Steve Young Gives High Praise To BYU Coordinator Jay Hill

PROVO, Utah – In the world of BYU football, there aren’t many voices more prominent than legendary quarterback Steve Young.

On Friday, the former BYU great and NFL Hall of Famer with the San Francisco 49ers was on the KSL Sports Zone’s “DJ & PK” to preview Super Bowl LVIII between his Niners and the Kansas City Chiefs.

But before he hung up his phone, Young went out of his way to praise BYU football defensive coordinator Jay Hill, particularly for his work on the recruiting trail.

Earlier this week, BYU put the final touches on a 31-player recruiting class in the 2024 cycle. Of the 31 signees, 20 are on the defensive end, headlined by Bountiful High four-star Faletau Satuala and former Stanford linebacker commit Naki Tuakoi.

It was the first full recruiting cycle BYU had with Jay Hill on the staff as he heads into his second season as defensive coordinator.

Young was impressed with BYU’s recruiting class.

Steve Young was impressed with Jay Hill on the recruiting trail

“Jay’s done a great job of coming in and energizing our recruiting,” said Steve Young to DJ & PK on the KSL Sports Zone. “As you saw this year, early returns, we’re starting to get some of these five-star recruits that we’ve been missing and missing and missing on. So, I want to give a shout out to the renewed [recruiting] effort to really compete for the big players.”

BYU head coach Kalani Sitake had similar praise for Hill and his staff coming out of Signing Day.

“Part of [recruiting] is getting into recruiting battles and not being afraid of recruiting because the guy has a lot of offers and may not be familiar with BYU,” said Sitake. “That’s our job is to get him familiar with BYU and understand where they are at. Then, not being intimidated by other recruiters, and Jay [Hill] has been awesome on that. It’s been infectious to everybody else on the staff.”

The Cougars finished with the 44th-ranked recruiting class nationally, according to the 247Sports Composite, among high school and junior college signees.

Another Young joining the BYU football program

A member of Young’s family recently experienced BYU’s renewed recruiting efforts.

 

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A post shared by Asher Young (@lilflurball)

Young’s nephew, Asher Young from Orem High School, committed to BYU as a preferred walk-on in the 2024 recruiting class. He signed with the Cougars this past Wednesday alongside Orem teammate Lance Reynolds III.

“I just want to shout [BYU’s staff] out because I think they’ve had the vulnerability to recognize that it wasn’t going that great, and they tried to make the changes,” Young said. “And I’m really happy about it.”

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.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.

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