BYU is trying to build Power Five depth and keep recruits in Utah. Oklahoma State might be a threat to poach players away.

When Baylor came to Provo last September, it was an early moment for BYU to showcase itself to Texas recruits. With the Cougars entering the Big 12, head coach Kalani Sitake made it clear he wants to expand his recruiting pool to the hotbeds of the conference like Texas, Florida and Ohio.

But what about the reverse?

Not only will BYU be trying to pick off Texas recruits, but other Big 12 schools will be venturing into Utah to get prospects now (especially as another Utah school enters the conference next year).

There is no better early indicator than Oklahoma State, who’s had some success recruiting Utah.

The Pokes already have four Utah players on the roster who all had BYU interest at one point. And with another matchup on Saturday, head coach Mike Gundy and his staff will have another chance to display the program to Utah players.

“When you are going into a conference, I think schools are going to start looking at this state,” Sitake said. “... We’ve got to fight off the people that recruit here. I wish I could take them all. I wish I could take all the best players. But that’s part of recruiting.”

Oklahoma State has Sesi Vailahi, a freshman from West High School in Salt Lake City. It also has Nick Session (East High School) and Justin Kirkland (Roy High School) on the roster. All three had interest from BYU at one point.

Plus, Nathan Latu is in Stillwater. He was once committed to BYU and then went to Snow College before ending up at OSU.

“I think there are a lot of prospects in this state,” Sitake said. “You can see as people move in and the more schools we build and have more young people, there are more opportunities to recruit kids. So that is just part of the game. Now with technology, you can go anywhere. With the ability to travel, with technology again, that’s an easy move. That’s part of it.”

BYU’s recruiting efforts will be heavily scrutinized this offseason as the program tries to build more Power Five depth. This season, it ranked last in the Big 12 in 247Sports’ Composite Talent Ranking.

BYU hasn’t had a top 50 high school recruiting class since 2016. That year, it signed Jaren Hall, Max Tooley, and Keenan Pili. All three were in-state recruits. In all, 12 players in that class were from Utah.

BYU might be trying to expand to other hotbeds, but a big part of building depth will also be recruiting Utah. That means keeping kids in the state — which makes moments like Saturday, going up against a recruiting competitor, all the more important.