This week is the last week of Fall Camp for BYU football. I still dont know why they call it Fall Camp, it should be Summer Camp…but that just sounds like a youth group camp or something. There have been a lot of media going to the open portions of Fall Camp and watching the football team. I want to dive into those media reports and highlight the most intriguing news.

Learnings So Far From Fall Camp

BYU has been preaching physicality this year as they prepare for another Big 12 season. They learned that last year, especially on the offensive line. Kalani Sitake has been talking about wanting to be agressive and physical but also not have any season ending injuries. Thats a hard balance to have sometimes. But, so far, no season ending injuries have taken place. Ben Bywater is medically retiring from football, which hurts, and offensive lineman Joe Brown tore his ACL. Brown wasnt supposed to start, but was just a depth piece for the offense. But the loss of Bywater hurts.

Sitake has also been preaching depth. They also learned that last year. That is why BYU was active in recruiting and the transfer portal to get as many guys as they could at the same positions. Yes, you only have 11 guys play at a time, but Sitake said he really wants to have “your best 22 or 23 playing with all of the different nickel packages and stuff”. Thats been huge for BYU to focus on.

5 Guys Who have Improved Their Stock According to Jay Drew of Deseret News

Safety Tommy Prassas

One of the areas that BYU really stacked up on was Safety. They have some big potential, especially with the addition of 4 star recruit Faletau Satuala. But another redshirt Freshman has started to show out in Fall Camp, and thats Tommy Prassas. He has now showed out in both Spring and Fall Camp and is starting to play with the starting group. Other players have said that he has great football instincts and watches film night and day. Prassas could be the starter or share starting time at the safety position with Safety Micah Harper playing a lot of the Nickel position throughout Fall Camp.

RB Hinckley Ropati

One of the biggest questions coming into Fall Camp was how was BYU going to fix their run game? Well some new guys could help that. Hinckley Ropati is healthy this season and ready to go. Ropati suffered a season ending knee injury last fall camp but is ready to go and do the best he can this year. LJ Martin suffered a shoulder injury in Spring Camp and that kept him out for most of the contact and tackling drills. Ropati has stepped up and taking that role head on. Sitake said that “LJ and Ropati are looking really good” and are supposed to be the two main guys for the RB position.

DE Logan Lutui

One of the bigger depth areas for BYU this year is defensive end. There are a ton of guys who could contribute. But Logan Lutui could be a big factor this year. He also suffered an ACL tear at the end of 2022 right as he was starting to his his stride. He is making a strong case to be the new defensvie end and replace Isaiah Bagnah. Kelly Poppinga said that he has talked with both guys and said that he doesnt know who the starter is going to be but that they will both play a lot as if they are the starter.

DE Ephraim Asiata

The next guys is another defensive end. With seniors Bagnah, Lutui, and Batty, you wouldnt think there would be any room for a guy whos a freshman to get some playing time. But Ephraim Asiata has been super physical and explosive in both Spring and Fall camp. Bodie Schoonover and Kini Fonohema have also been impressive. So there is a ton of depth at the defensive end position. Asiata looks to be making a case to be involved.

OL Sonny Makasini

The last guy is offensive lineman Sonny Makasini. Makasini and Austin Leausa could be listed as co starters when the first depth chart comes out next week. Leausa has the experience edge but Makasini has the athletic/movement edge. They have been splitting first team reps all throughout Fall Camp. But Makasini has had a little more reps than Leausa the last couple of days.

QB Position Battle Prediction

This article by Casey Lundquist on SI.com has a great breakdown of how they QB battle has been going lately. He also has breakdown for other positions like TE and LG, but I want to solely focus on his breakdown of the QB position. This looks like it has been going back and forth. He predicts that Jake Retzlaff will be the starter.

Fall Camp Updates

Before Fall Camp he had Retzlaff at about a 60-70% chance of winning the job because Bohanon wasnt really healthy enough to compete. After Week 1 of Fall Camp it was about 50/50 after Bohanon showed up healthy and was slinging the ball around and Retzlaff had some misfires. After Week 2 of Fall Camp Bohanon continued his resurgence and was showing off his athletic ability and creating huge runs downfield. He looked like the fastest QB since Taysom Hill according to Lundquist. He gave Bohanon a 60-75% of winning the job.

After Week 3 of Fall Camp, Bohanon wasnt bad but Retlzaff just looked a little better. He stepped up his game. He still thought that Bohanon had the job by about 50-60% though. So far after the first couple of days this week, Retzlaff has continued his momentum is making big time throws in tight pockets. He says because of this, its a coin toss right now and is about 50/50.

He does, however, pick Retzlaff based on the fact that in the past week and a half, Retzlaff has had some real momentum and is starting to show what he is capable of doing. Lundquist bets on Retzlaff to continue to surge to the end of this week and then be named the starter next week. Before Fall Camp started, I said that Retzlaff should be the starter based solely on the fact that he knows the offense more and was going to improve with a full offseason as the incumbent starter.

Aaron Roderick did say that he isnt opposed to having them both play in the game against Southern Illinois but he hopes he doesnt have to do that and that a winner starts to show themselves in the next week.

BYU Opens Up As a 16.5 Favorite

BYU is favored by 16.5 against FCS opponent Southern Illinois. I am honestly a little surprised about this. I thought it would be more in the range of 21. But with how BYU played last year, a new offensive line coach after having an awful running game and offensive line last year, and the uncertainty at QB, it makes sense. I would be happy if BYU won by 17 points. I think that looks good. They should win by 20+ though. That will look great. I think BYU will ultimately win by 21.

BYU Basketball Recruiting Update

BYU has some big news with their basketball recruiting efforts.

• 5 star recruit and #1 recruit in the nation for 2024, AJ Dybantsa has set an official visit with BYU for October 11th-13th. The visit is his last visit among his final list of schools which, is huge for BYU. BYU gets to make the final impression!
• One of AJ Dybantsa’s teammates on Utah Prep, JJ Mandaquit, who is a 4 star guard, also has set up an official visit with BYU. Mandaquit also listed his top 9 schools which are Louisville, California, Creighton, Hawaii, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, and USC along with BYU. There are some big schools right there but BYU seems to be squarely in the picture.
• There had also been rumblings, mainly from Robby McCombs of Vanquish the Foe that BYU was also working on scheduling an official visit with Caleb Wilson, a 5 star forward in the 2025 class. This came out right after Wilson released his top 12 which DIDNT have BYU in it. So BYU may be trying to get themselves back in the picture with him.

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