When Tiger Bachmeier was considering transferring to BYU, a phone call with a future teammate pointed him to God — and to Provo.
Bachmeier appeared on Thursday’s episode of Center Street Media’s “Faith Huddle,” where he discussed his faith with Shawn Tanuvasa, including the call that led him to BYU.
Before Bachmeier committed to BYU, he was on the phone with BYU receiver Chase Roberts, who told Bachmeier to “put your trust in God before you make your decision.”
“I can’t thank him enough because that’s really what drove me to want to be at a place like this because there’s nowhere else in the U.S. that has that good combination of being able to play at the highest level and then be surrounded by faithful people,” Bachmeier said.
“There’s nowhere else and so I think there was something in those words that drew me to this place. It really made it an easy decision. I think I had committed the next day.”
Here are three takeaways from Bachmeier’s appearance on “Faith Huddle.”
How BYU has impacted his faith
Bachmeier’s Catholic faith is a central component of his life.
“If there was not a God, the way that I’m living my life now through believing in one is the way I would want to live my life without one if there was not a God,” he said.
Bachmeier compared the effect BYU has had on his Catholic faith to learning another language in a traditional English-speaking school versus learning in an immersion program.
“There’s a mental switch that I was making at Stanford — there was a mental switch that I was making to say, to have a constant reminder of, ‘Hey, like, you’re rooted in Christ,’ and right here, I’m immersed in it at BYU and I think that that’s the best way I can put it,” he said.
As a graduate student, Bachmeier hasn’t taken any religion classes at BYU, but he said he feels like he has while “talking to teammates, hearing different perspectives, just hearing the word all the time.”
Though it was a secular school, Bachmeier mentioned that his head coaches at Stanford, Troy Taylor and Frank Reich, who was previously a pastor, were religious. He would pray before games while Taylor was his head coach, and Reich “pushed me along in my faith,” he said.
He enjoyed being able to look up to his coaches both in terms of football and faith. He has found something similar at BYU with head coach Kalani Sitake.
“To come to BYU and see Coach Sitake in that same situation is, it’s the perfect situation you want to be in. You don’t want to be in any other situation if Christ-like values are something you want to keep pushing for,” Bachmeier said.
Praying with his brother Bear Bachmeier before games
Before every game, Tiger Bachmeier and Bear Bachmeier pray together on the field.
“My prayer is pretty similar each week. I thank God for the opportunity, the platform I’m on to go out and worship him through playing. I just ask for confidence, kindness and that I can show his love through my actions on that day, and that’s the gist of what most of my prayers end up like. And Bear will chip in,” Tiger Bachmeier said.
While at Stanford last season, Tiger Bachmeier played against his older brother, Hank Bachmeier, who was the quarterback for Wake Forest. Despite being on different teams, they prayed together before the game.
“That was something special,” he said.
Tiger Bachmeier’s advice for building faith
Tiger Bachmeier grew up going to church, but said his faith deepened in high school when driving to school with his younger brothers and they would pass around a Bible to read from.
“I just remember that as a time of deepening my faith and I don’t remember a time where I felt so helpless in my faith but there’s definitely been ebbs and flows of different levels of belief,” he said.
When Tanuvasa asked Tiger Bachmeier for his faith-building advice, the receiver quickly brought up the Bible.
“I would always just carry a Bible in my backpack. There’s something about having a physical Bible ... I’ve pretty much always just kept one on me and just seeing that as a reminder to myself is helpful,” he said.
Tiger Bachmeier likes having the Bible next to him when he goes to bed each night.
“My Bible’s on my bedside. That’s why I like going to hotels because like you see there’s a Book of Mormon and then the Bible right next to each other and I want to be sleeping with the Bible next to me. That’s kind of the intentionality behind it,” he said.
Bachmeier admitted that his Bible actually sits on the floor next to his bed because he doesn’t have any other furniture in his room.
But having to step over his Bible to get in and out of bed has become a visual and physical reminder for him.
BYU will close out the 2025 season at the Pop Tart Bowl against Georgia Tech on Saturday, Dec. 27.