For more than eight months now, BYU’s defensive football players have had to listen to how they were the weak link in 2021, and how if they had been better on third down, and better at stopping the run, the Cougars would have finished 12-1 or 11-2 last year instead of 10-3.
The finger-pointing subsided a little bit in 2022 preseason training camp, which concluded Tuesday with a 100-play scrimmage at LaVell Edwards Stadium, as reports came back from each of those scrimmages that the defense held its own against Jaren Hall and company.
Of course, good chunks of those scrimmages were played at “thud tempo,” which means tackling and taking ball-carriers to the ground were not allowed. Whether this BYU defense is better than last year’s won’t be known until the Cougars face South Florida on Sept. 3, or perhaps after they tangle with Baylor on Sept. 10 or Oregon on Sept. 17.
“We’ve stayed healthy throughout camp, which is huge for us. We are going to need all the help we can get, with our depth, going into a season with 10 straight games (before) a bye. We haven’t played anybody yet, and that will be the test, is how we fare against some of these other teams.” — BYU defensive coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki
When he met with reporters via Zoom after the scrimmage Tuesday to put a wrap on camp, defensive coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki said he was pleased overall with the unit’s progress, confirmed to the Deseret News that sophomore Ammon Hannemann will fill the one true opening (strong safety) among the starting 11 and pretty much said what he does at the end of every fall camp.
“It is all about staying healthy,” Tuiaki said.
In that regard, the news to date has been good, for the most part. Linebackers Max Tooley, Keenan Pili and Payton Wilgar and defensive lineman Lorenzo Fauatea, injured in 2021, are back and played well in camp. However, former four-star recruit Chaz Ah You, who started the first three games at strong safety last year in wins over Arizona, Utah and Arizona State, is still out with an undisclosed injury and almost certainly will redshirt in 2022.
“We’ve stayed healthy throughout camp, which is huge for us. We are going to need all the help we can get, with our depth, going into a season with 10 straight games (before) a bye,” Tuiaki said. “We haven’t played anybody yet, and that will be the test, is how we fare against some of these other teams.”
Tuiaki said the game at USF, which has former Baylor star Gerry Bohanon as its starting quarterback, “is certainly going to be a challenge for us on defense. It is a great offense that we are going to be facing.”
Suffice it to say, this will be one of the most experienced BYU defenses in the Kalani Sitake era. Barring another rash of injuries — like what happened last year — BYU won’t start a guy on defense who has never started a game before.
“We’ve got more defensive players (capable of starting) than at any time since I’ve been here,” said sixth-year senior Lorenzo Fauatea. “You have to be really, really good just to make the (travel) team.”
Up front, seniors Fauatea and Earl Tuioti-Mariner and sophomores Tyler Batty and Caden Haws figure to be the starters. Watch for sophomores John Nelson and Fisher Jackson, freshman Josh Larsen and junior Gabe Summers to get plenty of snaps.
Stopping the run, and pressuring the quarterback, have been priorities since that 31-28 loss to UAB last December.
“Listen, they know what has been said about them, and they understand it. They go against one of the best offenses in the country (in camp), and I think they are doing very well. We will just have to see,” Sitake said. “From what I am seeing right now, I like what we have. I want to see it come game time. It is a whole ’nother deal. … Some guys step up when the lights are on, and it is live. And some guys have a hard time adjusting.”
Tuiaki reminded reporters that before the wave of injuries last year — particularly the season-ending ACL tear sustained by supreme middle linebacker Keenan Pili — BYU held Arizona, Utah and Arizona State to fewer than 20 points each.
“We have a really good offense, right? I am sure there are a lot of people talking about it. It is warranted. I mean, our offense is really good,” Tuiaki said. “Our defense battles with them every single day. We are pretty good on defense as well. … Nobody ever wants to say they are a chump. We don’t go out as a defense and say, ‘Oh, we are facing a good offense, we are just going to bow down.”
Said Hannemann, when asked after camp which unit performed better: “The offense will say they looked better, but the defense will say we looked better. We both have a lot of pride, which is good. But as a defensive player, I gotta say the defense looked better.”
Tuiaki said there will be some really good defensive players, perhaps a guy such as Vanderbilt transfer Gabe Jeudy-Lally, who won’t get as much playing time as they might elsewhere, due to the depth.
“We know that is going to take a lot of humility from players who are capable of starting for us, as well as starting at other places,” Tuiaki said. “But they are playing backup roles for us and contributing in other ways. And that has been more of a focus for us, is trying to be selfless and go out there and play ball and win games as a team.”
Seniors D’Angelo Mandell and Kaleb Hayes should be the starting corners, with Jeudy-Lally and Jakob Robinson their more-than-capable backups.
“This is honestly probably the deepest that BYU has ever been (at corner), as long as I can remember, dating back to at least the 1995, ’96 (seasons) that the Tim McTyers and Omarr Morgans (played). …
I love it, man. We have about 10 guys who can really run and really play.”
Hannemann and senior Malik Moore will be the opening-day safeties, backed up by junior Hayden Livingston on the free side and redshirt freshman Micah Harper on the strong side. Safeties coach Ed Lamb said redshirt freshman walk-on Ethan Slade has been “the surprise of camp” in the defensive backfield, but it will be difficult for the third-year player from Orem to get on the field in 2022 with the depth the defense has shown.
Barring injury, of course.