I don’t know if I can fully express how excited I am about the recent BYU Big 12 news. There was some very exciting news that dropped last week! We had the Big 12 football schedule release, a huge RB recruit commit to BYU for this upcoming year, and the 2023 recruiting class and transfers for football. As always, before we hop into that, here is the BYU weekly sports update.

Weekly BYU Sports Update

Men’s Sports

• Men’s Golf: Zac Jones, a sophomore, had his first collegiate win in the Arizona Intercollegiate and BYU finished 4th overall out of 15 teams.
• Men’s Basketball: The men’s team took on LMU in a fight for 3rd/4th in the conference with BYU coming alive at home, shooting 50% from 3 and 53% overall, in a rout of LMU, 89-61. The men then continued on Saturday at home against Pacific hoping to move into a tie for 3rd in the conference and they played a great game again with only 9 turnovers and shooting 46% overall from the field in a win, 81-66. They take on Pepperdine in Malibu on Thursday and Gonzaga in Spokane on Saturday. Huge revenge game for BYU on Saturday and BYU seems to be coming alive at just the right time!
• Men’s Volleyball: The #11 men’s volleyball team beat #8 Ball State to get a top 10 road win on Thursday winning 3-1. They came back on Saturday and lost to the same #8 Ball State on the road again losing, 1-3. They ended up splitting the series with #8 Ball State on the road. They have UCSB upcoming this weekend in Provo on Friday and Saturday.
• Men’s Tennis: The men’s team played Cal Poly in Provo losing just barely 4-3 after multiple close matches. The Mustangs took the doubles point after going to a tiebreaker and then took 3 singles points in which two went to three sets.
• Mens Swimming and Diving: The men’s team competed in the Air Force diving invitational and had Chase Hindmarsh qualify for the finals and finish 9th out of 12 divers in the final competition.

Women’s Sports

• Women’s Basketball: The women’s team went against San Diego in San Diego on Saturday where they had an 11-point deficit at one point. They came all the way back but fell a little short as they ended up losing 52-49. Lauren Gustin had 14 points and 16 rebounds. BYU will play Pepperdine on Thursday in the Marriott Center.
• Women’s Tennis: The women’s team had their home opener on Saturday against Washington State. They won 5-2 by sweeping the doubles matches. BYU will play LMU and Utah State this weekend on Friday and Saturday.
• Women’s Swimming and Diving: The women’s team also competed in the Air Force diving invitational with 3 women qualifying for the final with Alexia Jackson finishing the highest in the final event at 3rd followed by Brooklyn Larson finishing 7th and Sophia Debergh finishing 10th.
• Women’s Gymnastics: The women’s team went up against SUU on Friday where they had 7 new career-high scores but fell to #22 SUU still. The women are back in the Marriott Center on Friday where #22 SUU will travel to Provo and play against the Cougars for the second week in a row.
• Women’s Track and Field: The #22 ranked women’s team had 8 runners compete in the Camel City Invitational with 2 runners finishing in the top 10. Jenna Hutchins recorded a top 10 all-time BYU time in the 3000 meters elite race.

BYU Big 12 Schedule

The Big 12 and BYU released the football schedule for the upcoming fall season. And let me tell you, it’s glorious, and I am still not very used to it. It still feels like a put-together independent schedule, but I know that it’s not! We are in the Big 12 baby! Here is the picture that BYU released.

BYU starts the season with 2 “warmup” games against Sam Houston and Southern Utah. We then start off with a bang at Arkansas as a nonconference game. We then have our first Big 12 game at Kansas. I wish that game was later in the year, then I could see the football game and a Kansas basketball game! Does anyone else want to go to Kansas and just see a basketball game there someday at that historic blue blood program? Just me, okay. Some other highlights from the schedule are at TCU, at Texas, and home vs Oklahoma.

We are the only new team coming into the Big 12 that plays both Texas and Oklahoma. 👀 I have us going a solid 6-6 in our first season in the Big 12 with wins against Sam Houston, Southern Utah, Kansas, Cincinnati, West Virginia, and Iowa State, so set your expectations accordingly. SO. PUMPED. FOR. THIS.

The Blessing of the Big 12

Now, it’s not very often that we get to be blessed with amazing recruits at BYU. We have mostly 3-star and rarely 4-star recruits who come. But let me introduce you to LJ Martin.

He is a 4 star running back and the highest-ranked running back to commit to BYU, EVER! Martin originally was committed to Stanford, but when David Shaw left, he opened up his recruitment and BYU pounced on him. He is going to be a STUD and we stole him right out of Big 12 country. He’s from Texas and had other offers from Baylor, Texas Tech, Kansas, and Kansas State. In 21-22, he rushed for 2,737 yards and 29 touchdowns. In 22-23, he rushed for 2,138 yards and 17 touchdowns.

BYU did just have another stud running back from UNLV transfer over right before this and he is the presumed starter since he has the experience and just ran for 1,000 yards last year at UNLV. But Martin could provide a nice change of pace as he is more elusive and quick. Robbins, the transfer from UNLV, is more of a bruiser, run-you-over type of back. All in all, BYU should have a nice 1-2 punch for running backs going into the Big 12.

Jay Hill Making Waves on Defense

Jay Hill was hired to be the defensive coordinator at BYU at the beginning of December and he is a well-known, great defensive mind. It has been 2 months and BYU is bringing in some DUDES in the form of the defensive line and corner positions, where BYU has not always been the strongest. Here are some highlights that I think are going to help right away and provide some much-needed depth in the Big 12. You can check out BYUs full 2023 recruiting class here.

2023 Recruiting Class

• Siale Esera – Edge – rated 89
• Talituli Pututau – DL – rated 84
• David Tangilanu – Edge – rated 83
• Motekiai Mounga – DL – rated 82
• David Latu – DL – rated 82
• Jayden Dunlap – CB – rated 84

Transfers

• Dylan Flowers – CB – rated 85
• Eddie Heckard – CB – rated 91
• Jackson Cravens – DL – rated 87
• Isaiah Bagnah – DL – rated 83

Overall, I really like some of the transfers that we have brought in, especially on defense. Addressing the DL and corner position is going to help tremendously. Keep an eye on Siale Esera, Eddie Heckard, and Jackson Cravens. I am excited to see if they can get some quality time this fall.

Side Notes

Check out what Aidan Robbin’s (the RB transfer from UNLV) dad had to say about BYU and the coaching staff. Lots of love it seems like from these two new RBs for BYU and the coaching staff.

You probably know who Noah Waterman is a 6’11 forward on the BYU basketball team who can shoot the lights out (but is currently in a huge slump). If you want to learn more about him, you need to check out this deep blue episode detailing what his family life was like, growing up poor with no dad, his respect and love for his mom, and how he landed at BYU through a lot of hardship, but always striving for his dream. You may or may not need some tissues.

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