That means, however, that one of the biggest keys to how well he does his job for the Cougars is a long ways down at ground level.

“You can beat yourself in the first half second of every play without the right footwork,” BYU offensive line coach TJ Wei’s said last week.”We’ve tweaked some things and there are some different techniques that we’re using that were very foreign in the spring. Now that they’ve had a chance to kind of sit back think about it, evaluate it, and watch the tape again during the summer, I think there’s a vast improvement in that area. But we’re still not there. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

So how does Etienne with on making sure his goal is right?

“You’ve probably heard the saying ‘slow feet don’t eat,’ but it’s true,” Etienne said after practice on Friday. “You’ve got to come out here and get a lot of reps before practice. You go out there and just try to work it mentally, keep it in still to your head. You could be fast, but you’ve got to be faster when you are on the field in that two-point stance trying to go backwards with the defenders coming forward. You’ve got to be fast on your feet forwards and backwards as well.”

He grinned when he talked about his preference, whether he’d rather be moving forward to run block or backward to pass protect.

“I love to run the ball for sure,” Etienne said. “I mean, that’s the offensive line’s game right there, pounding the ball, getting those rushing yards. But you most definitely have got to protect the quarterback too.”

The reality that Etienne and the rest of his unit have acknowledged is that individually and collectively they want to do a lot better at both.

“I’m excited to prove that I’ve improved a lot,” Etienne said. “There’s a lot of stuff that people are questioning, so there’s a lot of stuff I’ve got to prove. They’re going to see it all get improved this year.”

And with the group of offensive linemen pushing across the board, Etienne said they all feel the responsibility to keep up for each other.

“We all hold each other accountable and get to know what our weaknesses are and strengths are so we all can play faster and better,” Etienne said. “We’ve got to work on something different each and every day. We just go out there and be comfortable when it’s time to go out there. We know we got each other’s back at the end of the day, no matter what.”

He was clear that the goal is to be absolutely the best offensive line he can be.

“We’ve got the guys that can go out there and do it,” Etienne said. “We want to show what we’ve been doing out here and take it to the field. We’ve got to go out there and just do it.”