Idaho lands three-star linebacker Brysen Wilkinson over New Mexico offer

Idaho won a late-June recruiting battle that feels bigger than one commitment, landing Gilbert, Arizona linebacker Brysen Wilkinson over a New Mexico FBS offer and adding another measurable defender to a 2027 class with Western roots. The 6-foot-3, 205-pound three-star prospect committed to the Vandals on June 21 after building a spring relationship with defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Lee Stalker.

Wilkinson’s first Division I offer came from Idaho in May, and that early pull mattered. By the time he took his official visit to Moscow on June 18, he already had a clear sense of how the Vandals planned to use him and how the staff viewed his development as both a player and a person. Head coach Thomas Ford Jr. and Stalker sold him on a culture built around honesty and a family atmosphere, and Wilkinson’s decision followed the kind of trust that has become central to Idaho’s recent recruiting pitch.

The commitment gives Idaho a linebacker with real production and multiple ways to affect a game. Wilkinson finished last season at Higley High School with 56 tackles, five pass breakups, two sacks, an interception and a forced fumble as Higley went 7-5 and reached the second round of the Arizona Interscholastic Association Class 6A playoffs. MaxPreps lists him as a senior in the Class of 2027, while his football profile also tags him as a safety and outside linebacker, and it shows he competes in track and field as well. On3 identifies him as a Higley linebacker recruit.

That profile fits the way Idaho has been assembling its 2027 class. The Vandals already had multiple Western recruits on the board, and Wilkinson adds another Arizona name to a group that is stretching beyond the Northwest without abandoning familiar territory. For a program trying to sell itself as more than a regional afterthought, beating out an FBS offer for an Arizona defender carries weight. It signals that Idaho’s staff is not just filling a class; it is building a recruiting footprint that can reach into talent-rich states and win with development, fit and a direct path to the field.