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BYU freshman Jovesa Damuni runs the ball up the field during the non-conference game against Portland State at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2026.

Harold Mitchell, Special to the Herald

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BYU's John Taumoepeau (55) blocks a Portland State field goal in a college football game at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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In last Saturday’s 69-0 thrashing of Portland State, BYU football fans saw uniform numbers and heard names they may not have recognized.

The official participation list for the Cougars was 78 players, which, according to BYU Stats, Man on X, tied a program record from 2021 (vs. Idaho State). Against the Vikings, BYU’s breakdown was 35 on offense, 39 on defense and four specialists. In addition, 14 different players carried the ball at least once and the Cougars played four quarterbacks, including walk-on Cole Hagen.

The word “depth” has been thrown around plenty by BYU coaches, especially since the announcement the program was headed to the Big 12. Year 1 in 2023 exposed some holes in the BYU lineup and a huge emphasis was placed on creating more depth.

“I think we’re headed in the right direction,” BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill said when asked about the overall team depth. “I don’t think it’s close to what it’s going to be in the next couple of years, but I like where we’re trending.”

Speaking of trends, getting a large portion of the roster into the game is definitely a strategy employed by Kalani Sitake and his coaching staff. Sitake once said that he spends time in practice noticing the backups in terms of who is making plays and who is giving maximum effort. His goal was to reward those players with game reps, even if its only on special teams.

Last year in the opener against Southern Illinois, BYU had 72 players participate (30 on offense, 37 on defense, five specialists). In critical games against SMU and Utah, the Cougars played 60 and 54, respectively.

According to BYU Stats, Man, BYU averaged around 60 players participating in 2024.

“It (depth) is huge,” Cougars offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick said. “It was a really good experience for those guys to get into the game. Some guys haven’t played a lot and we got to find out a little about them. Obviously we overmatched that opponent (Portland State) but it’s still good to see guys get into the game, into the stadium when the lights are on and it’s full.”

Here are a few ways developing depth benefits a football team.

1. Injuries

This is the reason most associated with depth. When a starter goes down, the No. 2 player on the depth chart moves up, as does the others behind him. The backups and his teammates need to be ready to step in at a moments notice. It’s a long season so depth because key as attrition can often take a starter out for a game or two or even the entire season.

2. Freshness

Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports wrote a story recently that indicated a college football game is typical 175 to 180 plays, down about five plays per game since the 2023 rule change that kept the clock running of first down. The pace and physicality of college football makes it difficult for a starter to play 75-80 plays a game. Depth allows sufficient rest for starters and backups to maintain a high level of play the entire game.

3. Competition

Depth also shows up in practice. The backups need to push the starters and the scout team needs to give the starters good looks to prepare for opponents. That’s a grind throughout a long season.

4. Retention

In today’s transfer portal and NIL environment, players are eager to put themselves in the best position possible. Being patient and waiting for their chance isn’t an easy thing. If young players are getting consistent reps in games, they are more likely to buy into the team concept and stay.

5. Recruiting 

Coaches don’t like to make promises of playing time, but recruits certainly take notice when freshman and younger players get onto the field early. More than a dozen freshmen and redshirt freshman got into the game against Portland State.

There are many examples (not just at BYU) where a team earns a big lead, subs in its backups and suddenly there are errors on both sides of the ball. The offense is forced into three-and-outs or turnovers and the defense starts giving up big chunks of yardage.

That didn’t happen in the second half against Portland State, where the Cougars went nearly exclusively with backups. BYU outscored the Vikings 20-0 and held the visitors to negative-3 yards on 12 plays in the second half.

“Kalani, myself and Coach Roderick challenged our guys at halftime,” Hill said. “We wanted to get a bunch of guys into the game in the second half but we wanted to keep the cleanliness. We challenged them hard at halftime to finish the game in the right way and to keep it clean. I thought they responded very well.

“We had zero letdown and we weren’t just playing with our twos. We had a lot of threes and fours in there at the end of the game. We challenged them hard that whoever got into the game, to go in there and play hard, play clean and keep the physicality and intensity up and we did that.”

Roderick added: “Sometimes you sub in second half of a game and chaos ensues. There can be penalties and guys can’t get lined up. But we just kept rolling. I was proud of a lot of those guys. We had good performances by some of our young players.”

The coaches also observed teammates enjoying each other’s successes.

“I want to shout out the starters,” Hill said. “When the backups went in, those guys on the sidelines just geeked up ready to go supporting their teammates. That really goes a long way to what Kalani has created with the culture.”

BYU’s schedule is set up well to start the season to maximize depth and physical recovery. On Saturday, the Cougars have a home game against Stanford, followed by a bye week before going on the road to face East Carolina.

The comes the Big 12 gauntlet of Colorado, West Virginia, Arizona, Utah, Iowa State, a second bye, Texas Tech, TCU, Cincinnati and UCF.

“the big thing in the Big 12, your depth is going to get tested at some point,” Roderick said.