The past four years, his strategy has been to evaluate and offer early. He began holding Junior Days earlier than competitors, a day prospects are invited at their own expense to visit camps. His spring practice and Blue and White Game occurred earlier than most schools', another event prospects could visit on their own.

When media, specifically the Internet folks, chiseled out detailed highlights of prospects at BYU's Junior Day and his summer camps, it neutralized some of that "jump" his staff believed they got on lesser-publicized prospects.

This didn't apply to big-time recruits like Heaps, LB Zac Stout or WR Ross Apo, who have been national recruits for more than a year. But it did cover the under-evaluated, those listed by Scout.com and others as one-star prospects simply because information profiles remained undone.

"We need to protect our own evaluations and maintain our advantage," is how Mendenhall explained it to me on June 1 at a charity golf event in Salt Lake City.

Three days later, Heaps held his press conference at Iggys in Salt Lake City with Stout and Apo one day before BYU's Junior Day. At that time, BYU had nine oral commitments for 2010 — twice as many as any other MWC school — led by Timpview defensive end Bronson Kaufusi, who declared way back in 2007.

Since Heaps Day, as it will be known, BYU has collected 10 commitments from 2010 recruits, essentially twice as many as a year ago, a class that collectively acted very early.

The 19 BYU commits for 2010 is second only to Stanford and ties Texas at this early date.

While No. 10-ranked Bronson Kaufusi and his Timpview program are a well-established BYU recruiting stop, Pleasant Grove in North Utah County became a target for 2010.

At Timpview, sons of staff have been on the team allowing legal NCAA access to games. At Pleasant Grove, quarterback Brandon Doman has connections including older brother Kevin, whose son D.J. played for the Vikings. That triggered interest in many Viking prospects years ago. Those included Stanford-bound QB Dallas Lloyd, DE Sefa Tanoa'I, whom BYU offered, and commits TE Bryan Sampson and LB Joey Owens.

Stars may mean nothing.

But Mendenhall, it seems, is getting an impressive constellation anyway.

E-MAIL: dharmon@desnews.com