Looking at BYU’s roster, it’s evident that the offense is in a better position than the defense.
At what is arguably the biggest position battle with the quarterbacks, coaches have said, at this point, any one of the three could start.
Running backs? There’s the 1-2 punch from Tyler Allgeier and Lopini Katoa, which is backed up by others like Sione Finau, Jackson McChesney and more. Wide receivers? You’ve got Gunner Romney, Neil Pau’u, Samson and Puka Nacua and a handful of other athletes that could be used early in the season. Tight end? Isaac Rex is backed up by Masen Wake, Dallin Holker, Carter Wheat and others.
The line was the one position to get hit the hardest in regards to the amount of talent lost, but the Cougars have James Empey as the heir apparent and are building the line around their center.
So, what about the defense?
Ask coaches and players and they will say they’re not that far behind on that side of the ball. Through the first five days of fall camp, the practices have been scripted. The Cougars are just now heading into more game-like situations to really test their players.
“We were just trying, in the first little bit, trying to establish a foundation of guys knowing the plays and their assignments, how their alignments are supposed to be and the technique they have to utilize,” coach Kalani Sitake said after Wednesday’s practice. “Now, it’s putting it all together and having it be different times and not having to be so scripted. Before, the scripts were all situational. Now, we’re going to go with the flow and go with the plays.”
Now, coaches will truly get a sense of whether the defense is in fact behind the offense and, if so, plan how to get them to catch up. Luckily for the coaching staff, there’s still experience in the defense, most notably in the corner back room.
Sitake said the key is that everyone learns at their own pace, so the coaching staff will need to hurry up a little to make sure the defense is at the same level as the offense, which seemingly is one step ahead.
“It’s not a very patient work when you’re dealing with coaches, but we have to utilize the time,” Sitake said. “So … we have to ramp it up a little bit more.”
According to the post-spring depth chart, the Cougars seem to have their most veteran defensive players in the starting roles. On the line there’s Lorenzo Fauatea, Tyler Batty, Earl Tuioti-Mariner, Atuanaisa Mahe and Uriah Leiataua. All but Batty have multiple seasons under their belt.
Batty was having a great true freshman season, having totaled 13 tackles and a team-high four sacks, before being sidelined with an injury after just four games. The freshman recognized that the defense lost plenty of talent (Khyiris Tonga, Zac Dawe, Bracken El-Bakri and Isaiah Kaufusi to name a few), but knows the younger guys will need to take advantage of reps in camp.
However, after the projected starters, there’s not much proven talent on the defensive line. In the linebacker room, there’s some proven names like Keenan Pili, Max Tooley, Payton Wilgar and Pepe Tanuvasa, but depending on what packages the Cougars use, there’s also not many players with a substantial amount of game-time experience.
And Batty, who is healthy once more, is taking the challenge to have the defense catch up personally.
“Especially for the guys who were here last year, who played alongside Khyiris and Zac and Braken, they are big shoes to fill,” Batty said. “I think everyone, even the young guys that didn’t play or really don’t know those guys, I think everyone takes it very seriously and very personally when it comes time to prep and be ready and fill the role that they need to.”
