All my decisions have been good decisions and the best decisions for me so far. – BYU defensive end Harvey Langi
PROVO — Only one player on BYU’s roster knows how it feels to win the rivalry game.
That would be senior defensive end Harvey Langi, who was a freshman running back at Utah in 2011. In the Utes’ 54-10 victory in Provo that season, Langi rushed four times for 33 yards, including a 27-yard run.
After his freshman year, Langi served a mission to Tampa, Florida. When he returned, he transferred to BYU and joined the Cougars prior to the 2014 season. He also changed from running back to linebacker.
Langi played in BYU’s 35-28 Las Vegas Bowl loss to Utah last December — the Cougars’ fifth consecutive loss to the Utes.
On Saturday he’s returning to the place he began his college career as the Cougars and Utes collide at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
“It’s going to be fun. It’s the rivalry game, everyone is excited,” said the 6-foot-3, 252-pound Bingham High product. “I’m just as excited as the fans, maybe more. I want to go out there and have a fun game. They are ready to come out. We are ready to come out. They have their red jerseys. We have our royal blue jerseys. It will be a fun game.”
Since he concluded his spectacular prep career, when he rushed 570 times for 4,289 yards and 55 touchdowns, he’s seen plenty of changes.
Not only did he switch from red to blue, off the field Langi recently got married. From the time he arrived in Provo, Langi said he hasn’t looked back.
“It’s been a long journey, everyone has their own journey. Once you get to your senior year, you can’t look back and change time. We’re all in our positions because of the choices we decided to take. All my decisions have been good decisions and the best decisions for me so far.”
Langi made another move during fall camp, from linebacker to defensive end. In BYU’s season-opening 18-16 victory against Arizona, he recorded three tackles.
“I felt good. There’s a lot to learn after the first game,” he said. “It’s like the pre-test in a class to see where I stand after my hard preparation. I feel like I have a lot to learn. I can go up from here.”
Besides Langi, BYU enjoyed strong defensive performances from its three linebackers: Butch Pau’u, who had eight tackles, including two tackles-for-loss, a forced fumble and a sack; Francis Bernard, who recorded one tackle-for-loss, one sack and one interception; and Fred Warner, who had 3.5 tackles and one tackle-for-loss.
Meanwhile, safety Kai Nacua notched six tackles and one interception against the Wildcats. And defensive lineman Corbin Kaufusi recorded four tackles, one tackle-for-loss and one sack.
As a team, the Cougars limited Arizona to 328 yards of total offense.
“We knew they were going to come out and hurry up their offense and catch us off guard,” Bernard said. “So throughout the course of fall camp and the offseason we just kind of practiced that. The offense helped us out a lot by slowing the game down. I’d say good for them for slowing the game down so we could get out there and run some plays.”
The Cougars surrendered a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns against the Wildcats, including a 49-yard touchdown run by Nick Wilson that gave Arizona its only lead of the game before BYU rallied to win.
This week, the Cougar defense wants to do enough to earn a win against Utah. Langi knows his team will have to turn in a strong performance when they line up against the Utes.
“Of course we are watching film on them,” Langi said. “They are watching film on us. They have good athletes. (Utah) Coach (Kyle) Whittingham has a great team. They are very fast and have playmakers on both sides of the ball.”
EMAIL: jeffc@deseretnews.com