Are the Cougars on the verge?

There have been excellent recruiting years in the past but it’s hard to line up one the caliber of what Bronco Mendenhall’s staff is expected to sign Feb. 4.

That is, if you believe in the star rating system by the gurus who assign such value to summer camp performances, measurements, scores, etc.

Even without some late signees, who are still unannounced, this should be a solid recruiting class, one of the best the Cougars have put together in some time.

If BYU signs linebacker Manti Teo out of Punahou School (Norm Chow’s alma mater) in Hawaii and Xavier Su’a-Filo from nearby Timpview and happend to hook up with Bingham linebacker L. T. Filiago of Bingham, it would be tough to find a class with more projected (by experts) talented players.

This past weekend, the Cougars received a 20th commitment when Layton TE-DE Thomas Bryson cast his lot with BYU over Stanford. The other guy making a trip with Bryson, Cody Hoffman, a receiver from northern California, also received an offer. He is featured in a story in his local newspaper. You can read the story here.

This story explains how BYU and Hoffman found one another. Apparently there is a guy, Terry Vance, who helps with some of the sports teams at Del Norte High, used to be a roomate of Bronco Mendenhall when both attended Oregon State. It was at the insistence of Vance, that Mendenhall looked at Hoffman’s tapes and made an invitation to campus.

The Hoffman/Bryson trip was small, but it got both prospects a lot of individual attention from the staff and others on campus. There are pluses and minuses to that. On the other hand, the Jan. 9-10 campus visitation by recruits, by design, was an effort to create relationships, electricity, excitement and friendships among recruits. BYU tries to set the stage and let natural chemistry take over.

In this regard, the Jan. 9-10 campus visit of 24 prospects, many of whom had already committed to BYU, delivered the exact chemistry the designers would have it do. By all reports, made public and private, there was a bond created by those on this visit which included Teo, Su’a-Filo and Filiaga.

It remains to be seen how this plays out in coming days and it might not be revealed until the letter of intent signing day. Anything could happen, especially when Teo still has a trip scheduled to USC. And when USC rolls out Hollywood, etc., anything can happen. I remember covering the recruitment of Escondido QB Sean Salisbury, who committed to LaVell Edwards on a Sunday after his BYU visit. Two days later on signing day, he signed with the Trojans.

I have not tried to chase down Teo at every twist and turn this year because, as I told other reporters, he got wise really early and started to filter or shut down calls and interviews, especially with Internet sites who routinely check on him after almost every offer, campus visit, home visit and game. He became less naiive about how his quotes were used and interpreted. So I don’t claim personal knowledge from him on where he is going to end up — only he knows that.

But I do have former classmates who live on the North Shore of Oahu, who attended school with me at Liahona High School in Tonga where parents of Reno Mahe, Wayne Latu, Kalani Sitake, Fahu Tahi and many others also grew up. I listen to what they have to say, and they claim no “absolute” inside knowledge about Teo.

But they do talk.

More than a week ago, I put Teo’s chances at signing with the Cougars about about 50 percent. I’ll up that to 80 percent today and that’s being conservative. I’d say Filiago has moved into the same realm. I won’t venture a guess on X right now, but I believe, if what I’ve learned, these guys are very tight and might all cast their lots to play with one another. This chemistry was in full bloom on campus two weeks ago and it might just hold out come Feb. 4.