Remember back at the beginning of the season when the BYU football team was supposed to have some of its best depth ever?

That certainly has been tested as the season has worn on and more and more Cougars get hurt.

The latest bad news on the injury front came when BYU head coach Kalani Sitake announced that freshman wide receiver Kody Epps is done for the year after suffering a shoulder injury against Liberty.

“We were hoping after getting some information back and meeting with the doctors,” Sitake said. “But that sucks because he’s dealt with some injuries in the past. He’s in high spirits. I’ve spoken with him, and he’s excited to keep his role as a leader on this team and to keep working with us. I’m excited about his energy and his approach to it, but I’m not excited that we don’t get his production on the field.”

Epps was leading the Cougars in receptions (39), receiving yards (459) and touchdowns (6) prior to being hurt.

He is just the latest in a string of injuries that have limited the BYU receiving corps as senior Gunner Romney, junior Puka Nacua and freshman Chase Roberts have all missed games.

Sitake was asked if Romney might look at redshirting, even though he has already played at BYU for four seasons prior to 2022.

“We want to see as many guys as we can play another year if they don’t get a full year,” Sitake said. “We’ll always look at getting guys more years to play if we can. It’s been unfortunate. He hasn’t played even close to the number of games we had hoped for. Hopefully we can get him this weekend. That’s the hope I have every week for him and some others.”

Sitake said that senior running back Christopher Brooks is not out for the year but everything is still being evaluated.

“It’s kind of a day-to-day, week-to-week thing,” Sitake said. “Even today I don’t know as much as I should. I’ll probably know more later but from what we understand, it’s not season-ending.”

The Cougar defense is also being hit hard, having lost safety Malik Moore to a season-ending injury and having key contributors like defensive back D’Angelo Mandell, linebackers Payton Wilgar, Max Tooley and Chaz Ah You and defensive lineman Lorenzo Fauatea go out hurt.

Sitake said that BYU knew it was going to deal with injuries, particularly with no breaks and facing good opponents.

“With games in 10 weeks straight, we knew we were going to have to test our depth,” Sitake said. “I hate that we have had to test it as often as we have had to this year but that is the game. But that’s the game. No one is feeling sorry for us. We’ve got to keep rolling. We have young guys who can step up and make plays.”

Cougar junior quarterback Jaren Hall admitted that it is difficult to see guys go down but BYU has to have others take advantage of the opportunities.

“You always pray for their health,” Hall said. “You’d like them to get back as soon as they can. You’d always like to have all your weapons out there at the same time but the nature of football is that it is a physical game. Not a lot of teams in the country go through the season with all of their guys on the field. That’s the reality. You can’t really make excuses or let it become a burden to try carry more weight. All you can do is be the most prepared player you can, do your 1/11th because there are 10 other guys on the field who can make up for what you lose when someone else is hurt. I’ve got a lot of confidence in our guys. Everyone has stepped up at certain points and made plays, so now it is about how we can get everyone who is available to have the best game of their season at the same time.”

Sitake noted that the Cougars will have a bye after the game at Boise State on Saturday, which is a time when players can get healed up.

But BYU isn’t focused on just surviving to get to the bye week. They want to be ready for a tough road game against the Broncos.

“We know we haven’t been performing at our best and getting the results we want,” Sitake said. “There is definitely disappointment. My attitude isn’t to bypass the disappointment. You can be disappointed but you’ve got to keep working. The focus is that we’ve got to keep working and try to be as positive as we can, fix things and improve. Hopefully we get that done and get the results we are looking for.”

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