Provo • BYU defensive ends coach Kelly Poppinga has been around some of the best defensive players in the country before.
When future NFL stars Fred Warner and Kyle Van Noy were freshmen in Provo, Poppinga was their outside linebackers coach.
A decade later, Poppinga thinks he has another player on their level.
Freshman linebacker Ephraim Asiata has caught Poppinga’s eye — and the coach says he might be a better athlete than those two Cougar greats.
“He’s a special athlete. I think even more — a different athlete than those guys,” Poppinga said, comparing him to Warner and Van Noy. “As far as just his change of direction and explosiveness, there is even another level with him there. That’s pretty impressive.”
Warner is arguably the best linebacker in the NFL right now. Van Noy won two Super Bowls and was named to the New England Patriots all-decade team of the 2010s.
When both players were at BYU, they played immediately, logged double-digit appearances and a handful of tackles. Poppinga isn’t sure if Asiata will have quite the same impact in year one. He is still gaining weight as he continues to recover from a gunshot wound he suffered two years ago while in high school. At one point, Asiata dropped to 150 pounds.
But Poppinga still wants to get him on the field. He has the ability to get after the quarterback even from the linebacker position. The pass rush is a need for this defense.
“We need to get him in that 210 to 215 [pound] range,” Poppinga said. “... We are going to have to find a role somehow, someway. Get him on the field. But he will be a special teams contributor and the kid just loves football. The weight part will come. I think he’s still trying to figure some things out nutritionally. But he’s going to be fine and we are not worried about that at all.”