Eye on the Y: Is this really BYU football’s deepest position?

We’ve reached the bold proclamations phase of camp.

After three weeks of playing against one another, it is easy to focus on the good you’ve seen. This year, the boldest proclamation has come by way of cornerbacks coach Jernaro Gilford. Take a look.

“This is honestly, probably, the deepest BYU has ever been [at corner],” he said. “As long as I can remember, dating back to at least the 1995-96 time.”

Hmm.

It is not that BYU doesn’t have plenty of options at cornerback, because it does. But it’s fair to say BYU lacks proven depth at the position. Gilford has experience and institutional knowledge, but even he hasn’t seen what some of his players do against outside competition.

Here were the stats on BYU’s secondary last year: It ranked No. 72 in the country in passing defense. It gave up over 11 yards a completion and 14 touchdowns last year. Opponents averaged 231 passing yards a game, about the same as East Carolina and Florida State. For reference, East Carolina went 7-5 in the American and Florida State went 5-7.

And from that BYU group from last year, the cornerbacks actually lost more experience than they gained. Isaiah Herron and Keenan Ellis medically retired over the offseason. BYU brought in Vanderbilt transfer Gabe Jeudy-Lally, but he won’t even start to begin the year. Herron and Ellis had 53 games of experience under their belt. Jeudy-Lally has 23 appearances.

Right now, BYU is looking at Kaleb Hayes and D’Angelo Mandell as the starters. Jeudy-Lally will likely be a backup and Jakob Robinson is listed as the nickel. It is not a bad core, but the question was about depth. And after those four, there is a lot of unknown.

There are true freshmen Korbyn Green and Zion Allen. They are talented, but also have played zero college snaps. There is also junior college transfer Mory Bamba and Caleb Christensen. But Bamba was just added to the roster last week and Christensen remains off the roster as recently as last weekend.

This is not at all to say that the cornerback spot will be bad this year. It might be very talented, but for now there is not much experience to back up Gilford’s claim. Only the games will tell.

Wide receivers form a new top three

Coming into camp, it looked like it would be a three-way battle for the third wide receiving spot. It was going to be Kody Epps, Chase Roberts and Keanu Hill for the open position. Hill was the odds-on favorite to win the job.

After camp, that trio has changed up a bit. Brayden Cosper has leaped into the conversation, taking more and more reps with the first team. Roberts has also pushed Hill for supremacy. Epps has slowly gotten fewer reps as time has gone on.

So, now there is a bit of a reshuffling for the third receiver position. It still is Hill’s to lose, but Roberts and Cosper are closer behind. Epps might be out of the running at the moment.

Jacob Conover achieved his goal

We started this camp by saying Conover was on his last audition to show the coaching staff he could be the quarterback of the future. With starter Jaren Hall likely leaving after the season, and the Big 12 looming, this was Conover’s time.

Out of this camp, the coaches and players say he has achieved that goal. Conover was more accurate and calmer in the pocket. Even the jump from spring to fall has been quite noticeable.

“Jacob has really stood out and it is fun to play with him,” wide receiver Chase Roberts said. “Guys look at him differently now with the swag that he has. And it comes from making plays and he has made plays this fall.”

This could be the last we see from Conover until the spring of 2023. He will still compete with guys like Cade Fennegan and Ryder Burton, but for now it appears it is Conover’s job to lose. That is not something people were saying just a couple weeks ago.