Was 2002 Y.'s best recruiting class?

PROVO — On national letter-of-intent day last February, BYU football coach Gary Crowton stood before the media and sported a glowing smile.

Who could blame him? Weeks after posting a 12-2 record in his debut season, Crowton hauled in what was widely hailed as the best recruiting class — at least on paper — in school history.

"I want to recognize the coaches who have worked so hard to make this one of the best recruiting classes ever at BYU," he said.

That pronouncement came despite the signing-day loss of Highland High's Haloti Ngata, one of the nation's top-rated prep defensive linemen. He had verbally committed to the Cougars but eventually picked Oregon over BYU.

Ngata may have been the one that got away, but there were other big catches for the Cougars. The 2002 class was highlighted by the nation's top-rated high school quarterback, Ben Olson. Some recruiting analysts called Olson the top recruit overall, regardless of position.

Collectively, it was an impressive assemblage of talent. According to Insider.com, BYU's class was ranked No. 22 in the nation, just ahead of "BCS" programs like Kansas State, Louisiana State and Florida. The Cougars also had the third-best junior college recruiting class, according to collegefootballnews.com.

Who would have guessed at that time that BYU was heading into its worst football season in nearly 30 years?

As it turned out, very few of those 24 athletes who affixed their signatures to letters of intent last winter helped a team that finished with a dismal 5-7 record in the fall of 2002.

That such a scant number of new recruits played last season is not surprising. Nor is it unusual. As is typical of almost every BYU football recruiting class, several players did not qualify academically while several others redshirted. A handful went on missions (see accompanying chart).

In large part because of the LDS Church missionary program, the Cougar coaching staff must take a delayed-gratification approach to recruiting. The hype surrounding each recruiting class is tempered by the knowledge that it takes a number of years for many of the recruits to contribute. "We've learned to be patient," said BYU recruiting coordinator Mike Empey.

Talk about patience. The following players (some are slated to start in 2003) signed with the Cougars way back in 1997 — Aissac Aiono, Toby Christensen, Jason Kukahiko, Todd Mortensen, Matt Payne, Brandon Stephens, Mike Tanner, Rod Wilkerson and Bill Wright.