I know a few former BYU players but none that I feel could answer this question:

Of the LDS athletes that were recruited by BYU (of course, they have to recruit BYU -puke-) how many of them would have gone to BYU if they were in a power conference?

This is an old topic, I ask because I know most of us would love inclusion in the BIG 12 or whatever, but I wonder if BYU would really be competitive in the future landscape of big time football?

I have always believed Utah has had better athletes overall since the 90's. And when they were a top MWC team, I thought that they would transition to the PAC-12 just fine. Here we are in year 4 and they are finally admitting to having the depth just to compete in the PAC-12, let alone be a contender.

Like him or not, Whittingham can recruit as can Sitake et al. If it has taken them 4 years to get to this depth level, sans honor code and academic requirements, I would have some concerns about BYU being consistently competitive in a major conference.

IF BYU were to get the majority of the top LDS athletes, I think BYU could be consistently competitive, but if not, I think they would really struggle.

It would be cool if someone with good relationships and access could do a special report about the big time LDS recruits (Ngata, Sua'filo etc) that chose big name schools over BYU, to see how much BYU playing in the MWC or even now as an "outsider" independent played into their decision.