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Kalani Sitake received two commitments from three-star athletes at Orem High this week in a display of dominating instate recruiting.
With the commitment of three-star rush end Lopeti Moala from Orem, BYU’s class of 2026 ranking was No. 33, according to 247sports and that’s a significant jump for the Kalani Sitake program. Here is our story on Moala’s commitment, made Monday. He is the 15th commitment.
A day later, two-way athlete (receiver/linebacker/edge rusher) Kaue Akana committed to the Cougars. Greg Biggins of 247sports labeled Akana one of the most versatile athletes on the West Coast. As of publication, the Akana addition skyrocketed BYU’s national ranking from 33rd to 25th.
This is a significant jump for BYU, a program that has been hovering around the 60s for years.
In this piece, I detail the importance of BYU getting a commitment from Ryder Lyons and the three-year saga of BYU’s recruiting development since the Cougars went after his older brother Walker, a top-ranked tight end.
Question of the week
With offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick scrambling to prepare a new starting quarterback this fall, in what ways can Jay Hill and his defense play a part for Kalani Sitake?
Jay Drew: Any way you slice it, news that Jake Retzlaff will not be playing football for BYU this fall is not a positive development for the program. Coaches invested in Retzlaff all of last season, and all the way through spring ball, giving him most of the instruction in the film room and more than half of the reps in spring practices. It is a huge loss.
That said, BYU’s defense always figured to be the strength of the 2025 team, and by all accounts from last week’s media/golf event, is in good hands and ready to roll. For BYU to have success in 2025, the defense will need to be elite. It cannot plan on the offense making long, time-consuming drives to keep it off the field. It will need to have depth and experience.
Jay Hill says it will be one of the better defenses he’s been around, dating back to his days at Utah. Suffice it to say the defensive coordinator will earn his paycheck this season. The onus is on that group to keep teams from scoring more than 21 points per game, because it appears that the offense will need some time to find its footing — whether McCae Hillstead, Treyson Bourguet or Bear Bachmeier is at the helm.
Dick Harmon: Regardless of what BYU’s offense does, defensive coordinator Jay Hill plans to wreak havoc on opposing offenses this year. He’ll need to help Aaron Roderick break in a new quarterback after the Jake Retzlaff drama.
This will be the best front line the Cougars have had under head coach Kalani Sitake with the addition of Keanu Tanuvasa from Utah and Justin Kirkland from Oklahoma State. Because of their size, Hill will be able to free up weapons from the edge and linebacker corps to attack offenses in a far more effective manner than years past.
If he pulls it off, BYU’s offense will be able to take the baby steps needed to shore up a new quarterback in the first two or three games. This can be done with stops, forced turnovers and more sacks than the past two years. Hill’s defense ranked 13th last year (total defense) and he believes he has plenty of things to fix and enhance this year.
A better defense, coupled with how Roderick may call games to protect the QB (run game, short passes, use of the tight end in rush game and pass game), are all tools that could be used by the offense to ease Hillstead, Bourguet or Bachmeier into an effective QB.
Cougar tales
As June closes, everyone’s getting into the QB story due to Jake Retzlaff’s transfer and dismissal of a court case. Here is my speculation in a column. This is a piece by Jay Drew recapping the QB race. This piece by KSL.com reflects on what Aaron Roderick has said in interviews, that coaches were not surprised Retzlaff wouldn’t return. This online blog forecasts an opinion on the strengths of Retzlaff replacement candidates in Vanquishthefoe.com.
In this column, Dave McCann invites former Cougars Max Hall, John Beck and Riley Nelson to answer the question of how fast can Aaron Roderick prepare a quarterback for the first game.
From the archives
From the X-verse
Extra points
- Big 12 making a recruiting difference (KSLsports)
- Why AJ Dybantsa made a magazine cover (Deseret News)
- Second big game for Dybantsa vs. France (Deseret News)
Fanalysts
Comments from Deseret News readers:
From a Ute fan.
Coach Roderick and the rest of the team will recover from this and go on to have a solid season. And the really great thing is that they will have shown that honor, discipline and integrity matter. I wish the team success in every game ... but one.
— Idaulrish
With very few facts on which to stake my claim (comments by others, video clips, and limited real game snaps), I think Hillstead will be QB1 against PSU. His performance during the first few games will determine his status the rest of the year. If he struggles against PSU and Stanford (which I don’t think he will), I think we’ll see Bachmeier elevated to QB1. The real test will start in mid October.
— CougFanInTexas
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- Aug. 2 | 7 p.m. | women’s soccer | Blue/White game
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- Aug. 9 | 7 p.m. | women’s soccer | Utah Tech
- Aug. 14 | 7 p.m | women’s soccer | Minnesota
- Aug. 18 | 7 p.m. | women’s soccer Cal Poly