It’s been a decade since Tanner Wall last visited Northwest Stadium.
As a high school junior in 2016, he and thousands of other East Coast BYU fans gathered at then-FedEx Field for the Cougars’ clash against future Big 12 foe West Virginia.
Now, he’ll return to that same Landover, Maryland, site Friday as a member of the Miami Dolphins, making his NFL preseason debut against the Washington Commanders just 20 miles away from his hometown of Arlington, Virginia.
To say Wall would end up playing for BYU, let alone in the NFL, back on that 2016 game day would have seemed outrageous. He’d only begun playing football two years earlier and was in his first season as a varsity starter. He was barely six feet tall and weighed less than his team’s kicker.
Kalani Sitake, four games into his tenure on the Cougar sidelines, had never heard of him.
But the past 10 years of dogged, obsessive effort and persistence from Wall have paved a road laced with BYU stardom back to Northwest Stadium, where he’s attempting to write yet another Hollywood-worthy football tale that begins with the cards stacked against him. Given his high school and college careers, such early pressure seems to be where he best thrives.
It will be a daunting, uphill battle to make the Dolphins’ final 53-man roster. Sticking around in the NFL as an undrafted free agent will be his greatest challenge to date.
But if there’s one guy I know I can bet on to defy the odds, it’s Tanner Wall. I’ve seen him do it for years.
I’ve known Tanner for my entire life — literally.
My family has a home video from the day I was born, where three-month-old Tanner and his parents, Ryan and Sher, visited us in the hospital a few hours after my birth. Talk about being a “Day 1.”
And after all these years, my oldest friend remains one of my closest. Tanner and I grew up together in northern Virginia as members of the same Latter-day Saint stake, with our families having been connected for decades before. The Walls are practically family to us.
My high school years were full of good times with Tanner, such as boating at Lake Barcroft, going to basketball games and on double dates, hanging out at the ice cream shop I worked at, talking about baseball, attending missionary prep classes and, of course, watching BYU sports.
When you’re a teenager, it’s a blessing to have a friend you know will always have your back no matter what. Tanner was that friend for me.
We were each driven by the dream of someday attending BYU — Tanner wanted to play for the Cougars, and I hoped to study journalism there and become a professional sportswriter.
I originally thought Tanner’s athletic future in Provo would come at Miller Park, as he was one of the top prep baseball players in the Washington, D.C. area, but it soon became apparent, at least to me, that my friend was headed for LaVell Edwards Stadium.
A month after BYU faced West Virginia in 2016, our high schools matched up on the gridiron. Tanner, in addition to playing safety and returning kicks, was making a surprise start at quarterback — his first ever. I was on the other sideline, serving as my school’s statistician.
Three plays into the game, Tanner threw a 75-yard touchdown pass. It was the first of five touchdown drives he’d lead on the night, including his own 39-yard rushing score on a quarterback draw play, breaking or evading at least six separate tackles on his way to the end zone.
My job was to record all of the stats, and Tanner was putting up a ton of them to keep me busy.
It was a revelatory night. Tanner was barely five feet tall and less than 100 pounds two years before, and now he was a one-man wrecking crew. I was sold. In my mind, there was no way he wouldn’t play football for BYU.
At that point, however, BYU didn’t share my same enthusiasm. Tanner wasn’t really on anyone’s radar out in Provo, and BYU’s East Coast recruiting was rather sparse.
All that did was light a fire under Tanner. He went out West and won wide receiver MVP at BYU’s 2017 summer camp. A few months later, he became the first player in Arlington County history to be named both offensive and defensive player of the year in the same season.
Division I football offers came rolling in — but not from the Cougars.
I remember being frustrated that my friend wasn’t getting the recognition he deserved. Tanner chose instead to keep the faith, or “trust the process” as he’d say.
BYU finally came calling at an unexpected time — when the Cougars were between offensive coordinators. Staff holdover and tight ends coach Steve Clark offered Tanner a preferred walk-on spot at receiver.
At long last, Tanner was BYU-bound. I was fired up for him, and he was just as thrilled for me when I got my own BYU acceptance letter later that winter.
Fast forward a few years to BYU’s 2021 home opener against Utah. Tanner and I had both returned home from missions. He was on the game day roster and in uniform for the first time as a Cougar. I was in the press box covering the game for BYU’s Daily Universe student newspaper.
