Recruiting now. One of the reasons is that contrary to the OP’s claims there is more, and better, talent and competition in Utah than there has ever been before. That is attracting out of state schools to recruit that talent. Another is that Utah now gets their cut of the top talent instate and even USU gets some of it.

And if you say that the talent USU gets instate isn’t good enough my take on that is that those players now going to USU and starting used to go to BYU and provide depth. I think BYU’s biggest issue is a lack of quality depth. They can generally compete with all but the absolutely best schools with their starters but when they are forced to go to the bench it drops off drastically. That depth they used to get by getting all of the best instate players, and truthfully they used to get most of the best players from Idaho as well, now goes to Utah state or other places and doesn’t stay home.

I’ll give you a personal example, my son is the top rated qb recruit in the state of Utah this year, he could have stayed home and provided depth, and maybe even become a starter, at BYU or Utah but instead he elected to take a scholarship at Hawaii instead. In past years that probably wouldn’t have happened, that type of kid would have stayed home. And there are others leaving as well rather than being depth at local schools.

Recruits are just more aware of their options than they used to be, and schools from other states are coming here and offering them opportunities because they recognize that the talent is here. That’s the irony, more talent than ever but it provides BYU with less depth than it used to because more schools pursue that talent.