Where BYU Stands Heading Into The Early Signing Period

PROVO, Utah – Finals are taking place at BYU this week, practices for the Hawaii Bowl roll on, and smack dab in the middle of all that is the early signing period.

Beginning Wednesday morning to Friday evening, recruits can make their verbal commitments official by signing letters of intent to their school of choice. BYU will have a lot of its 2020 class signing on Wednesday, so let’s take a look at where the Cougars class stands at the moment.

BYU’s 2020 class by the numbers

Total commits: 23

National ranking: 74 (247Sports Composite)

By state: Utah (9), California (4), Arizona (3), Hawaii (3), South Carolina (1), Texas (1), Washington (1), Washington D.C. (1)

By position:

• Quarterback (1) — Sol-Jay Maiava
• Running backs (2) — Bruce Garrett, Nukuluve Helu
• Wide receivers (4) — Koa Eldredge, Christopher Jackson, Devin Downing, Terence Fall
• Tight ends (0)
• Offensive line (1) — OG Isaiah Tupou
• Defensive line (4) — DT Sitalingi Havea, DE Isaiah Perez, DE Josh Larsen, DE John Nelson
• Linebackers (5) — OLB Bodie Schoonover, ILB Josh Wilson, OLB Ace Kaufusi, OLB Drason Havea, OLB Alex Muti
• Defensive backs (5) — CB Micah Harper, S Logan Pili, S Dean Jones, S Petey Tuipulotu, S Ty Burke

Remaining Targets

Bodie Schoonover is a commit right now to BYU, but he’s mulling over an offer from UCLA. Will BYU be able to keep the talented American Fork linebacker who was bothered by injuries his senior season?

Airline ticket booked… @BodieSchoonover is going to @gohawaii for the 2020 POLYNESIAN BOWL. Paradise awaits! #PolyBowl2k20 🤙🏽🌴#3StripeLife @BrandonHuffman @bangulo @GregBiggins @TotalBlueSports @rakoto10 @Mitch_Harper @BYU247 @desnewssports @CriddleBenjamin pic.twitter.com/L0ENDtwjLT

— Polynesian Bowl (@polynesiabowl) December 5, 2019

Another linebacker that is a high priority for BYU is Tate Romney out of Chandler, Arizona, and younger brother to both Baylor and Gunner Romney. The youngest Romney might wait past the early signing period and go into February to make his decision.

Mater Dei High’s Kody Epps took an official visit to Provo this past weekend and toured the BYU campus. Epps is a big-play wide receiver who had nearly 1,800 yards receiving in his senior year of high school.

Alex Lines, Jake Griffin, Tuipulotu Lai, Jacques Wilson, Jakob Robinson, Jalen Perdue, and Kyle Vassau are other names to keep an eye on.

Needs

BYU’s three biggest needs in the 2020 recruiting class are running back, wide receiver, and cornerback. Cornerback saw a nice boost with the addition of Micah Harper. More are expected to be on the way. Look for BYU to be very active in the transfer portal this winter and spring for running back and wide receiver prospects. The Cougars, like most programs nowadays, will hold onto two or three open scholarships for potential transfers that fall their way in the spring time.

Don't forget about these guys. #BYU's Returning Missionaries are important pieces to the Cougars 2020 recruiting class.#BYUFootball #GoCougs #NSD20 https://t.co/rPRKMeWfv3

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) December 16, 2019

Returning Missionaries

Returning missionaries will be a big focus for Kalani Sitake during Wednesday’s Early Signing Period. For more on all of the returning missionaries that will be joining the BYU Football team in 2020, check out our story from earlier in the week.

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12-3 pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.