BYU football recruiting: How does the 2024 class look? Who is Maealiuaki Smith? And where do the Cougars need the most work?

June 20, 2023, 12:00 p.m. Updated: 2:41 p.m. June is a critical month in the recruiting calendar as programs jockey to position themselves for the first signing day in December. For some, it is a month dedicated to maintenance and keeping top recruits committed. Notre Dame, Michigan and Georgia fall into that category. Each has hosted their nearly complete 2024 signing class already this month — with at least 19 commitments each — making sure they don’t flip. For other programs, June is dedicated to being on the hunt. If you don’t have your work done, the early summer is all about making your pitch in person to recruits. Texas, for example, went into June with just three commitments on the ledger. Washington had one. For BYU’s part, it has to be the aggressor, too. The Cougars currently have seven commitments, with four who announced their pledge in the first two weeks of June. It is a class headlined by four-star tight end Ryner Swanson, who picked the Cougars over Texas, Oregon and Utah. BYU also has an early quarterback prospect in this class, Enoch Watson out of Arizona. But the remaining few weeks will have a lot of say in how the Cougars round out this 2024 class. The biggest name to watch is Maealiuaki Smith, a three-star quarterback out of San Mateo, Calif. He visited Provo two weeks ago and was in Stillwater last weekend. A commitment from Smith — with a decision potentially coming as soon as this week, according to sources — would be a big boost to BYU’s Big 12 recruiting. Here are a couple of key points of where the 2024 class stands. Where does BYU rank? Starting with the overall outlook, BYU ranks No. 62 in the country right now, according to 247Sports. Obviously, the rankings don’t carry that much weight at this stage because of how much fluctuation there is between schools. For example, you could look at Minnesota — the current No. 9 — and see it has 23 commitments. Or you could look at Texas — currently No. 63 — and see it has four commitments. Texas will move up as it gets more pledges. Some of the rankings are a numbers game at this point. But still, it is good to get the broad picture. Perhaps the better measure for now is the quality of the commitments BYU has in its limited sample size. BYU has one four-star recruit in Swanson and five three-star recruits. Every recruit in this class is rated except for one: Thomas Prassas, a safety out of Arizona. Watson, the quarterback out of Queen Creek, Ariz., was unrated when he committed but recently bumped up to a three-star by 247Sports. Also, some of these June commitments have picked BYU over competing offers. Swanson is obviously the best example of this. He had Texas and Oregon competing for his services. But it also extends to a player like Siosefa Brown, an edge rusher from Highland High School in Salt Lake. He had Utah and Cal on his offer list and chose BYU. Overall, it is a good sign. In the past, it has been well-documented that BYU has gone after unrated and lightly recruited players. Part of that is circumstance, where many BYU athletes commit early and don’t get many offers. Another part is just the nature of how difficult it can be to land high-level recruits with the Honor Code restrictions. Swanson, it should be noted, is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and intends to serve a mission. It is early, and only time will tell, but there are some initial positive signs on that front. What is the quarterback situation in the 2024 class, and what is the deal with Maealiuaki Smith? The biggest name to watch for in the coming days will be Smith. Not only because he is a 6-foot-4 quarterback who can run and throw, but also because of what Smith represents for BYU. His recruitment was a direct Big 12 battle with Oklahoma State. And BYU has made him a top priority this cycle. This is an opportunity for the Cougars to flex their muscle a bit on the recruiting trail and see if their best pitch can hang. If there is any position where BYU does have juice on the recruiting trail it is quarterback. Offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick has put two signal callers in the NFL draft — Zach Wilson and Jaren Hall — and is hoping to put Kedon Slovis in that category as well. BYU already has a quarterback this cycle in Watson. But Watson intends to take an LDS Church mission and likely won’t join BYU until 2026. Smith will be the traditional 2024 recruit. Outside of Smith, BYU has had a busy couple of weeks at the quarterback spot. It missed out on Isaac Wilson, who ended up at Utah. However, most people around the program did not expect Wilson to come to Provo in the last few months. Other quarterbacks also fell through the cracks. Luke Moga committed to Oregon. Demond Williams remained committed to Ole Miss. Anthony Maddox remained committed to Texas A&M. So it makes Smith the top of the list right now. If BYU does miss on Smith, it has some other options. Carson Su’esu’e, a 6-foot-5 QB who will play at Granger High School this year, is in the mix. EJ Caminong, a quarterback out of Washington, is another name that has been thrown around. However, he just canceled an official visit to Provo that was supposed to take place this week. It could partly be in relation to Smith, sources said. Where does BYU need work? To be fair, with only seven commitments thus far, this class is thin in a number of spots. But the glaring place are offensive skill positions. There are no running backs or receivers on the board yet for BYU. It has a number of offers out (at least eight receivers and five running backs) but no movement. Of note at the running back position, BYU has hit Texas hard. It offered Johann Cardenas, a four-star RB out of Houston. It also offered two Dallas-area players from Lewisville and Frisco (although Frisco RB Harry Stewart already committed to Kansas). On the receivers front, two names that fans might be familiar with are Gatlin Bair and Tei Nacua. Bair is one of the fastest high school players in the country and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He ran a 10.25 100-meter dash and recently was in Provo running at the BYU Invitational. He has offers from Oregon, Michigan and TCU. But BYU should have a shot. Nacua needs no introduction. He is the brother of Puka and Samson Nacua and is currently rated a three-star prospect. He has offers from Utah and San Diego State. The one who got away? BYU has only had one decommitment thus far: three-star linebacker Easton Baker. Baker is from Tooele, and had offers from Oklahoma and Illinois. He ended up at Illinois after committing to the Cougars. In the month of June, decommitments are sometimes just as important as commitments. It will be something to watch going forward. What about the rest of the Big 12 newcomers? Let’s round things out with another big-picture question. At least on a national level, it’s been predicted that BYU will see the smallest Big 12 bump in recruiting out of all the incoming schools because of the inherent barriers to recruiting in Provo (Honor Code restrictions and the religious affiliation). This recruiting class won’t answer that question. It will take several years and a much larger body of information. But we can just look at where the rest of the incoming members stand today. For now, Cincinnati leads the way with 10 commitments and the highest-rated class. UCF follows with seven commitments, headlined by four-star running back Stacy George, who chose Orlando over Alabama and Arkansas. BYU is currently ahead of Houston, which only has one commitment at the moment.