At the time that LaVell built up the program, the Y was getting all the LDS players they went after with few exceptions. That built the program. What leveled it off was McBride embracing the mission thing and the Poly pipeline in the 90's. We still out recruited them back then but it leveled it.

If BYU was just a state school in provo it would not be the university it is today and would not have ever been invited to a big conference because they would still be everybody's homecoming game, just like Utah used to be before they figured out that if you can't beat them, join them and watered down the playing field.