I follow recruiting very closely and kids who commit to certain P5 schools do get bumps in their ratings, but it's not just Rivals. Scout, ESPN and 247Sports all do the same thing. Typically you see it when a 3* kid commits to a big name school (like USC or Oregon), but this year I have noticed it more in relation to schools like ASU, and it is the first time I've seen it in relation to some of Utah's recruits. Last year Utah had some recruits out of Florida that were 2* guys who didn't get bumps from any of the recruiting services, but if they had committed to even a lower tier SEC team they would have gone to 3* ratings. This year I've seen some Utah recruits who were either 2* or weren't rated get moved to 3* after they committed. It happens.

Historically Rivals has rated Utah players higher than Scout and for BYU it was the opposite. There is a direct relation to the strength of the teams Rivals or Scout affiliate. The reason for this is that each affiliate site will lobby the guys who assign the rankings by providing additional film or scouting reports that national guys may not be aware of. This year I have noticed that Utah's rankings from Scout have actually been better overall than Rivals. A big part of the reason for this is that for the first time Scout has a full-time analyst in the mountain west region. It has also helped Utah that the analyst is Doug Kimmel, who used to have a position on Utah's recruiting staff.