So, just throwing this out there, but are we sleeping on Elijah Crawford as a new men's BB commit?

I think the conventional wisdom so far about the recruits that Coach Young and staff have signed is that Elijah Crawford was a fairly easy target since he had a pre-existing relationship with Coach Brandon Dunson. I think there's a lot more to be excited about with Elijah Crawford. Why?

* Coach Young has said that his offensive philosophy is centered most strongly in having a dynamic point guard who can make plays for himself and his teammates - at least, his best offenses have featured that type of player (example - Chris Paul). So, his thinking is to look for a "Chris Paul" type of talent for point guard - and he picked up Elijah Crawford for this role.

* Brandon Dunson said recently, if I remember the quote, that they felt the Elijah Crawford commit was a big deal because "they felt he was the best HS point guard in America" - so to speak, rough interpretation. Though he is rated as the 9th-best point guard nationally (so, a Top 10 recruit at his position) in the 2024 class, our coaching staff rated him differently perhaps - as "the best." And, this is Chris Paul and Devin Booker's former coach making the assessment.

* Crawford ranks as the 6th-highest recruit in BYU history. Almost Top 5 in history at least during the time of recruiting rankings. In his recent recruitment, he turned down Kansas and Bill Self to come to BYU. Blue-blood Kansas - for BYU. He has a high IQ - 4.0 student.

* Crawford's statistics at Brewster Academy are good but not eye-popping, at 12.1 points per game and 5.3 assists per game - until you watch his game. He is the definition of a 3-level scorer. Two things stand out about his offensive game. (1) He is a very efficient offensive player - takes smart shots, finishes well. (2) He is a really good 3-point shooter - partly because of his shot selection. He is already basically a 50/40/90 offensive player, with his last year at Brewster Academy averaging 46% from the field, 40% from three, and 90 percent free throw shooting, depending on the stats you read. Another summary had him at 53% field goal percentage with 49% three-point shooting in his most recent season. That's great 3-point shooting in what was very high-level league.

We all are smart enough to not get overly excited about a recruit until he actually is able to step on the court and contribute at BYU - but, I think this is a very exciting recruit maybe we are sleeping on a bit. I think the hype is low-key right now but Elijah Crawford has great potential to be a huge contributor to the program.