I am someone that has keenly followed BYU recruiting since the early 80's.

The LDS population is churning out 4 & 5 star talent at about 1500% more per year than it did in the 80's. It was typical to have 1 LDS blue chip athlete every other year. The majority of them did choose BYU. Over the last 35 years that talent pool has been steadily rising. there have been about 7-8 blue chip LDS kids the last 5 years, the difference has been we have averaged about 2 per year in the same time span.

Edwards out coached his recruiting classes by a long way, mainly because of the scheme. Bronco also out coached his recruiting average, but he did that in spite of his less than optimal recruiting results. If you could combine Bronco like results with the majority of the LDS blue chip recruits, like 75%, you would have consistent top 25 recruiting classes and consistent top 25 rankings. That is right now.

Having watched the LDS recruiting pool rise over the last 35 years I see no indication of it slowing down. in another 20 years you will likely be able to make top 5-10 recruiting classes exclusively with LDS talent, it will happen. the question is can BYU retain it's relevance in the college football game and provide the coaches that will be equal to the predecessor's who out coached the talent levels to make the team better than the individual parts.

Coaching and conference affiliation are the main glass ceilings, if those happen BYU could be a Notre Dame type team in 20 years because the BYU experience means more to LDS kids and has a strong pull.

BYU has more to accomplish, and could certainly shoot itself in the foot, but it is a sleeping giant in terms of future potential, my grandkids should have plenty to cheer about.