How Utah and BYU’s best football recruits panned out — or didn’t

It’s the natural follow-up question to ask from my reporting last week: How have Utah and BYU’s top football recruits performed on the field?

In the first story, you’ll recall, we looked at how Utah and BYU have performed in recruiting over the last couple of decades. Then we examined the academic research that points to what impact recruiting has on win-loss records in college football overall.

We found that Utah, as probably expected, had a period of recruiting dominance in the 2010s that BYU has made inroads on, and perhaps even surpassed, in the last three recruiting classes. And we found that—even with the increase in players transferring in the middle of their collegiate careers—high school recruiting still was a solid contributor to ultimate success of a team on the football field, nationwide.

I was curious, though, about how effective those top-level recruits have been at each school. What has become of Utah and BYU’s four- and five-star talent?

Let’s take a look.

The numbers

Overall, by 247 Sports’ rankings, the Utes have had 49 four- or five-star recruits since 2010, while the Cougars have had 20. (This doesn’t count the 2026 class, and we started at 2010 because that’s when 247 Sports starts listing star ratings for individual recruits.) That shouldn’t really be a surprise based on the Utes’ overall better recruiting rankings in that timeframe.

For about 40% of those recruits, we don’t have a very good picture of their college careers yet. They’ve either redshirted, gone on missions, or just simply haven’t had more than one or two seasons of play. Utah’s Isaac Wilson could manage a bounceback career after a disappointing freshman campaign, or BYU’s Cody Hagen could pop at wide receiver after playing a bit role last year, fresh off his mission. We just don’t know yet.

Of the remainder, there’s a huge variety of outcomes. Some didn’t play college football at all—I’ll tell you about a couple of examples later in the article. Many dealt with injuries that wrecked their football career and other promising on-field futures. And, finally, some were drafted and made careers in professional football at the highest levels.

I compared average NCAA games played for the remaining players at each college, and found four- and five-star recruits at BYU averaged 33 games of play in their collegiate careers. Players who committed to Utah, meanwhile, averaged 32 games—about as close as can be.

Yet, Utah far outranked BYU in terms of getting its players drafted in the NFL: Six of Utah’s four- or five-star high school recruits have been selected by NFL teams, while only one of BYU’s four-star recruits ended up being drafted: Bronson Kaufusi. (While the other recruiting services had Fred Warner as a four-star recruit, 247 Sports considered him a high 3-star, which I imagine they may well regret. Other BYU draftees were either lower recruits or transfers from other colleges.)

Overall, though, it seems like the injury bug caught more of BYU’s top recruits, especially on the defensive side of the ball. For the Utes, there’s a large class of four-star recruits who had very good college careers, but, for whatever reason, didn’t really raise the eyes of NFL scouts. They’ve largely found themselves in practice squads, and UFL and CFL teams and the like.

A couple of stories of those who didn’t make it

One of the most enjoyable parts of this project was learning the stories of those who didn’t make it, despite having the talent and attention of a four-star recruit. Here are a couple of noteworthy narratives, one from each school:

Langi Tuifua, DL, BYU

After a promising high school career at Bingham High, Tuifua was offered by Michigan, Oregon and Utah, but chose BYU. In the first fall camp of his collegiate career, he suffered a herniated disc in his neck that made his left side either numb or in pain. He played a few games in the 2017 season, then medically retired.

And then, as most retired football players do, he went into acting on stage.

“I saw ’Wicked’ and I was blown away with how amazing it was,” Tuifua said in a BYU Communications article. “I thought, ‘I could be doing this stuff right now!’ So, I went and learned more about acting.”

Now, he’s an actor with a number of IMDB-credited roles, including five in 2024.

Darren Jones, WR, Utah

Jones was one of the most promising receiver recruits in the country. Playing alongside future Heisman Trophy-winner and second-overall pick Jayden Daniels at Cajon High School in California, the two linked up for some gaudy stats and incredible highlight-reel plays. Jones, albeit skinny at just 185 pounds, stood 6-foot-8 and moved with grace that still has prospect watchers telling tales.

Unfortunately, Jones didn’t ever make it to the University of Utah despite his commitment. The reason appears to have been a deficit of grades needed to be eligible. He instead signed for Snow College, but then quickly bounced to East Los Angeles College, playing only a couple of games there.

Then came a change to basketball, where he’s put up some pretty impressive stats for Southern Nevada and Mayville State. And at Mayville, he’s started to play football again — including two touchdowns in his debut last season.

Being 6-8 and as athletically gifted as it gets? Extremely useful, it turns out.