BYU football looking for trench improvement to elevate play on offense and defense
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- BYU offensive and defensive lines battle during fall camp in Provo on Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024.
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- BYU senior offensive lineman Caleb Etienne (76) prepares to block during fall camp in Provo on Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024.
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- BYU senior offensive lineman Brayden Keim (right) blocks sophomore defensive end Sani Tuala during the first day of fall camp in Provo on Wednesday, July 31, 2024.
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- BYU senior center Connor Pay prepares to snap the ball during the first day of fall camp in Provo on Wednesday, July 31, 2024.
Iron sharpens iron.
Talk to BYU football players and coaches about going up against good players on the other side of the ball and you’ll hear that phrase frequently.
The idea in camp is that if the offense is really good, the defense will have to get really good to be competitive.
And perhaps nowhere is that more important for the Cougars than in the trenches, since neither the BYU offensive nor defensive lines were particularly thrilled with their body of work in 2023.
That means both sides want to be vastly improved this fall — and that might determine whether the season is a success or failure.
Cougar head coach Kalani Sitake last week said the mentality of both groups pushing each other hard is what he wants to see.
“(Offensive line coach TJ Woods) is doing a great job with the offensive line and I see that the defensive line is doing some really good things as well,” Sitake said. “It’s the competition makes you better. Eventually you’re going to get sick of getting pushed around. So the D line will hunker down and play with some good technique, then the offensive line will do better the next day. They’ve been able to respond, but we’d like to see more competition from within.”
Woods said there are some challenges in facing the Cougar defensive line, but that’s exactly what he wants.
“They have some big guys in there and trying to figure out a way to block Tyler Batty isn’t real fun, but I think that’s what a healthy program has,” Woods said. “In the programs I’ve been at that have had the most success, iron sharpens iron. You hope there is some give and take and there has been a lot of that so far in fall camp. The other side comes back with a little bit of a chip on their shoulder and has to elevate their game.”
On the flip side, BYU defensive tackles coach Sione Po’uha feels like seeing his guys go up against Woods’ group is no walk in the park either.
“It’s super awesome,” Po’uha said. “We learn a lot from them and they learn a lot from us. The more that you can learn in this type of setting as we prepare for the season, the better you’re going to be for Saturday. Iron, sharpening iron is probably the best way I can describe it because that’s going to get you the sharpest blade for Saturdays.”
The Cougar players also said they see the linemen on the other side improving and take that challenge to heart.
“It’s great,” BYU junior offensive lineman Weylin Lapuaho said. “It’s just high competition. Every day you are coming out and you’ve got to make sure you have your chinstrap buckled up because it’s going to be a war out there.”
Cougar senior defensive lineman John Nelson said facing the Cougar offensive line this fall is forcing him and the others on his side of the ball to be more precise and fundamentally sound.
“It’s been a really good challenge,” Nelson said. “It’s made us on the defensive line be more honest in our technique and pay attention to detail a lot more. They have guys who could’ve left, but they believe in the scheme and the place and Coach Woods is doing a great job coaching them up.”
BYU junior defensive lineman Joshua Singh said he felt like the offensive line was pretty good overall before but that they now “look way better than I’ve ever seen them.”
“They look a lot more sound in their technique by far,” Singh said. “I think Coach Woods is a great coach, and he’s done amazing things so far. I’m excited to see what they do this year.”
Cougar supporters are certainly hoping that the players are right, that both sides will show substantial improvement. That verdict will only come out, however, when they get to the tough challenges of the 2024 season.
