BYU Football Looks To Put Final Touches On Strong 2024 Recruiting Class
Feb 6, 2024, 11:53 AM | Updated: 11:55 am
PROVO, Utah – The 5-7 record for BYU football last season has overshadowed a strong effort on the recruiting trail for the 2024 class.
BYU enters the traditional February Signing Day, looking to put the final touches on a class that can potentially provide an instant impact this fall.
This day has lost the drama college football diehards loved.
Gone are the days of coaches sleeping out in front of recruits’ homes to ensure the Letter of Intent was faxed over that first Wednesday in February.
I’ll never forget former BYU head coach Gary Crowton while hobbled on crutches in the Cougar Club Room at LES, informing around 70 recruiting junkies that BYU lost out on 5-star Haloti Ngata to Oregon.
Many things have changed about this day over the past two decades.
Instead, the February Signing Day is another mile marker towards a new football season.
BYU is ready to turn the page away from 2023 and gear up for year two in a revamped Big 12 Conference.
Wednesday for BYU will likely be centered around the returning missionaries joining the program this fall. We’ve discussed many of them in the past.
BYU’s mid-year enrollees, who haven’t been announced yet, will likely be another piece of the signing day fanfare on Wednesday.
Players in that category who are expected to be announced are USF transfer QB Gerry Bohanon and Weber State transfer CB Marque Collins. Both are in Provo, participating in winter conditioning with the new strength and conditioning staff.
During the December Signing Period, BYU closed with the state of Utah’s number one prospect, Boutinful linebacker/safety Faletau Satuala.
They also added Herriman edge rusher Ephraim Asiata, Springville’s Kinilau Fonohema, Timpview wide receiver Tei Nacua, and potential impact defensive linemen from the JUCO ranks Sani Tuala, Luke Toomalatai, and Danny Saili in the stretch run to the December signing window.
Those additions joined notable longtime commits from four-star tight end Ryner Swanson and Georgia cornerback Therrian Alexander III.
BYU Football enters February Signing Day with the No. 48 class in 2024
BYU’s 2024 class ranks No. 48 for high school and junior college transfers in the 247Sports Composite, entering Wednesday’s Signing Day. When you include the small transfer portal class, BYU’s overall ranking at 247Sports is No. 60 for the 2024 cycle.
Since December, BYU’s coaching staff has been hard at work pursuing 2025 and 2026 recruits. They hosted a Junior Day last month, which featured 2025 quarterback prospects Grady Adamson (Edmond, Oklahoma) and JP Mialovski (Long Beach, California) visiting Provo.
For the most part, 2024’s work is done. But there could be a few more names that pop up.
Players worth monitoring on Signing Day
There will be a lot of intrigue around Bay Area prospects Naki Tuakoi and Sefo Akuila. The two are high school teammates from Fremont Senior High in Oakland, California, and both are edge rushers.
Tuakoi was previously committed to Stanford, while Akuila was once a pledge to Arizona. If BYU lands signatures from both, it would be more feathers in the caps of BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill and defensive ends coach Kelly Poppinga.
#NewProfilePic pic.twitter.com/w3B2euUPrD
— Naki Tuakoi (@NakiTuakoi) August 27, 2023
Other names I’ll be tracking going into Signing Day include Orion Maile-Kaufusi. Kaufusi, a former defensive end at East High School, signed with Oregon State in the 2021 recruiting class. For the past two years, he served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Oakland.
During Kaufusi’s senior year at East, he had 93 tackles, nine tackles for loss, and five sacks.
Another RM newcomer who has already joined the program and is participating in winter conditioning is former Lone Peak High wide receiver Weston Covey. Covey is a cousin to former Utah Utes star, and Philadelphia Eagle Britain Covey.
The younger Covey had 44 receptions for 770 yards and 12 touchdowns at Lone Peak in 2021.
BYU hosted former Orem High quarterback Lance Reynolds III on an official visit last month. He’s the son of former BYU offensive lineman Lance Reynolds Jr. and the grandson of longtime BYU assistant coach and former player Lance Reynolds Sr.
@BYUfootball doing it right for @Lancerey545 visit. Nice touch… pic.twitter.com/E44OJ1GXqo
— Lance Reynolds Jr (@lancereynoldsjr) January 26, 2024
Reynolds Sr. was the position coach for Kalani Sitake when he was a fullback at BYU from 1997-2000.
247Sports lists Reynolds as an athlete in their database.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for KSLsports.com and hosts the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow Mitch’s’ coverage of BYU in the Big 12 Conference on X: @Mitch_Harper.
