Looking to the future: BYU football adds four more athletes to 2025 class on signing day
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- Lone Peak’s Landon Goff returns a kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown against Skyridge in a 6A football semifinal game at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024.
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- BYU head coach Kalani Sitake (left) answers a question while defensive coordinator Jay Hill looks on during the signing day press teleconference in Provo on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025.
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- BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick (left) answers a question while head coach Kalani Sitake (center) and defensive coordinator Jay Hill look on during the signing day press teleconference in Provo on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025.
After having 18 high school athletes sign to join the BYU football team in early, the Cougars noted that would be the bulk of their class but added they would continue looking for more good fits.
Apparently four other players — Lone Peak defensive back Landon Goff, running back McKay Madsen from Clovis, Calif., and defensive back Jordyn Criss and tight end Jacob Nye from the state of Texas — met those requirements.
Those four athletes added their names to the 2025 BYU football recruiting class on signing day on Wednesday and the Cougars are confident they will become valuable contributors.
“I’m really excited about the second signing day and the guys that we’re bringing to the program, along with the return missionaries and also the young men that we got in the transfer portal,” BYU head coach Kalani Sitake said in Wednesday’s press teleconference.
Goff was the only addition from Utah but Cougar defensive coordinator Jay Hill likes the athleticism Goff will bring when he returns from a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“We love his length and his speed,” Hill said. “He’ll play safety, although in high school, he played corner and was one of the best playmakers in the state last year.
“We had him in summer camp and I’ve been watching him over the years. He fits our program perfectly. He’s fast. Last year he ran a 10.9-second 100 meters, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s much faster than that this year. He gives us length and speed at the safety group and that’s exactly what we’re needing for the future in the Big 12.”
The other defensive player BYU is Criss, who is another guy who Hill believes has the right traits to be great in the secondary.
“He has great length, great speed,” Hill said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s competing with some of the faster guys in the state of Texas this year in track. We’re super excited about him, his playmaking and the length that he adds to our secondary.”
Hill might’ve been the one to talk about Madsen too since he was a standout linebacker in high school, but Roderick said the BYU offense loves what the California native brings to the offense.
“We really like him at running back but he also plays wildcat quarterback and is a really good receiver,” Roderick said. “He does everything and guys like that are fun to coach because there are so many different things you can do with them. You can literally line him up anywhere on the field, and he can do a lot of things to help you win games. He’s extremely explosive and the guy can run.”
Although the value of recruiting rankings is questionable, Madsen is the highest-rated recruit in BYU’s class this year and is another example of how the Cougars are getting elite talent to consider coming to Provo straight out of high school.
“It’s recruiting and we can only do our part,” Sitake said. “There’s the other side of it, where with the families and their group they figure out where they want to go and what’s the best fit for them. We can only do our part and show what we’ve got, but I can tell you one thing: we have a really good team.”
He said the attitude around the program after BYU’s solid 2024 campaign where the Cougars went 11-2, tied for the regular-season Big 12 title and finished ranked No. 14 in the nation in the AP Poll was that they can still improve in a lot of areas.
“I was with the defense and Jay Hill kept saying over and over again that we should have been so much better,” Sitake said. “Then I go over to the offensive side and I hear A-Rod (Roderick) saying ‘we should have done so much better.’ There are a lot of things that are very fixable. That’s what we’re going to try to work on from here to the end of spring and get to that position.”
Rounding out Wednesday’s additions is Nye, who Roderick said might get some opportunities at tight end sooner rather than later.
“Everybody we signed this year are good receivers,” Roderick said. “It’s no secret we would like to throw the ball at the tight end more. It didn’t work out last year because that’s just not really who our guys were. I’m excited about each one of them and the guys that are already here. We already know a little bit about what they can do and it’s a good group.”
Between signings and transfers, BYU has added 30 players to the program. Some are already in Provo, while others won’t join the team for a couple of years.
Sitake said the goal is to build on what they’ve already done and get even better in all areas, on and off the field.
“We just keep the culture rolling,” Sitake said. “This culture is not just built on victories. It’s built on what we can get accomplished every day and then being our best selves. We’ll keep working on that and then staying humble, making sure our guys are always working hard like they are in the offseason.”
