How High Could BYU Football's 2026 Recruiting Class Rank?

The BYU football program is currently in the middle of a pivotal recruiting weekend. The Cougars are hosting 16 players on campus this weekend for official visits, including 10 prospects that are not committed to BYU. This weekend will shape the foundation of BYU's potentially historic 2026 class.

In this article, we're pulling out our spreadsheets to project just how high this 2026 BYU class could end up by signing day.

The Worst-Case Scenario

As of right now, BYU has 12 commits. BYU will certainly end up with more than 12 commits in the 2026 recruiting class. We're not going to spend much time on the worst-case scenario since, frankly, the worst-case scenario is the least likely of all three scenarios. If BYU adds just the four lowest-rated players form the current group of official visitors and adds no more commits, BYU would finish with 197 points. Last year, that would have ranked 55th nationally.

Compared to recruiting classes in the independence era, a class ranked 55th would have been excellent. Fast forward to today and a good recruiting class in the independence era looks like the floor for the 2026 BYU recruiting class.

The Best-Case Scenario

The best-case scenario starts to get pretty exciting for the BYU football program. If BYU lands the majority of the players in attendance this weekend, including five-star Ryder Lyons, the 2026 class could be the highest-ranked class in BYU history.

Players like Jax Tanner and Kaue Akana, who will likely be four-star recruits by signing day, could also commit to the Cougars. Then there are high three-star players like Lopeti Moala, Aisa Galea'i and Nehemiah Kolone. The recruiting wins could really start to stack up after this weekend of official visits.

In the best-case scenario, BYU could also use the momentum of this weekend to flip a couple coveted recruits during the season or near signing day. The last several years, BYU has been able to capitalize on the coaching carousel and bring in impact players close to signing day (LJ Martin, Alai Kalaniuvalu, Nusi Taumoepeau, etc.). It's reasonable to expect a similar outcome for the 2026 class.

If those stars align, BYU could end up with 25+ commits and 230-235 points which would put their class in the top 25, somewhere in the 20-25 range.

That would be the highest-ranked recruiting class for BYU since the star system was implemented. BYU's 2010 class ranked 30th, a program best.

The Most Likely Scenario

At this point, BYU has built a solid foundation for this class. The foundation of the class combined with the current momentum BYU has on the recruiting trail, we believe BYU will end closer to the best-case scenario than the worst-case scenario. We expect BYU to add anywhere from 10-12 more players before signing day, including some very coveted recruits.

Our most likely projection would put BYU at 222 points. That would have ranked 30th nationally last year. That would be tied for the best recruiting class in BYU history.

That class would include commitments from Ryder Lyons, Jax Tanner, Graham Livingston, Nehemiah Kolone, Lopeti Moala, Braxton Lindsey, and Kaue Akana among others.