P12 is paying off with their recruiting right? Not really.

They just won a recent recruit after going head to head with Florida Atlantic, Georgia Southern, UMASS, Toledo... This isn't an isolated scenario. They have numerous recruits that they committed to Utah without any competition from other P5 schools (or no other offers at all). The ones that do have P5 offers are schools like Oregon State and Colorado. When these kids do get significant P5 offers they are quick to pivot on their commitment to Utah.

In fact Branden Bowen (local OL commit) got an offer to tOSU right after he committed to Utah. He quickly made plans to go to Columbus to sit on uncle Urban's lap for a weekend. If their recruiting history holds true this probably means he isn't coming back a Ute commit.

Utah is currently playing football with their best recruiting P12 classes hitting their prime. Guys like Hiva Lutui, Poutasi, JR Salt, Justin Thomas, Dres Anderson, Travis Wilson, Nate Orchard, Kenneth Scott. These were pieces of great P12 classes that were going to fill their roster with P12 athletes. This team is the most highly recruited roster Utah has ever fielded. Despite this they are still struggling to even get bowl eligible let alone play .500 ball in the P12.

The next wave of recruits looks a lot more like the MWC version of Utah. Their recruiting has significantly digressed since that 2012 class. They are continually replenishing their roster with MWC kids. Whoever inherits that program after Whitt will have empty cupboards to work with. It may be fun to be a BYU fan in the Holy War again soon!