1 / 2

BYU safety Tanner Wall (28) fires up his teammates before a Big 12 football game against Colorado at Folsom Field in Boulder on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Photo

2 / 2

BYU freshman Ilove'a Brittingham circles the bases after hitting a home run during the non-conference game against UVU at Wolverine Softball Field in Orem on Tuesday, March 25, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Photo

❮ ❯

BYU senior captain  Tanner Wall has been named to the Academic All-America First Team by College Sports Communicators for a second consecutive season.

The CSC Academic All-America award recognizes the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom. Wall is the only repeat selection from the 2024 CSC Academic All-America Team and becomes just the second BYU football player to be recognized twice as a first-team Academic All-American, joining wide receiver  Chuck Cutler  who was honored in 1987 and 1988.

Wall helped lead BYU to a 25-4 record while starting at safety over the past three seasons. The 6-1, 205-pound senior from Arlington, Virginia, was previously named 2025 first-team All-Big 12 by the conference coaches, All-America honorable mention by Phil Steele, Academic All-District by CSC and was also a member of the prestigious Allstate AFCA Good Works Team.

As a senior in 2025, Wall was second on the team in tackles (71) and interceptions (4). He was also a finalist for both the Allstate Wuerffel Trophy and the Pop Warner College Football Award as well as a semifinalist for the Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award. He graduated with a 3.86 GPA in the finance program and is currently enrolled in the MBA program at the Marriott Business School.

Wall was one of five Big 12 student-athletes to earn Academic All-America recognition this season. The others were linebacker Keyshaun Elliott (ASU) and tight end Boden Groen (Kansas) on first team as well as defensive back Brice Pollock (Texas Tech) and defensive lineman Edward Vesterinen (West Virginia) on the second team.

Wall also started all 13 games at free safety as a junior in 2024 and finished the year as BYU’s co-leader in interceptions (3) and was fourth in total tackles (53). For his on-field efforts, he was named All-Big 12 Third Team by College Football Network. Wall also achieved recognition on both the Fall Academic All-Big 12 Team and Commissioner’s Honor Roll in each of BYU’s first two seasons in the Big 12. Both awards forthcoming for the 2025 season.

Young takes Pacific men’s volleyball job

STOCKTON, Calif. – Starting competition in spring 2027, the Pacific men’s volleyball program will be led by former BYU assistant Devin Young, who was announced as the head coach by Director of Athletics Adam Tschuor.  He’ll be the first Tigers head coach since the sport was discontinued following the 2013-14 fiscal year.

Young brings eight years of experience from BYU, where he served as an assistant coach. He helped guide the Cougars to a No. 1 national ranking and a national championship match appearance during his tenure.

Pacific will compete in the Mountain Sports Pacific Federation, one of the nation’s premier men’s volleyball conferences. The Tigers will be competing against Stanford, UCLA, USC, Pepperdine, BYU, Concordia Irvine, Menlo, Jessup, UC Merced and Vanguard.

During Young’s time at BYU, the Cougars were ranked No. 1 in the nation in 2020 before the season was cut short due to COVID-19. In 2021, he helped lead BYU to an MPSF championship and a national runner-up finish.

“I want to thank Shawn Olmstead and the BYU administration for an incredible experience that prepared me for this new challenge,” Young said. “BYU is a special place. I loved the staff and players I worked with every day, and I learned a lot from each of them. I look forward to building on that experience here at Pacific.”

Prior to his coaching career, Young worked in sales for Volleymetrics, helping drive growth that ultimately led to the company’s acquisition by Hudl. As a student-athlete at BYU, Young competed in two NCAA Final Fours and was a national runner-up in 2013. A middle blocker, he was a two-time All-MPSF selection and a two-time MPSF All-Tournament honoree, averaging 1.38 kills and 1.09 blocks per set during his four-year career.

