The entire state of Utah usually has like 3-5 top-notch recruits (ie, 4 or 5 stars). Then, another 10-15 three-star guys.

Look at UTAH's recruiting classes - they're best players are from California and Texas. They had THREE Utah recruits in their last class - and SEVEN from CA and FOUR from TX and three from Hawaii.

Meanwhile, BYU lands TEN Utah recruits, two of the 4-star guys (which is GREAT!) and four of the 3-star guys.

I think the in-state recruiting battles with Utah are vastly overstated.

Now, look at Notre Dame's 2017 recruiting class - while they have a couple of 4-star guys from nearby Illinois the rest of their 4-star recruits are from all over the place: Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida, Virginia, Connecticut, and California.

In all, here's the breakdown of ND's 2017 class:

FL = 4
PAC = 3
IL = 2
TX = 2
CA = 2
VA = 2
NC = 1
LA = 1
CT = 1
HI = 1
KS = 1
DC = 1

Expanding the recruiting base beyond the state of Utah is exactly how BYU will materially improve its recruiting rankings, not by beating the Ewetes for a couple of players in Utah.

And, to beat LSU in an NFL stadium in Texas on ESPN likely delivers a lot more mileage, even for recruiting, than beating the Ewetes.