With a wingspan measured to be 6-feet-11 inches and an 8-foot-10 standing reach, former BYU basketball star AJ Dybantsa can cover a lot of ground — and not just with basketball. The presence of the projected top pick in this month’s NBA draft is felt throughout the athletic department, including football.
“When I go out recruiting, guys always ask, ‘Do you know AJ Dybantsa?’” BYU’s new cornerbacks coach Lewis Walker told the “Y’s Guys” livestream show this week. “I say, “Yeah, who doesn’t know that guy?”
Many of those conversations go deeper.
“You say all these things about why AJ chose BYU, but he knew that coach (Kevin Young) and his staff were going to get him ready for what he wanted to do,” Walker said. “He knew he had one year to make this opportunity and he capitalized on it — and that brings (Bruce) Branch here.”
With a recruit’s full attention, Walker continues.
“Now we are talking to these guys and I tell them, ‘You come to BYU, there is not another place in the country where your distractions are going to be eliminated the way they are at BYU,” he said. “It’s a different institution, and when you come buy into this place, this place is going to pour into you hand-over-fist and you are going to be shocked at what’s going to happen by the time you are done here.”
Getting the call
On the road recruiting for his new job at North Dakota State last December, the former Monmouth defensive coordinator was walking into a school to see a player when his phone rang. Aaron Roderick, BYU’s offensive coordinator, was calling.
“I knew A-Rod from my time at Utah,” said the former Ute defensive back. “The next thing you know, Kelly Poppinga (defensive coordinator) is calling me.”
Walker took that call too. Then he took several more.
“At that time, there was nothing on the table. It was a phone call, and you know there are a lot of great candidates that were being sought after,” he said. “But I’m not going to lie. In the back of my head, you are saying, ‘Oh man! This opportunity could come about?’”
Walker kept recruiting for the Bison and the Cougars kept calling, including BYU head coach Kalani Sitake.
“You know when the head coach hops on the phone it’s going one way unless I totally botch it,” said Walker, who played for Sitake when he was Utah’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. Walker made a point of staying in touch with Sitake over the years. “I never asked him for a job, it just came about. When Kelly called me and said, ‘Hey, I have Kalani on the phone’ — a big grin came on my face.”
Wild night
Raised in Salt Lake City and prepped at Judge Memorial, Walker was a Utah fan. After playing two seasons at Hawaii, he transferred to the Utes in time for one of the wildest nights of his life – No. 25 BYU at Utah, Sept. 16, 2012 at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Trailing 24-21 with eight seconds remaining, BYU quarterback Riley Nelson threw an incomplete pass on second down at the Utah 34-yard line. Ute fans thought time had expired so they stormed the field. However, after an official review, one second was put back on the clock, giving the Cougars another chance.
“I was on the sideline thinking, ‘What is going on right now?’” Walker said. “That whole sequence was wild.”
Once the fans were cleared away, BYU’s Justin Sorensen attempted a 51-yard field goal to try and force overtime. The Utes blocked the kick, but the Cougars JD Falslev picked up the loose ball to keep the play alive when Utah fans rushed the field a second time.
“You have the miss, the storm, you have to clear them off, they get up. Alright, here we go. We gave them this opportunity,” Walker said. “You get the block and then another penalty?”
The 15-yard infraction for fans on the field moved the ball to the Utes 19-yard line and was well within the range of BYU kicker Riley Stephenson.
“You are like, ‘Holy Cow’ and then the doink happens and it’s like, ‘Whoa!”
Stephenson’s 36-yard kick bounced off the upright and Walker and the Utes celebrated their upset as the crowd stormed the field for a third time.
Return to Rice-Eccles
Walker will return to Rice-Eccles Stadium on Nov. 9 when BYU will attempt to beat the Utes for a fourth-consecutive game.
“I enjoyed my time (at Utah). I had a great experience there. There are so many memories in this stadium,” he said. “(But) once our guys come out of the tunnel and that first kick happens, we are going for the W. It doesn’t matter if that is my alma mater or not, I bleed blue now.”
Blue is a color Walker is getting comfortable with.
“Everywhere I go, and everyone that knows me, they say, ‘Hey Lewis, you look good in blue, man,” said Walker. “I look at them and say, ‘Yes I do!’”
Confident corners
If there was ever a time to be the new cornerbacks coach at BYU, this is it. Walker inherits a deep bench behind returning starters Evan Johnson and Tre Alexander.
“Of all the guys I’ve ever coached, (Johnson) is the most intentional guy. From individual drills carried over to seven-on-seven, carried over to 11-on-11 team stuff (and) in the film room, he is so intentional about what he does,” Walker said. “I tell the guys all the time, if you want to emulate someone, just look at what he does when he’s working.”
Five of the senior’s seven career interceptions came last season, including the game clincher in the end zone against Georgia Tech in the Pop-Tarts Bowl.
“You can turn practice film and game film on, and you are not going to see a different style of play in what this guy is doing,” Walker said. “On top of that, (Evan) is an incredible human being.”
On the other side of the defense is Alexander, a junior who plays like a senior.
“You walk in and see this 6-2 kid that runs a 10.5 and you are like, ‘How are you moving like that?’” Walker said. “His IQ, the way he talks about the game, the way he approaches it, the competitive nature in him, the fire that he plays with, those are the things that go a long way and that is what has stuck out to me because my coaching style is full of passion and enthusiasm.”
Bear necessity
Walker joined the Cougars in time for spring practice and that’s where he came face to face with a bear of a quarterback — Bear Bachmeier, the reigning Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year.
“I talk to Bear a lot,” he said. “I ask him what is he seeing (from our coverage)? How can we change the disguise? If you show him one shell, he is going to exploit you.”
In his BYU debut season, Bachmeier passed for 3,033 yards and 15 touchdowns, while running for 527 yards and a single-season quarterback-record 11 touchdowns. Walker has watched him get better.
“The way he can go through his progressions with the weapons we have, those are things, when you surround a piece like Bear Bachmeier with the guys he has around him, and he can continue to progress and grow — that guy is special.”
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.