“As a BYU community, we couldn’t be more excited for Devin and his wife Marie as they embark on this new journey. Devin’s connection and influence here at BYU goes back many years to his time as a player. He won championships and hung banners both as a player and as a coach and will forever have a special place here at the Smith Fieldhouse. Devin has a very strong connection with our players and there’s no doubt he will begin to build that at Pacific starting with his first day on the job,” said Olmstead, BYU men’s volleyball head coach.  “As a men’s volleyball community, this is an exciting time for all of us as Pacific returns to the game and especially exciting for us at BYU as we get to watch and cheer on Devin as one of our own. We’re forever grateful for what Devin has contributed to us here at BYU.”

Softball picked sixth in Big 12 preseason poll

IRVING, Texas — BYU softball was picked to finish sixth in the Big 12 this season, with both Ilove’a Brittingham and Lily Owens named to the Conference’s All-Preseason Team, the league announced during day one of virtual Media Days on Wednesday morning.

The Cougars, who have finished sixth in each of their first two seasons as members of the Big 12, were behind league favorite Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Arizona, Arizona State and UCF. BYU sits in front of Iowa State, Baylor, Kansas, Utah and Houston.

Brittingham and Owens represented the Cougars on the 18-player All-Preseason Team. BYU was one of five teams with multiple honorees, joining Arizona, Arizona State and Oklahoma State with two apiece. Texas Tech placed seven student-athletes on the list.

One of seven unanimous picks by the league’s coaches, Brittingham was named an NFCA Third Team All-American last year to go along with D1Softball and Softball America Freshman All-American nods. She was also an NFCA All-Mountain Region First Team honoree, the Big 12 Freshman of the Year, an All-Big 12 First Team honoree and a Big 12 All-Freshman Team member.

The catcher/outfielder set the program’s freshman RBI record (69), tied its freshman home run record (21). She led the Cougars with 20 multi-RBI games, 19 multi-hit contests, posted five+ RBI on four separate occasions and had five two-home run games.

Owens, who was also named to last year’s Big 12 Preseason Team, was an All-Big 12 First Team honoree last season after posting the team’s second-best batting average (.354). She finished the season with 51 hits, 47 runs, 27 RBI, 25 walks, seven doubles and six home runs.

In center field, the utility player recorded a .979 fielding percentage with 41 putouts and five assists. She was also named to the NFCA All-Midwest Region Team as a sophomore in 2024.

View the full Big 12 preseason team at the league’s  website (www.big12sports.com/sports/softball.

Freshman Akina tied for fifth, men’s golf fourth at Arizona NIT

TUCSON, Ariz. — BYU men’s golf (279-289-276-844) tied Saint Mary’s (280-281-283-844) for fourth place at 20-under par at the Arizona N.I.T. at Omni Tucson National Resort on Tuesday.

“The team had some bright spots, especially the last 12 holes of the tournament,” said director of golf  Todd Miller. “We challenged them to finish with their best golf of the tournament, and they did, making 19 birdies in that stretch of holes.”

Texas (275-270-278-823) with its 10-under-par final round triumphed over host Arizona (267-288-269-824) by one stroke for the N.I.T. title. Iowa State (284-285-266-835) notched the lowest scoring third round out of all schools to climb to a third-place finish. The Gaels and Cougars shared fourth to cap off the top-5 finishers. BYU recorded its best score of the tournament with a 12-under-par round three to stay in the top five.

Kihei Akina  (67-71-69-207) concluded his first event of 2026 tied for fifth overall at 9-under par. Thanks to the freshman’s 3-under-par day, he tallied his second top-5 finish in six collegiate tournaments in his career. Both of Akina’s top-5 placements have come in back-to-back events dating back to a T-5 finish in The Preserve Golf Club Collegiate in October.

“I definitely did a great job of playing smart golf to avoid any big numbers,” Akina said. “I hit the ball solid, and it was a solid start to the season. NIT is a great tournament run by a great host. The course was in good shape, and it was nice to play golf in good weather.”

“Kihei’s greatest strength is his consistency with his ball striking, and he showed that again this week,” Miller said. “Very rarely was he out of position off the tee.”