For those of you who follow all the media reports and blogs and podcasts, you likely have picked up bits and pieces on all position groups.

QBs –

Throughout the Spring, this has been a 2 horse race between Retzlaff and Bohanon. Those who are paying attention recognize that Jake has a much better command of the offense right now. Early in the Spring there were still some real questions regarding Bohanon’s arm strength. Those questions are unanswered. Gerry’s athleticism is not at question. If you are betting on a game 1 starter, the smart money is on BY Jew. The 3 guys sharing limited reps the rest of the Spring are battling to see who gets to wear the green, yellow, and purple pennies and learn the hand signs to mask our offensive play calls. There will be attrition in this room after spring. Fea was let go prior to Spring and Billoups headed to the portal weeks ago. Don't be surprised if there is a QB addition in the coming weeks.

OL –

Spring always brings renewed hope and energy. This is the one position that you should buy the new energy and hype. This position will be very well coached, prepared, and the best players will play – absent of politics, fathers at every practice, and NIL deals. Really need to get Keim back and healthy after a pair of offseason surgeries to fix thumbs on both hands.

WRs –

There is program narrative. There is Utah County media narrative (which often echoes program narrative). And then there is reality. Darius Lassiter is the best weapon that we have in the WR. He is likely the only 2024 WR who has a shot at playing beyond college ball. That is route running, speed, explosion, shake, toughness, etc. Roberts is a fan favorite for all the right reasons. In a potent, spread, balanced offense, Roberts can put up really admirable numbers. If our offense allows Big 12 opponents to roll up and play close to the LOS and be physical with our wrs, that doesn’t align with Robert’s strengths or ability. Epps is shifty and elusive after the catch from the slot, when lining up against backers and defenders who are less athletic than corners. TBD if Parker ever steals back his soul from Kobe Bryant. JoJo has a lot of potential as a striding deep ball threat but his frame will struggle to beat press coverage and his ceiling is about like Roberts. He currently doesn’t put in the same work as Roberts.
The newer WRs have yet to show that they can master the route trees and overall offense (projects). Reality is - our WR rotation will go only 4-5 deep. Without injuries, fans will never know who WR 6-12 are.

RB –

This RB room has some great pieces in place. A lot of their success will surround a better OL and more balanced offense. Having QBs who can run will also deliver additional space for our running game to succeed. There is a health concern in the RB room that really needs to get resolved for us to be truly at our best in 2024. I won’t go there with names because I don’t want to get the narrative writers/controllers trying to chase down my identity over and over again. The success of our running game in 2024 will be by committee. We have well rounded in LJ and Ropati. Slasher and home run hitter in Miles. A banger in Nawahine.

TE –

Swanson is very talented and has a huge career ahead of him. Keep in mind that the only reason he is at BYU right now is because he’s 17 and couldn’t go on a mission yet. Temper expectations with the understanding that he is 4-5 years younger than our average starter. Keanu has the ability to be a very good receiving TE. TBD if he will develop the rest of his skillset to earn himself meaningful opportunities in both the passing and running games. He will run routes better than most TEs – given his WR background. This was one of the issues holding back Rex. Not a great route runner. The biggest difference between Rex and Holker was route running. Holker could run routes better than many of our WRs. Rex has an NFL frame and very good hands. Keebo has good hands and better than average route running for a TE. The rest of the TEs are still battling for reps and opportunities.

Defense

DL –

No defense can truly be great without a DL that can hold its own at the LOS. The success of Jay’s defense relies on assignment sound gap coverages but when the DL gets physically dominated at the snap, allies and lanes turn into Biden border walls. The DL in 2024 may not be more physically talented than 2023 but without question, they will be more physically and mentally prepared to be successful. The focus on improving this key part of the defense has been overwhelming. This spring we have observed players on the DL who have never really had the opportunities to compete in the 2 deep who are now getting meaningful reps and making plays. Not household names. Why? Technique. Approach. Coaching. Culture. All of those factors are part of the upgrade at this position. Jay and his team know that it doesn’t matter how great our backers, corners, and safeties might be if our DL can’t do it’s job. Expect to see some new names and faces on the interior of our DL in 2024. These are the names you'd expect to see in the 2 deep today - Batty, Bagnah, Lutui, Mangleson, Singh. Don't sleep on Danny Saili.

