Sensing in 2023 that national exposure to the BYU football program would increase significantly after the Cougars joined the Big 12, school officials published a comprehensive look at the missionary service performed by players and coaches on the team.
That update has become an annual occurrence, and over the weekend the school released its report on the 2026 roster and missionary service.
Most notably, there are 64 players on the current roster who have served missions, up from the reported 56 returned missionaries on the 2025 roster. With a returned missionary at the helm — head coach Kalani Sitake served in Oakland, California, in the mid-1990s — BYU begins one of the most-anticipated seasons in program history on Sept. 5 against Utah Tech at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
Here are some of the highlights from the 2026 report:
- The 64 players have served full-time missions in 29 different countries and spoke 15 different languages, up from 14 languages in 2025.
- All told, 62 players on the roster speak a language other than English.
- Five coaches on the staff — Sitake, Fesi Sitake, Aaron Roderick, Kelly Poppinga and Sione Po’uha — served missions. That number was six in 2025 before defensive coordinator Jay Hill departed for Michigan.
- BYU football players and coaches have now served missions in 77 different countries throughout the history of the football program at the school supported by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
- Spanish is the most common language on the team, besides English, with 28 players having learned that language. Tongan (11) is the second-most spoken language, followed by Samoan (7) and Portuguese (5), which is the language primarily spoken in Brazil.
In addition to the numbers, last week’s report also outlined the program’s global emphasis and notes that “around half of any given BYU football roster has served missions … around the globe.” It highlights a recent partnership formed between the football program and BYU-Pathway Worldwide students in Africa.
“The partnership began as an opportunity for mentorship from the players to the students and has led to special connections and inspiration from the students to the players.”
Regarding the school as a whole, the news release stats that more than 60% of BYU students speak a second language, and they speak more than 120 different languages on campus. A total of 84 different languages are taught at BYU.
As usual, the update provides some pointers for media outlets when discussing missions.
“We request that those referring to missions use terms such as ’serving a mission,’ ‘full-time mission,’ ‘two-year mission,’ ‘missionary service,’ ‘Latter-day Saint mission,’ and ‘a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” the report says.
The report also includes a list of players on this year’s team who have served missions, and the mission in which they served.
Approximately 25 players who are currently on the two-deep chart for the opener have served missions, including starting tight end and USC transfer Walker Lyons (Oslo, Norway), Stanford transfer Zak Yamauchi (Brazil), Utah transfer Keanu Tanuvasa (Provo), Michigan transfer Andrew Gentry (Orem) and Oklahoma State transfer Justin Kirkland (Honolulu, Hawaii).
