 2022 | 76 | 51.5 | 12 |
| 2021 | 108 | 52.5 | 12 |
| 2020 | 81 | 52.4 | 12 |
| 2019 | 68 | 54.7 | 10 |
| 2018 | 55 | 49.5 | 8 |
As you can see above, BYU, over the last few years, would have been at the bottom of the Big 12 in terms of composite talent. While composite talent does not create a direct correlation to team success, it is a quality tool to judge the program overall and how it compares to other programs. Of course, it does not consider player development, among other factors which are just as crucial for any college football program.
On top of that, according to 247Sports’ composite recruiting rankings from 2020 to 2023, BYU’s last four recruiting classes were ranked as the 81, 77, 56, and 66 best in the country. Their previous two recruiting classes have certainly been more to the mark of a Big 12 program and will need to continue to be so if they hope to be a competitive program in the conference. Additionally, being active in the transfer portal could be of great benefit for the Cougars as well.