Fall 15: Most pivotal players for BYU football in Fall Camp 2026: Anisi Purcell
Courtesy BYU Photo
BYU's Anisi Purcell, right, sacks Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht in a Big 12 football at Ames, Iowa, on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025.BYU football’s fall practice session is set to get underway during the first week of August and with it will come a lot of reporting on the preparations for the coming 2026 football season. Several players will receive focus throughout the month of August with more than several of them likely to prove pivotal for the Cougar’s overall success this season.
In the lead-up to the fall football practice session we’ll be previewing 15 such players whose contribution and progress throughout August will very likely play big in determining how successful of a team BYU proves to be in 2026.
Anisi Purcell
6-3 305 RS-Sr. DT
West Bountiful, UT.
You need a lot of capable bodies on the defensive interior, and for BYU, a big add to this year’s defensive front may not really be an addition at all. Well, at least that’s sort of the case with Anisi Purcell, a player who was made to play with basically one arm for most of last season.
Purcell joined the team last year as a transfer from Southern Utah and immediately showed well enough in practices to become a rotating option at defensive tackle. He performed well until breaking his hand early in the season, and even though he logged at least some playing time with the injury, it hampered his overall performance.
Purcell finished the 2025 season with 12 total tackles and two sacks although his play was truncated considerably by his injury. Purcell looks to be fully recovered this season and should add considerably to the strength long BYU’s interior line, joining with Keanu Tanuvasa and Justin Kirkland, among others to form what coaches hope will be one of the stronger units on the entire team.
It all starts upfront, and the return of a two-armed Purcell should prove pivotal to BYU’s defensive success this coming season.
