Good morning. I’m introducing a new series intended to take a look at each team in the new Big 12. I’m not sure how many I’ll get done each week, but the only way for me to really know about these teams is to actually do the research so I can be relatively informed when the season hits. So I spent time doing the research this weekend. There are links to everything below so if there isn’t a link, then I didn’t write it, but I always link back to the originator of the content. I wanted to take a quick look at the team: get a feel for the best players; look into their portal class consisted and how they ranked overall; a look at the 2024 recruiting class; and ending on the graphic from Sharp College Football.
Previous Snapshots: Arizona | Arizona State | Baylor
Snapshot: BYU probably needs better quarterback play and they recruited to attempt to do that. As a team, just 56% completion percentage, 17 touchdowns and 9 picks. Jake Retzlaff, former JUCO No. 1 QB, and Utah State QB McCae Hillstead and Baylor QB Gerry Bohanon will all be in the mix. One-time Texas Tech commit LJ Martin returns as a sophomore at running back and would guess that he’s going to be better and make significant strides. The rushing defense wasn’t great, but BYU didn’t dip into transfer portal really at all so improvement will have to come from within. I don’t know if BYU will always not be part of the transfer market because they tend to have older players because of players attending missions and then coming back. Tyler Batty returns at defensive end and had 54 tackles and 5.5 sacks leading the team. Jakob Robinson at cornerback was also really good, 59 tackles, 7 passes defended and 4 picks last year.
Do the Cougars play Texas Tech? Nope.
Returning Starters: Offensive returning starters – 6 (68% of offensive production); Defensive returning starters – 7 (63% of defensive production).
Transfer Portal Arrivals: 7. Quarterback was obviously the focus here. I mentioned above that I don’t know if BYU is going to be left out of the portal process, but my guess is that the portal will come for everyone, maybe this past year wasn’t the right year.
QB Treyson Bourguet (from Western Michigan)
QB Gerry Bohanon (from South Florida)
QB McCae Hillstead (from Utah State)
OL Austin Leausa (from Southern Utah)
LB Jack Kelly (from Weber State)
DB Marque Collins (from Weber State)
P Sam Vander Haar (from Pitt)
On3 Transfer Index Score: -2 (Big 12 high is +68 with Colorado and low is -30 with Houston)
Key additions: Austin Leausa, IOL (Southern Utah); McCae Hillstead, QB (BYU)
Key subtractions: Danny Saili, DL (Arkansas)
Outlook: BYU didn’t see much action in the spring window. Leausa will compete right away for the starting job at right guard, while Hillstead adds quarterback depth for the future. Saili never played for BYU but would have been an exciting option on the defensive line after recording four sacks and 7.5 tackles for a loss at Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College last season.
Pac 12 2024 Recruiting & Big 12 2024 Recruiting: Kalani Sitake and his staff did a phenomenal job closing on local four-star defensive end Devoux Tuataga, who had numerous Pac-12 programs in pursuit, landing four-star tight end Ryner Swanson, who had Oregon and others in pursuit, and former Stanford commit and four-star linebacker Naki Tuakoi. Those four-stars lead the way and three-star DB Faletau Satuala has star written all over him.
Grade: B
Sharp College Football Beta Rank Deep Dive: The offense wasn’t good, not explosive, not efficient, too many negative plays, etc. I mentioned that the quarterback is an area of improvement and 75th overall isn’t terrible, but it’s all related to having an effective offense. The defense was much better than the offense, the rush defense was worse than the pass defense, but not by a ton. Solving offensive issues will help the defense quite a bit.
