Siale Esera is still a 6-foot-3, 240-pound pain in the neck for BYU opponents, and 10 pounds lighter than last season; the redshirt-junior linebacker feels he can be even more troublesome this fall.
“It makes me a little faster,” Esera said. “I’m moving around the backer positions, playing all over, inside and outside.”
Esera started 10 games in 2025 and finished with 48 tackles, including a sack and four quarterback hurries. He believes slimming down will help him “hurry” a lot more often — and he’s not alone.
“Speed and athleticism in space — that’s the main thing for him, being able to get him to change direction and be a little more productive out of the box,” said Kelly Poppinga, defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach. “He’s pretty good in the box between the tackles. I think (losing weight) is going to help him be a little more productive in our out-of-the-box system.”
Esera is running with the heralded Isaiah Glasker and Cade Uluave in Poppinga’s starting unit; however, BYU’s linebacker depth has the next group, including Kansas State transfer Jake Clifton and Nusi Taumoepeau, nipping at their heels.
“It’s very competitive. We keep each other on their toes. Everybody is athletic. Everyone is getting to know the playbook. We are just all here to play some football,” Esera said. “The best man is going to be on that field at the end of the day, coach (Poppinga) knows that — we know that.”
Head coach Kalani Sitake knows that, too.
“Siale has done a great job. The linebacking corps — that group is super talented,” Sitake said. “The depth is really nice. When you have Siale with Glasker, Nusi, Cade, they work really well together. We have a bunch of players that can play and we will have to find moments to get them on the field together. It’s a good problem to have for K-Popp.”
Esera has two goals for 2026. For the team, he wants to “win that Big 12 championship, hit the playoffs and go far. I think we are capable of doing that,” he said. As for himself, “I just want to ball out.”
The former four-star recruit from Timpview High did it all for the T-Birds. As a senior, he amassed 76 tackles to earn Deseret News first team All-State honors. As a freshman at BYU, Esera grabbed his first interception at TCU in 2023. His first sack as a sophomore came against Colorado in the Alamo Bowl in 2024, and his best night of tackling was last season at Arizona (16).
“From the time he played for us as a true freshman, then redshirted, and into last year, his instinctiveness has increased each year, and the physicality part has continued to increase,” said Poppinga. “He’s very vocal, very communicative. Being able to see him to continue to develop as an off-the-ball backer is the main thing I’ve seen.”
BYU’s defense logged 10 more sacks in 2025 than it had in 2024 and in the last two seasons combined, the Cougars have 39 interceptions.
“You can get more interceptions, more sacks, more fumbles,” Esera said. “The big thing coach Kalani has told us as a defense is the turnovers are really good, but our turnover margin is still lacking a little bit. We’ve been paying attention to getting the ball out and on our tackling. We are just grinding.”
For Esera, who could also see time at defensive end, he’s grinding 10 pounds lighter and preparing to play a weightier role in BYU’s success.
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.