Jay Hill Talks on BYU's Recruiting Opportunity in Texas
Recruiting never sleeps. On Tuesday, BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill was asked about BYU's recruiting opportunity in Texas with two upcoming trips to the Lone Star State.
"I think it's huge," Hill said. "I think it's an opportunity. It's an opportunity for all those high school players to see us up close and in person. We're going to Texas twice in the next three weeks. Recruits get to come out and see us play. See our brand and what it's all about. Us in the Big 12 is a huge deal. We expect to go play great and it's important for us to go play great.
We've had interest from the Dallas guys. I'm recruiting right now in Houston as well. The reality is the move to the Big 12 is only going to help that."
BYU has started to establish a Texas recruiting pipeline in the last few recruiting cycles. True freshman LJ Martin, who earned the starting job after just a few games, is a Texas native. Martin was a coveted four-star recruit in high school that BYU flipped from Stanford on signing day.
2023 BYU signee Saimone Davis was another prospect that BYU signed from Texas. Davis picked BYU over a host of competing Power Five offers. Davis will serve a mission before enrolling at BYU.
That success in Texas has continued in the class of 2024. Quarterback Noah Lugo committed to BYU earlier this year. Lugo didn't have any previous connections to BYU, but when the Cougars entered the picture in his recruitment, he backed off his verbal commitment to UTSA and committed to BYU.
Cornerback prospect Jonathan Kabeya committed to BYU as part of the 2024 recruiting class. Kabeya, who had no previous connections to BYU, picked BYU over Arizona State, Indiana, Texas Tech, and Tulane among others.
For BYU to be successful in the Big 12, recruiting needs to get better and better each year. Grabbing a few impact players from Texas every year would go a long ways in improving BYU's overall recruiting efforts.
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