BYU’s 2025 season showed what Kalani Sitake’s program is capable of. An AP Top 25 finish at No. 11 with 12 wins, a trip to the Big 12 Championship, and a Pop-Tarts Bowl win. And now, the recruiting receipts are coming in.

“I thought it was awesome,” On3’s Greg Biggins told @espnthefan. “I wish I had time to go back and look historically, but I believe it was a top-20 to top-25 class. It might be BYU’s highest-rated class in at least a decade, maybe longer.”

This, coming from someone who’s been around the block, isn’t a shallow evaluation. But it’s the balance that stood out for Biggins. Kalani Sitake looked for needs more than hype.

“For me, grading a class is about need, balance, and star power,” he added. “If you sign 12 receivers but needed offensive linemen, that’s not great roster construction. BYU filled needs everywhere. Quarterback, running back, tight end, skill players, line depth. It was balanced. It’s probably the best class I’ve seen BYU sign in a long, long time.”

Kalani Sitake signed a total of 21 high school players, which is an 89.00 composite average via 247Sports. It’s the highest in school history as they rank No. 21 nationally and No. 2 in the Big 12. In addition, BYU also brought in nine transfers with an 87.22 average composite ranking, No. 15 nationally in transfer average rating. Top transfers include Cal’s Cade Uluave, 247’s top-rated transfer LB, USC’s Walker Lyons, and Washington’s Paki Finau.

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The Cougars also added eight returned missionaries enrolling midyear. These missionaries mean older rosters, which ultimately means physical maturity. 

There’s always that chicken-and-egg debate. Do wins bring recruits, or do recruits bring wins? At BYU right now, it’s both. The program has experienced a cycle of 11-win seasons, 10-win seasons, a dip, and then seasons with 11 and 12 wins again. That’s return on investment that most top-20 recruiters would kill for. And Kalani Sitake is already proving why it worked for a couple of his players. 

Kalani Sitake sends two players to the combine 

The NFL is paying attention to a couple of BYU products. WR Chase Roberts and Jack Kelly are headed to Indianapolis for the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine. At 6’4, 210 pounds, Roberts earned it with his catch radius and downfield playmaking. The Combine gives him the track spikes and spotlight to confirm what Sundays might look like.

Kelly’s story might be even more telling. He transferred into BYU and became a first-team All-Big 12 LB in 2025. And remember what this 2025 team actually did. The Cougars had the No. 8 strength of record in ESPN’s FPI with 10 P4 wins, seven wins over teams with winning records, five against nine-win teams, and four on the road. Only national champ Indiana and CFP semifinalist Oregon had more wins over teams with winning records. They were that good. 

Nobody even came close to that resume in the Big 12. Kalani Sitake is stacking development and experience. So when Biggins says there’s no reason BYU shouldn’t live in that top-20 to top-25 recruiting range and compete for 9, 10, 11 wins consistently, he’s connecting dots.