BYU football lands 27 on Signing Day, vaults into a Top 25 recruiting class for 2010 - Video

BYU signee and highly touted quarterback Jake Heaps is ready to take over for Max Hall. Photo/Bleacher Report

The BYU Cougars don’t play around when it comes to recruiting. Cougars head coach Bronco Mendenhall is known for giving potential players the same pep talk when they first meet him in his Provo campus office.

It seems that 27 of BYU’s 36 targets listened, including Jake Heaps, a quarterback from Skyline (Issaquah, Wash.) HS that several recruiting services and Web sites had as their No. 1 pro-style prospect. Heaps will already participate in BYU’s spring practices and is the odds-on favorite to replace Max Hall as the No. 1 quarterback.

That wasn’t all the Cougars did on draft day, however. A draft class that Scout.com has ranked as the 22nd best in all the land picked up other Top 25 athletes at their position. Offensive lineman Blair Tushaus of Notre Dame Prep (Scottsdale, Ariz.), ranked the 15th best at his position by Scout.com, somehow got away from the Fighting Irish--as has been the case for the Golden Domers all day--and signed with BYU.

That wasn’t the only one. Wide receiver Ross Apo whom Scout.com ranks 13th also signed with BYU out of The Oakridge School, a program out of Arlington, Texas that ended the day watching its players become Cougars. Three players, including defensive lineman Tayo Fabuluje and linebacker Teu Kautai, made the jump to BYU.

But Oakridge wasn’t the only private school helping BYU out; Oaks Christian High School in California was another, as two more players signed their letters of intent to play at Utah’s only private Division I school. Most notably, No. 8 ranked middle linebacker Zac Stout signed with the Cougars and he chose BYU over Nebraska and Washington. Defensive lineman Graham Rowley of Waialua (Hawaii) HS, No. 11 in the country at his position, rounded out the out-of-state talent ranked in the Top 20 by Scout.com.

The Cougars also loaded up on Utah talent ranked in the Top 20 by Rivals.com, securing the No. 1 prospect in the state, 6-foot-6 defensive lineman Bronson Kaufusi of Timpview (Provo) HS. The son of BYU assistant Jeff, Kaufusi, as well as two-thirds of the players that were listed by the Web site, put pen to paper in deference to the Provo school.

Another player to watch for will be linebacker Kyle Van Noy, a 6-foot-4, 209-pound highlight film out of McQueen HS in Reno, Nevada. Van Noy was courted by Boise State, California and UCLA and others during the recruiting process.

2010 BYU Football Signees (in alphabetical order)

 Jordan Afo DL 6-4 300 Salt Lake City, Utah/Cottonwood HS

Ross Apo WR 6-4 190 Arlington, Texas/The Oakridge School

Jordan Black OL 6-7 235 Sandy, Utah/Alta HS

Algernon Brown RB 6-1 205 Salt Lake City, Utah/Skyline HS

Tayo Fabuluje DL 6-6 255 Arlington, Texas/The Oakridge School

Alani Fua DL/TE 6-5 210 Westlake Village, Calif./Oaks Christian HS

Kori Gaines DB 5-9 170 Loganville, Ga./Grayson HS

Jacob Hannemann DB 6-1 190 Highland, Utah/Lone Peak HS

Jake Heaps QB 6-2 205 Issaquah, Wash./Skyline HS

Toloa’I Ho-Ching LB 6-0 225 Sandy, Utah/Alta HS

Jordan Johnson DB 5-10 175 North Andover, Mass./Brooks School

Tuni Kanuch OL 6-1 285 South Jordan, Utah/Bingham HS

Bronson Kaufusi DL 6-6 220 Provo, Utah/Timpview HS

Teu Kautai LB 6-1 200 Arlington, Texas/The Oakridge School

Collin Keoshian LB 6-2 225 Canyon Country, Calif./Santa Clarita Christian

AJ Moore RB 5-10 190 Murrieta, Calif./Murrieta Valley HS

Manu Mulitalo OL 6-3 305 West Valley City, Utah/Granger HS

Joey Owens LB 6-2 215 Pleasant Grove, Utah/Pleasant Grove HS

Drew Phillips RB 6-0 175 Boaz, Ala./Boaz HS

Joshua Quezada RB 5-11 210 La Habra, Calif./La Habra HS

Graham Rowley DL 6-4 270 Waialua, Hawaii/Waialua HS

Bryan Sampson TE 6-4 210 Pleasant Grove, Utah/Pleasant Grove HS

Zac Stout LB 6-2 220 Westlake Village, Calif./Oaks Christian HS

Sae Tautu LB 6-3 215 Highland, Utah/Lone Peak HS

Travis Tuiloma DL 6-3 290 Topeka, Kan./Washburn Rural HS

Blair Tushaus OL 6-2 270 Scottsdale, Ariz./Notre Dame Prep.

*Kyle Van Noy LB 6-4 209 Reno, Nev./McQueen HS

*Member of the 2009 recruiting class

For more around-the-clock Signing Day coverage:

National Examiner/College Football Hub Page

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