One of the lesser talked-about aspects of No. 7-ranked BYU’s surprising success this season — knock on wood — has been the overall good health of the undefeated team through nine games.
Very few players have been lost to injury, and there have been no publicized season-ending injuries since the campaign began.
So when starting right tackle Brayden Keim hobbled off the field in Saturday’s rivalry showdown with Utah, an eventual 22-21 BYU win, there was naturally some fear that the Cougars’ run of good fortune had ended. It didn’t look good.
However, head coach Kalani Sitake said Monday in his weekly news briefing that the 6-foot-9, 315-pound redshirt junior is “definitely not out for the season.” Sitake said the medical staff is “still reviewing it” and that Keim could possibly return this week.
“He is a tough kid,” Sitake said. “But we will take a look at it. We will see if he will be able to go this week.
“If not, it has gotta be the next guy up.”
Saturday, that next guy up was Colorado transfer Isaiah Jatta, a 6-6, 320-pound senior from San Diego.
“Unfortunate that it happened. I think he got rolled up on under pressure (during) a sack,” Sitake said of Keim. “He has done some amazing things for us. If he can go, great, and he is tough. If he can go, we will get him back and he will be able to roll this weekend. If not, I know he can give us the role that Connor Pay did for us when Connor was out.”
Pay has been a coach on the field, often advising fill-in center Bruce Mitchell on the ins and outs of the position. Mitchell has been fantastic at center, although, the third-stringer when the season began, did have a couple off-target snaps against the Utes, and one false start.
Right guard Austin Leausa has also been banged up off and on; Sitake said the SUU transfer is ready to go against Kansas this weekend, if needed.
As for Pay, the 6-5, 315-pound senior is “really close” to returning for the first time since he fractured his foot in the Baylor game.
“I think he could have pushed it, maybe, against Utah, but I think we did the right thing (in holding him out),” Sitake said. “We are hoping to get Connor back this week. … Today and tomorrow will be kinda more of the measurement if we will be able to get that done. But we feel good about it.”
Kickoff for the BYU-Kansas game is set for 8:15 p.m. MST and the rematch of last year’s 38-27 Jayhawks win in Lawrence will be televised by ESPN. Kansas (3-6, 2-4) is coming off an impressive 45-36 win over Iowa State and is 2-0 all-time against BYU, having also downed the Cougars 23-20 in the 1992 Aloha Bowl.
Also on Monday, it was announced that the Cougars’ Nov. 23 game at Arizona State will kick off at 1:30 p.m. MST and will also be televised by ESPN in Tempe, Arizona.
The BYU-KU game will mark the return of Kansas assistant head coach and offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes to Provo; Grimes was BYU’s offensive line coach from 2004-06 and its offensive coordinator under Sitake from 2018-20. Former BYU running backs coach AJ Steward is also on Kansas coach Lance Leipold’s staff as an offensive analyst.
“I think it is going to help both sides. He knows a little bit about our scheme, and we know a little bit about his background,” Sitake said of Grimes’ return. “… With what we do offensively, we kind of pattern it to the talent that we have on the team, and I think Grimes does the same thing. So definitely familiar with each other, but when it comes down to it, to the players, the guys on the field, are the ones who make plays.”
Kansas features one of the best quarterbacks in the country, Jalon Daniels, and one of the top running backs in Devin Neal, who broke the school’s all-time rushing record when he ran for 116 yards against the Cyclones.
Neal now has 3,951 career rushing yards.
“He is gifted, man. The guy can run, he can throw, and he is a veteran,” Sitake said of Daniels, who was the 2023 Big 12 preseason offensive player of the year before sustaining a season-ending injury last year. “It is a difficult matchup. And (Neal) is one of the premier running backs.”
Other topics that Sitake addressed Monday were the thrilling rivalry win over Utah, the Cougars’ outstanding special teams play under coach Kelly Poppinga, thousands of BYU fans welcoming the team back to Provo after the second straight victory over the Utes, and BYU’s No. 9 ranking in the inaugural College Football Playoffs rankings of 2024.
A fresh set of rankings will be released Tuesday night. Sitake said he’s not the least bit concerned about where BYU will land.
“I wasn’t concerned about where BYU had landed in August, so I am not going to really worry about it right now, either,” he said. “I am so focused on getting this team better, and improved, and myself even. When I say this team (needs to improve), it starts with me. What can I do differently? How can I improve from last week? There is a lot of room for improvement, to improve on from last week until now.
“So I am focused on that, and what we can do, and what we can control with this team, and not worried about the distractions, whether they are in favor of us, or not,” he continued. “We just have to go to work and try to find a way to win Super Bowl No. 10.”
