The last time BYU faced TCU, Siale Esera was just a boy playing in his first collegiate game. On Saturday, when the two teams reunite at LaVell Edwards Stadium (8:15 p.m. MST, ESPN), the Horned Frogs will face Siale Esera the man.
“I feel like I have matured more as a football player and as a person as well,” Esera told the BYUtv “Sports Nation GameDay” pregame show. “I feel like it’s a whole different ballgame now. The knowledge that I have is nothing to compared to what I had back then.”
Back then, on Oct. 14, 2023, Esera entered the game in the fourth quarter of a one-sided TCU beatdown in Fort Worth. The former Timpview High star, who grew up watching the Cougars, was now one of them.
“I went in for the first play of my college career as a true freshman, and I dropped back into coverage and saw the ball fly up in the air,” Esera said. “I knew it was mine and I had to go get it. I was able to bring it down (for) the interception.”
The pass Esera picked off was from redshirt freshman quarterback Josh Hoover. The TCU quarterback has since boosted his career totals to an impressive 8,847 passing yards and 65 touchdowns. However, among Hoover’s 28 interceptions is one memory maker that belongs to Esera.
On Saturday the two will contend against each other again as juniors — older, wiser and with a lot more on the line. No. 12 BYU needs a victory to remain in control of its destiny to the Big 12 championship and College Football Playoff.
The big three
Esera, Jack Kelly and Isaiah Glasker are a linebacking trio that have combined for 20.5 tackles for loss, including 11 sacks. They spearhead a defense that allows 18.3 points per game and defends against red zone scoring better than anyone in the Big 12.
“We’ve spent so much time with each other, I feel our brotherhood has grown so close that we almost feel like we are brothers,” Esera said.
The physical nature of the game has left all three to face a variety of injuries, but they will tackle TCU mostly healthy and that fuels their confidence.
“It’s high. It’s high. It’s being able to know that nothing’s holding us back and that we’re able to trust each other, wholeheartedly,” Esera said.
“My role is to do my job and to trust the other 10 players on the field to know that they’re going to do theirs and together, we’ll stop anything that comes toward us.”
Learning from losing
Falling 29-7 at No. 6 Texas Tech the way BYU did — by floundering on offense and special teams and failing to create turnovers on defense, gave the previously unbeaten Cougars a wake-up call.
“It brings us back to reality. It tells us there are some things we need to work harder on,” said the 6-foot-3, 245-pound junior from Provo.
“I learned a lot of things about who we are and the things that we need to do to become better and to better ourselves in terms of being a brother — just keeping true to ourselves and to continue to play with that passion that we’ve always had.”
Dave McCann is a sportswriter and columnist for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com.