Speaking of Utah and the talent level. Let's look at CU as a comparison. In the last 5 classes which represent their current roster, their classes have come in with a #32, #37, #44 and 2 classes outside the top 50. No one here is going to say that recruiting under Hawkins was anywhere close to CU's normal level. We had a #15, #32, #48 and 2 classes outside the top 50. Obviously, this doesn't account for transfers in or out, guys who didn't make it into school, guys who were signed after NSD, guys who were lost to injury, or guys who went on a mission and haven't arrived yet. But it's a good baseline for comparison.
Here's what the Pac-12 South looked like for the past 5 years (best classes to worst):
UA: 37, 39, 44, 45, >50
ASU: 21, 30, 35, 45, >50
CU: 15, 32, 48, >50, >50
UCLA: 8, 13, 14, 40, 45
USC: 1, 2, 4, 4, 8
UU: 32, 37, 44, >50, >50
For comparison, here are Boise State's rankings:
BSU: >50, >50, >50, >50, >50
No way in hell that BSU has the depth of talent to deal with the grind of playing a 9-game conference schedule in a BCS conference.
And, fwiw, CU might be the 4th most talented team in the South this year (USC, UCLA, ASU, CU, UA, UU). USC's ineligible to win it and has issues from the scholarship reductions, UCLA is a mess, and ASU is a team that could be great or implode. There's opportunity here to surprise some folks.