BYU football is coming off a difficult 5-7 season that saw them lose their final four games. Additionally, the Cougars lost quite a bit of production from their team, leaving many fans worried about the 2024 season.
BYU football is one of the most unique teams in the country, and many of their players recruited out of high school don’t actually play for the team for 2 to 3 seasons because of church missions through The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Nationally, sometimes it can be easy to forget about players who went on their mission for two years and are suddenly back on the roster. However, many of these players are not in football shape when they get back since they are not allowed to work out or have lengthy training sessions like other players on other teams do.
Because of this combination, it’s rare for BYU to have a player out of high school or right off mission ready to play and start games in the fall. Due to that, BYU relies heavily on second and third-year players who have had time to get back into the swing of things or transfer portal players who are ready to plant a one.
Below are three position groups that BYU will likely still target once the transfer portal opens again.
BYU Football’s Defensive Line
BYU football didn’t lose a ton of experience on the defensive line. However, they just weren’t very great last year. The Cougars were among the worst teams in the nation in sacks in preventing the run, particularly late in the season when depth became an issue. The hope is that last year’s players will have more experience this year and be more prepared for a big, tough schedule. However, the position will still be addressed, and it would not be shocking to see the team bring in 2 to 3 defense linemen who could push for a starting spot in the first few games of the season.
There is some experience coming back with players like Tyler Batty and John Nelson, in addition to transferring Danny Saili, but the position group was so bad last year that at the very worst, you’re going to want to bring in more guys to at least compete and push the starters to be better.
Linebacker
The strongest position for BYU football over the last few years has been in the linebacker’s room. But what will they look like with players like AJ Vongphachanh and Max Tooley gone? The linebacker room looks very thin, and with only Bywater and Harrison Taggert coming back with serious experience in the linebacker room, there are serious concerns. Weber State transfer Jack Kelly should be a nice addition, but overall, this position group is about as inexperienced as it has been for over a decade.
It is possible that Jay Hill will not place the same emphasis on the linebacker as the past BYU defensive coordinators. However, Jay Hill will still want his defense to have a few more studs who can be hybrid players who can get in the backfield or cover receivers in the middle of the field.
Quarterback
There was a point this off-season when BYU had 10 quarterbacks on the roster. Some quarterbacks have entered the transfer portal, and many more are likely to enter, but that doesn’t mean BYU shouldn’t keep their eye open for an opportunity to arise. It is unlikely that many highly rated quarterbacks will enter the portal, but one or two players could get leapfrogged with another transfer. Once the transfer portal opens again, BYU may be the perfect spot for them.
Jake Ratzlaff and Gerry Bohannon have both shown that they have the potential to be good quarterbacks, but if there’s another option that opens up that is clearly better, BYU should absolutely go after them. BYU is an attractive school for quarterbacks. Even though Kedon Slovis may not get drafted in the NFL draft, he will likely get picked up by a team that would make him the 3rd straight BYU quarterback to make it to the NFL. The other reason BYU was an attractive choice is that most teams already have their quarterback set in stone, whereas BYU feels like they would jump at the opportunity of a highly-rated quarterback to come in for this season.
Again, this is not saying that BYU does not have a capable quarterback on the roster, it’s just saying that if there is a big name that enters the portal, BYU should absolutely see if they can they can get him.
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