Backers –

The elephant in the room here is the health of Bywater. No secret that he had another shoulder surgery over the winter. His recovery is the secret. Ben makes our defense better – period. Backers are often only as good as the OL that our DL keep off their bodies. If opposing OL are pillaging our DL in 2024 and getting bodies on our backers, be fair with your critiques of the backers. Jack Kelly is a very physical linebacker who could play a huge role in the success of our ability to stop the run. Jack has some really likeable skills. He’s not Bywater. He’s not Tooley. Glasker and Kaufusi are the other LBs in the 1’s rotation. Harry runs with the 2s. The biggest weakness right now with our backers is pass coverage. Currently not their greatest strength. Asiata got hurt early in the spring so it's hard to project his standing going into the season.

Corners –

Coming into the Spring the projected 2 deep would likely have been Jrob, Bamba, McKenzie, Collins. Injuries and off field dust ups have limited reps for all of the projected 2 deep. The depth in the corner room got so thin during parts of the spring that Jay had to move PWO safeties over to play corner. Collins won’t be ready to go until close to the fall season. I can tell you that Jay absolutely thinks the world of his potential. Corner depth is very thin. Corners have been picked on throughout the Spring which I observed as a good thing. Corners have to learn the hard way sometimes. This Spring, they tried out all the hard ways.

Nickel –

This is a critical position in Jay’s defense. There is a reason why Jay took his best corner last season (Eddie) and moved him to nickel a lot of the time. If we had better depth at corner, Jrob would likely be playing nickel in 2024. Jay opted to move Harper to nickel – given his background playing corner and his technique and ability to cover great athletes in space. The depth at nickel is converted WR – Koa Eldredge and Preston Rex. Koa is a very good athlete and will likely develop into a meaningful contributor at nickel – over time. Rex has been banged up a lot of the Spring so his development there has been limited. Harper won’t be ready until the Fall and transparently, no one knows what to expect of his body coming off this second ACL.

Safety –

This was BYU fan’s favorite punching bag in 2023. This position often led the team in tackles in 2023 which should highlight what was going on in front of our safeties throughout 2023. The biggest challenge we have at safety is that the majority of our “safeties” are best suited to play strong (closer to the LOS, quick downhill run reads, physical at the POC). Jay’s FS position is a single high safety position that typically lines up 17 yards off the LOS and then is asked to play center field on anything over the top but then also come down hill extremely fast, take great angles, and fill ally assignments. We currently only have 3-4 guys in the safety room who really check the boxes that Jay likes at FS.

At strong safety, Alfrey is a very solid, physical. He is probably the best overall athlete at SS. Wakely played very well at times at SS and that is where Jay likes him. Wakely had offseason shoulder surgery and missed the Spring. He will be back for the Fall and will push Alfrey for reps. Love him or blame him, Slade is one of the best cover safeties in the room. His effort, preparation, and skills will continue to earn him opportunities to compete.

The highest performing FS in 2023 was Wall. He was limited in early Spring practices coming off of bicep surgery. Wall shared most of the reps with Damuni early and then Prassas. Damuni has absolutely transformed his body and is moving much better. He battled back issues throughout the Spring that limited his reps. When he got healthy, Jay started having Raider take reps at SS which is where Raider will likely end up once the logjam at SS and balance with FS returns with time and recruiting. Prassas has shown signs of great potential but has also been lost at times – which is what you would expect from a 17 year old. Difference between 17 year old Swanson and Prassas is body. Swanson arrived with close to a D1 body. Prassas has picked up the defense nicely. I would expect Prassas to get some good reps throughout the 2024 season – because the depth at FS is Wall, Damuni, Chika, and Prassas. Don’t expect Chika to get meaningful reps at safety and Damuni may very well get more reps at SS.

None of my observations or perspectives are intended to deliver any negativity towards our school, our staff, and definitely not our players. I started sharing information the last few years because I believed that the lack of transparency and controlled narrative was holding back our program. We can't truly get better as a people, program, team, family, etc. unless we are willing to be honest about our faults and challenges. This team has the ability and talent to win 8-9 games in 2024. That is the ceiling and would include a bowl win. The floor is 4 wins. If my money is on the line, I'm betting that we finish closer to the ceiling than the floor. We gotta secure the corner depth, backer depth and pass coverage, and select a QB and let him step up and lead.