First of all, BYU is a national brand to the extent that the brand is amongst Mormons. Yes, you get non mormons from outside of the state, but very seldom are they elite. We also get recruits from outside of the state, in fact, the vast majority of our skill position players over the years have come from outside of Utah, similarly, they are seldom of the elite variety.

Regarding the recruiting battle (star ranking variety), last year was clearly a better year for Utah, and the last 3 or so have been leaning toward Utah, even according to Scout.

The in-state development has been very interesting to watch, but I think it is too early to declare a signal in one direction or another. It seems like a slugfest every year for the in-state kids. That said, it never used to be that way, BYU almost always got whichever Utah kids it wanted. That is no longer the case. This is somewhat relevant because you have to recruit from mostly LDS kids, and there is a higher percentage of LDS kids in Utah than in other places.

HOWEVER and let me be clear about this. if Bronco is getting the types of kids he wants, BYU will be just fine. Utah has made its way back to relevance by recruiting kids that were the under the radar types. This still happens, and always will. BYU has done the same and it has served them well. The only reason that we even talk about these things is because it is the offseason and there is nothing else to talk about. I trust Whitt to get the types of players that he needs, I assume that you do that with Bronco as well.

Anything else is off season fodder and mostly irrelevant.