Kalani Sitake likes a good vibe. His Tongan roots and genetic chill are matched with the driving beat of the deep base-enhanced music blasting through the loud speakers. It’s Sitake’s way of declaring that the seventh fall camp under his watch as BYU’s head football coach is underway.
Just helmets, jerseys and shorts for Day 1 with a welcomed mix of clouds and sunshine and moderate August temperatures made for the kind of day Sitake has been counting down to for months. It’s back to work and out on the plush, green, freshly painted practice field, there are stories everywhere about almost any and everything.
I talked with junior quarterback Jaren Hall, who happily declared that everybody on his offense was on the field today. Then we discussed his summer golf dilemma. Like so many of us, putting is his great frustration.
Senior receiver Gunner Romney said he was excited to be back with this offense. This is his final year to make a case for NFL employment. He’s healthy and happy, but mostly we talked about the beach.
Romney loves the beach and just wrapped up a coastal visit with his wife before camp. He admits it’s all work and no play from here on out — until he gets to play at South Florida on Sept. 3.
Payton Wilgar has two reasons to smile. Not only is the linebacker back on the field wearing a helmet for the first time since November after shoulder surgery, he is also a new father.
Once we discussed his improved health, our conversation quickly turned to life with a newborn — the first for he and his wife Christine. There is a special light in the eyes of new fathers that radiates through the redness that comes from limited sleep.
Wilgar knows this is an important season for him. He has been on the radar of NFL scouts for a while. A good junior year could mean his last at BYU. His tag-team partner, Keenan Pili, another junior, was also on the field running around for the first time since tearing his ACL against Arizona State last September.
Junior receiver Puka Nacua had plenty of zip to his step. He was slowed by a hamstring injury during last year’s camp, which followed offseason foot surgery that sidelined him for 2021’s spring practice.
Those days are behind him. Nacua, like Hall, Wilgar and a handful of others, knows that a good season could launch him into the NFL, while the rest of the Cougars go to the Big 12.
Quarterback Jacob Conover told me as he came off the field that he is “living the dream!” The highly touted Arizona prep star will battle the highly touted Texas prep star Cade Fennegan, both redshirt freshmen, for backup supremacy and to get a leg up on the 2023 competition.
I was most happy to see Isaac Rex back on the field for the first time since tearing up his right ankle against USC over Thanksgiving weekend. He had a smile on his face and told me he did all of the drills today.
Rex still favors the ankle as he walks and admitted he won’t be fully cleared until the week before the season opener. But the optimism on his face has put a smile on his quarterback’s face, too.
“He’s a huge target,” Hall said. “We just need to make sure he doesn’t come back too quickly.”
The 6-foot-6 sophomore caught 12 touchdowns in 2020, the most among freshmen tight ends in college football. Rex caught three last year and had another one in his grasp when he injured the ankle trying to get a foot down in the back of the end zone at USC. He was carted off the field and taken to the hospital.
Today, 247 days later, Rex returned to practice, which added to Sitake’s good vibe.
Not every day will be the like this. The temperatures will increase, both in the atmosphere and on the field, especially when the Cougars go to full pads next Thursday. But for now, on opening day, this veteran roster and its head coach are feeling the invigorating vibe that comes from getting back together — with big plans ahead.
Dave McCann is a contributor to the Deseret News and is the studio host of “After Further Review,” “Countdown to Kickoff,” “The PostGame Show,” and play-by-play announcer for BYUtv. He is also co-host of “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com.
