For BYU, surviving each other is priority No. 1 heading into fall camp

Summer is over in Provo. It’s still hot and school hasn’t started yet, but for BYU’s football team, the season is changing.

The Cougars report to fall camp this week and officially start a countdown that will take them to opening night, Aug. 31 at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

The marching orders are simple — work hard but stay healthy — but they’re also something BYU struggled to do last year.

BYU’s offense in 2024

There are questions needing answers all over the roster, with a special interest in the quarterback competition between Gerry Bohanon and Jake Retzlaff with Utah State transfer McCae Hillstead waiting in the wings.

Retzlaff went 0-4 in his four starts while throwing for 648 yards and three touchdowns and rushing for three more. Hillstead started four games at Utah State and appeared in four others. The freshman threw for 1,062 yards, 11 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

Bohanon, who led Baylor to a win against BYU and the 2021 Big 12 Championship, sat out last season at South Florida due to shoulder surgery. The 6-foot-3, 235-pound grad transfer arrives in camp with 3,469 career passing yards, 1,005 rushing yards and 41 total touchdowns.

The running back position is a three-horse race between Hinckley Ropati, LJ Martin and Miles Davis. All three were banged up last season. In Ropati’s case, he tore his MCL during fall camp and missed all of BYU’s Big 12 debut.

Davis played in five games and rushed for 78 yards on 16 carries as he dealt with nagging injuries. His best night at BYU was a 131-yard rushing performance against Wyoming in 2022. Davis will reunite with the Cowboys Sept. 14 in Laramie.

As a true freshman, Martin led BYU’s woeful ground attack with 546 yards and four touchdowns. He saw immediate playing time after senior Aidan Robbins suffered a broken rib toward the end of fall camp. Injuries impaired Martin toward the end of the season, and they slowed him down in spring practice as well.

The Cougars enter camp with as much depth at receiver as they have had in program history. Chase Roberts, Kody Epps, Parker Kingston, Darius Lassiter, Keelan Marion and JoJo Phillips are healthy and ready to go and it’s receivers coach Fesi Sitake’s job to keep them that way.

Last fall, camp injuries to Epps and Keanu Hill kept them out of the season opener, leaving Roberts as the only returning receiver for new quarterback Kedon Slovis. The Cougars managed just 145 yards passing against Sam Houston.

Isaac Rex is in the BYU record books for the most career touchdowns caught by a tight end (24), but the devastating ankle injury he suffered at USC in November 2021 dogged him during his final two seasons and significantly limited the Cougars’ production at tight end.

With Rex gone, offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick moved Hill from receiver to tight end. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound senior remains BYU’s active career leader in receptions (73), receiving yards (1,212) and touchdowns (11). However, with his health sidelining him for four games last year, Hill managed just 12 receptions for 187 yards and a touchdown.

BYU’s offense managed just 23.1 points per game, which is indicative of their poor health at quarterback (including Slovis’ season-ending injury at Texas), running back, receiver and tight end.

Can BYU football stay healthy?

Maintaining health throughout fall camp on the defensive side of the ball is just as important, especially with linebacker Ben Bywater (possibly) and defensive tackle John Nelson returning from injury. Their absence was felt in BYU’s inability to pressure the quarterback and stop the run.

The biggest camp nightmare last fall was in the Cougars’ secondary, where defensive coordinator Jay Hill lost both of his experienced safeties. Micah Harper (ACL) missed the entire season and Talan Alfrey (collarbone) sat out all but the final three games.

It’s a fine balance between staging a physical camp while remaining healthy. The nature of the game, and the hunger to win a starting spot, can wear down the human body.

Head coach Kalani Sitake, who spent the offseason adding to his roster depth while demanding his returning players get bigger, stronger and faster, knows he’s playing with fire. BYU just can’t afford to get burned.

There are positions to solidify and schemes to master. The Cougars have four weeks to put it all together as they attempt to rebound from last year’s 5-7 season.

But before they can prove themselves against Southern Illinois, they must first survive each other, and it wouldn’t hurt to have a dose of better luck while they do it.