BYU Media Day: LaVell honored, ESPN extends contract and Tom Holmoe talks bowl game status

Friday’s BYU football media day kicked off the official countdown to the college football season where the Cougars will play arguably its best September schedule ever with games against LSU, Wisconsin, Utah and Utah State.

BYU will open the season at home against Portland State on Aug 26. The Cougars will take on the Vikings on ESPN with the game set for a 1 p.m. kickoff.

As always, there were no shortage of announcements at media day with news that the team will honor legendary head coach LaVell Edwards with a uniform patch this upcoming season. BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe also announced that ESPN has exercised its contract option to extend broadcast rights of BYU football through the 2019 season.

There are a number of ongoing position battles heading into fall camp next month, especially the running back department after Jamaal Williams, the school’s all-time leading rusher, was drafted by the Green Bay Packers.

So with that, here are the biggest takeaways from media day.

Who will replace Jamaal Williams?

“I don’t think it’s possible to replace a guy like Jamaal,” said BYU running back coach Reno Mahe. “He was a special player and that’s why he’s in the NFL.”

While losing the program’s all-time leading rusher is a blow, Mahe still loves what he sees from his backfield and looks forward to what they can do this year.

“We really have a solid group,” he said. “We have a number of guys who can do a lot of different things and that’s really going to help us out on offense.”

The Cougars return Squally Canada and KJ Hall who combined for 499 yards and four touchdowns on 109 attempts for an average of 4.6 yards per carry. The backfield will also be loaded with junior Trey Dye, sophomore Riley Burt and freshmen Ula Tolutau who transferred from Wisconsin. 

“Ula is a rock,” said BYU offensive coordinator Ty Detmer. “He’s going to be tough to bring down. He reminds me a lot of Jerome (The Bus) Bettis.”

Mahe noted that while he’ll likely use a number of runnings backs to carry the load, the player who will likely see the most time, is who can catch out of the backfield.

“With Tanner under center now, we are going to throw more than we have in the past,” he said. “With Taysom (Hill) last year, he would run for a first down, but with Tanner, he’s going to look to buy some time and find the open guy and our guys have to be ready out of the backfield.”

2017 Bowl Game

After winning nine games last year despite a new coaching staff, many national prognosticators are predicting the Cougars to do the same this year, with some even thinking double-digit wins. 

However, without a bowl game agreement for 2017, many wondered if that was going to be addressed at media day. 

Holmoe quickly put those questions to rest when he announced that if BYU becomes bowl eligible, they will play in a bowl game.

"When we became independent, one of the big questions was how are you going to play in a bowl game if you're not affiliated with a conference,” he said. “They (ESPN) assured us contractually that they would get us a game.

With power 5 conferences already affiliated with a number of bowl games, Holmoe likened the Cougars as to a free agent heading into the season with a bowl contract.  

"Take the ACC or the Big Ten, and they may have bowl contracts for six, seven or eight games. They can't always fulfill those games. And when they can't, they become available," he added. “That’s where we come into play as a free agent and ESPN can put us wherever they want.”  

ESPN contract

When BYU announced its independence in 2010, the Cougars signed an eight-year deal with ESPN. With the end of the contract looming in the near future, Cougar fans wondered what would happen after the “World Wide Leader In Sports” recently announced a bunch of cuts.

However, during BYU’s “State of the Program” address, Holmoe reassured Cougar fans when he announced that ESPN had exercised its contract option to extend broadcast rights of BYU football through the 2019 season.

“We’ve enjoyed a great relationship with ESPN for decades and that relationship seems to get stronger every year,” said Holmoe. “We’ve had good dialogue about extending the contract and felt this option would give us some time for additional conversations.”

“BYU plays an important role in ESPN's college football portfolio,” said Nick Dawson, ESPN’s vice president of programming and acquisitions. “We are thrilled to add 2019 to our current deal and look forward to many more years showcasing BYU football across our networks and platforms.”

Since going independent, the Cougars have played on ESPN in 58 of its 78 football games, including all six bowl games.

BYU to retire No. 6 jersey 

What do BYU greats Marc Wilson, Robbie Bosco and Luke Staley all have in common?

Well besides being All-Americans and winning numerous conference and national awards, the trio will receive the royal treatment as the school will retire the No. 6 jersey — which they all wore — during halftime of the BYU-Wisconsin game on Sept. 16.

Each will have an individual banner hung in their honor at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

"Having your jersey retired at BYU is the ultimate honor,” Holmoe said. "Marc, Robbie and Luke were tremendous athletes who were instrumental in establishing and adding to the great tradition of BYU football.”

"It's something I never imagined and I never thought about,” Staley said after learning his number would be retired. “It's a total honor for me. When I grew up, BYU football was everything. I would go and sneak into the stadium and just sit there and look at the stadium and envision myself playing.” 

Bosco, who led the Cougars to the 1984 national championship, then told a story of how he decided to come to BYU.

"The very first BYU football game I ever saw was Marc Wilson against San Diego State on national television. His first five passes were touchdowns. I'd never seen anything like that before, and I said that's the school I want to go to,” Bosco said, smiling.

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