Upon the Cougars breaking their long rivalry losing streak with a 26-17 victory, fans poured onto the field in celebration. I had been filming the game’s conclusion from behind the end zone and suddenly found myself swept away and swallowed deep into the sea of blue.
With all the chaos and claustrophobia, you could barely hear yourself think, let alone actually move around, but amid the mass hysteria, I somehow bumped into Tanner and his dad Ryan. Of the tens of thousands of people on the field, we randomly — no, miraculously — ended up together, just two pals 2,000 miles away from home sharing a joyous reunion.
We climbed onto BYU’s sideline bench to get a better view of our unforgettable surroundings, and it finally hit us: Here we were at BYU together. Tanner was on the football team. I was writing about sports. We’d both done exactly what we set out to do years ago, and we’d supported each other to get there. Our dreams were now reality.
“We did it! We did it!” Tanner and I kept shouting at each other on the field. It was like something you’d see at the end of a Disney sports movie.
But luckily for us, we were nowhere near the ending.
Much has been said about Tanner’s time at BYU.
He showed up in 2020 as a returned missionary walk-on and was asked to grayshirt. In 2021, he redshirted. He changed positions after 2022 and suffered a season-ending injury a few games into the 2023 season.
He got healthy again, won a starting role and earned a spot on BYU’s team leadership council prior to the 2024 campaign, during which he emerged as a key defensive cog for the Cougars.
Everything came together in 2025, as he added team captain, First Team All-Big 12 selection, Phil Steele All-America Honorable Mention and Allstate Wuerffel Trophy finalist to his résumé. He grabbed four interceptions, including a pick-six against TCU and a now-iconic leaping takeaway against Utah that will live on forever in program and rivalry lore.
But Tanner proved to be an even greater force for good off the field, mentoring hundreds of BYU Pathway students from Africa and the South Pacific, speaking at school assemblies and church devotionals, helping coordinate service opportunities for other BYU athletes and visiting ailing individuals at Utah Valley Hospital each week.
He signed every possible autograph, posed for every last picture and gave as much time as he could for young fans before and after each game, hoping to help them catch the same BYU spirit he did as a youngster.
During our time as neighbors and members of the same young single adult church ward in Provo, Tanner and his roommates would open their home each Sunday night to host a sizable scripture study group. All were welcome to join, and those who came as strangers always left as friends.
Even with everything else eating at their time, it was important to Tanner and his roommates to help provide others with fellowship and faith-promoting experiences.
As I dealt with cancer in the summer of 2022, Tanner was a constant support and light for me, always making sure I knew I wasn’t alone and taking me out to lunch on occasion to distract me from the lows of chemotherapy.
Despite all his fame and success, he’s remained the same guy I’ve always known, while actually becoming kinder and more humble than ever before (the strong examples of his wonderful parents and lovely wife, Corinne, deserve some credit there).
I’m just proud of my friend Tanner, not only for what he’s accomplished so far, but who he’s become as a result.
The guy I viewed as my smartest friend (his mother is a teacher, after all) became a two-time First Team Academic All-American.
The guy I texted with after every high school game became a fixture at BYU’s postgame press conference podium.
The guy who never gained much recruiting buzz in high school became one of BYU’s go-to hosts for welcoming top recruits on their visits to Provo — and served as a recruiting asset this past offseason in helping convince his Cougar teammates to return for another year.
The guy who comes from the strongest BYU-loving family I know helped the Cougars win 23 games across his final two seasons and gain a reputation as a perennial Big 12 contender.
The guy who I watched vanquish high school rivals such as Washington-Lee, Wakefield, South Lakes and Langley left BYU without ever losing to Utah.
The guy who had to will himself onto BYU’s radar became one of the faces of the program.
The guy who became one of BYU’s best defensive players this century is still one of the best friends I’ve ever had.
Life is so much more fulfilling when we’re rooting for the people around us, and I’m grateful my friendship with Tanner Wall has helped me learn such a truth. Watching his football journey unfold over the years has been an experience I’ll forever cherish.
And hopefully his future will include competing in many more games — starting on Friday in the same NFL stadium where he once watched BYU play.
