BYU started a center that had never snapped the ball before in a football game. Here’s why it worked out for the Cougars

Provo • A few days before spring camp opened in March, Bruce Mitchell received a worrying text.

The fourth-year BYU defensive lineman met often with his position coach, but he’d never had the team’s defensive coordinator call him in to talk.

His mind spiraled, worrying about what Cougar coordinator Jay Hill could want. For Mitchell, a guy who had logged only 179 career snaps, and hadn’t been recruited by Hill, everything was on the table.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” Mitchell said.

When he found out, Mitchell could exhale a sigh of relief when Hill proposed that he change positions.

And the Cougars, who just lost starting center to Connor Pay to injury, are breathing easier now, too.

Pay’s injury might have threatened to derail BYU’s undefeated season, but Mitchell slotted in seamlessly last week in a win over Arizona. BYU scored 41 points, breezed past the Wildcats and Mitchell was the highest-graded lineman on the team.

Not bad for a guy who had never snapped the ball in a game in his life.

But Hill and the Cougars believed Mitchell had the ability to be a good lineman on the offensive side of the ball. In their meeting last spring, Hill explained that BYU’s roster was shaping up and the offensive line needed depth. Naturally, the staff looked to their defensive line for candidates. And Mitchell’s name kept coming up to make the transition.

“I really felt strongly that Bruce would be a better offensive lineman than maybe his role on defense,” Hill said. “He’s strong, plays with leverage and can get his pads down. … He had the attributes.”

He also had a good mentor.

When Mitchell left Hill’s office last March, one of the first things he did was go into a room with Pay and put on the film. He had to learn an entirely new playbook — and relearn how to see the game.

On the defensive line, Mitchell was used to looking for gaps and timing up when to hit them.

But now, he needed to spot tendencies pre-snap and see which blitz packages were coming. He had to learn which protections were best in each situation. Every little detail had to be monitored, down to which defensive front the other team presented.

“He’s trying to teach me how he watches film in preparation for teams, you know, seeing the blitzes, the tendencies,” Mitchell said. “ID’ing fronts, pass protections.”

When spring camp began, offensive line coach TJ Woods slotted Mitchell mainly at guard. He worked him in as the third-string center. But playing guard would take the pressure off at first, Woods thought. Mitchell could still have Pay call out the protections and remove some of the burden.

It bought Mitchell some time to get his feet under him — something he desperately needed.

Even dating back to high school at Kamas, Mitchell specialized on the defensive side of the ball. He played maybe a few offensive line snaps, but that’s not where he saw himself long-term.

Out of high school, Southern Utah wanted to add him to its defensive line. Mitchell waited to accept, hoping BYU would notice him. He went to BYU’s summer camp and then-defensive coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki finally gave him a chance. The day Tuiaki extended a scholarship, Mitchell signed on within hours.

But at the time, offense was out of the question.

“It’s a testament to Bruce what he’s been able to do,” Woods said. “We got him in the spring and he was just willing and able. Connor spent a lot of time with him trying to get him ready, trying to get him caught up.”

It all set up a dramatic story. Two weeks ago, Pay left the Baylor game with a foot injury. In his place, Sonny Makasini finished at center. But Makasini was too banged up to go against Arizona.

It fell to Mitchell to start at center and help keep BYU’s undefeated season alive.

“We always have the quarterbacks and centers warm up before practice. I was doing that a little bit [before Arizona],” Mitchell said with a smile, summing up the entirety of his snapping experience before last week.

“In practice, probably snapped like 30 or 40 plays … maybe,” Mitchell said more seriously. “And then it was like, ‘We’re down guys again, so figure it out.’ ... Connor was one of the biggest helps in the transition.”

BYU ended up running the ball for nearly 150 yards against Arizona and the offensive line kept Retzlaff from getting sacked.

“He was joking more than me before the game,” Retzlaff said.

Mitchell wasn’t perfect. And he’ll still need to come off the practice field after a few reps and ask Pay what he could have done differently.

“I’ll run over to Connor and say, ‘What did you see?’ And he’ll say it was a really good rack [or plays] or you need to do this,” Mitchell said.

But Mitchell is getting more comfortable in his new role. And whenever it ends, whether that is when Pay comes back or Makasini returns, he will have done his job.

“Bruce is a selfless guy, man,” Woods said. “Didn’t matter center, guard, out, D-Line. Everything we’ve asked of Bruce, he’s done it. ... Tremendous kind of performance last week for Bruce.”