The 2018 Utah team had something like 5-6 draft picks. It was awesome but something of a trend for Utah.

The immediate BYU fan presumption was that Utah would collapse with the lack of talent and permanently fall to the bottom of the barrel BYU fans have been expecting / hoping / predicting since 2005.

Utah 2019 was the opposite. Excellent team. Terrific accomplishments. But like most Utah teams, Qb/Wr units were good but not great. That limited Utah's potential against big passing attack offenses. (Once again, the BYU narrative was that even though Utah crushed expectations, it didn't finish top 5 and therefore disappointing. Lol.)

Utah, once again, unloaded a ton of talent to the NFL.

But this time, the impact of winning and of NFL placement helped Utah to start winning increasingly more head to head battles for elite recruits. Guys they never had a chance at 3+ years ago.

Now...yes...the Utes are rebuilding everywhere. Freshmen and sophomores in every unit. You're right, it's a great year to rebuild. And Utah is doing it with better talent than ever before. That's a great sign that most BYU's won't pick up on. They'll just see Utah drop games and think the whole program is falling apart.

Even with better talent, I still don't think Utah will have the consistent passing attack needed to run the table in a 9-game conference schedule. So I don't see Utah in the playoff hunt much. But 9/10 win seasons, maybe a Rose Bowl. Possible.