Stopping the run tops agenda for BYU defense

The way BYU’s defense struggled to stop the run last season has to have defensive coordinator Jay Hill on alert as fall camp begins Wednesday.

BYU’s second-year defensive coordinator and associate head coach brought a myriad of positives to the Cougar defense when he left his job as head coach at Weber State.

Hill is caught inbetween two worlds: knowing what needs to be done and seeing that it succeeds.

This week he’ll welcome his 2024 defensive unit, and the primary goal remains the same. It’s not rocket science. It’s not a fancy design, hope or dream. It’s very simple.

Hill wants his defense to stop the run.

He wants to create chaos and all those exciting things a playmaking defense does during a game. He wants QBs to feel the heat in the pocket, coverages to be sound and effective. He wants fundamentally sound tackling and his schemes to be run with skill and acumen.

He wants his defense to be an agent of chaos and disruption.

But none of it, not a bit of it, matters if opponents can run the ball, gobble up yards, move the chains, keep the ball away from the offense and control the time of possession as his guys wear down.

After spring practice, Hill told reporters he expected many of his key players to join the program during the summer.

“The one thing right now with the way recruiting went last year, we feel some of our best players are still going to join us,” Hill said.

“It’s going to create a lot more competition. If you’re recruiting the right way, that’s how it’s always going to be. There’s always going to be competition coming in. It’s the starters’ job to hold onto their jobs and play great and it’s the backups’ job to beat them out. We’re looking forward to some increased competition with those guys coming in.”

A year ago, BYU faced one of its toughest schedules in program history — 10 straight P5 opponents. After a 5-2 start, which included wins over Arkansas and Texas Tech, the team never won again,

All four of the Big 12 newcomers experienced similar growing pains. BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and Central Florida combined for a 4-24 record against Big 12 legacy teams.

Growing pains, indeed.

During his first year, Hill watched as his two projected safeties were injured early. He lost his leading tackler and captain Ben Bywater to a season-ending injury. He had interior linemen go down, other linebackers like promising freshman Siale Esera suffer a season-ending foot injury. It’s not an excuse because everyone has injuries, but his depth wasn’t there for Big 12 play. Many replacements were simply not ready or talented enough to answer the call.

As a result, Hill had to have watched the final four games against Texas, West Virginia, Iowa State and Oklahoma State with trepidation. Those four teams scored 13 rushing touchdowns when all the other opponents combined earned just five.

Texas ran 35 times for 184 yards and two touchdowns. West Virginia in Morgantown ran a whopping 48 times the next week and gained 336 yards with a pair of touchdowns. Iowa State ran 37 times, gained 234 yards and rushed for four touchdowns.

Get the pattern?

Opponents knew exactly what they had to do to give Hill a headache — run, baby run.

In the final game against Oklahoma State, the Cowboys rushed 41 times for 182 yards and five touchdowns.

No wonder the Cougars ended the season on a five-game losing skid.

With the offense also struggling, Hill’s defense faced some outstanding running backs. And they delivered, blow by blow, down by down.

BYU finished Hill’s first season in Provo with his defense ranked 109th in rushing defense. It gave up 2,132 yards on 109 carries for a 4.82 yard per attempt average, 177.7 yards per game.

To put that in perspective, Penn State led the nation in rushing defense, allowing 982 yards on 434 attempts, a 2.26 average per run attempts, yielded 10 touchdowns and just 785.5 yards per game.

It wasn’t as if BYU’s defense was alone in struggling to stop Big 12′s outstanding ball carriers.

Cincinnati ranked 108th, Houston 98th, Oklahoma State 96th, Kansas 88th, Texas Tech 84th, TCU 75th and Kansas State an average rush defense that ranked 54th.

The Big 12 featured five of the top 15 rushers in college football last season, led by OSU’s Ollie Gordon II at No. 2 with a 123.7 yard-per-game average. Texas Tech’s Tahj Brooks ranked No. 4 (118 ypg), RJ Harvey ofTexas Tech at No. 10 (108 ypg), Jonathan Brooks of Texas No. 12 (103 ypg), and at No. 14 was TCU’s Emani Bailey (100.8 ypg).

The Big 12 offensive lines and runners can put numbers on teams.

It will be interesting to see how newcomer Utah, which ranked No. 4 in rushing defense last year as a Pac-12 member, does this season.

In the meantime, Hill knows the deal. I’d project his defense will fare better this season. He has more talent and defense is deeper. His guys more fully understand what is asked of them and he’s prepared them more fully.

This past national letter of intent signing day in February 2024, nine of the 10 highest-ranked recruits signed by BYU were by Hill for defense and included Bountiful safety Faletau Satuala and edge rusher Ephraim Asiata. He also signed Danny Saili, a giant noseguard from Hutchinson Kansas Community College, who was supposed be a big part of the puzzle in fall but Saili transferred to Arkansas after three months in the program.

It’s premature to start listing all the potential stars until after fall practice begins July 31; that is when you get an updated roster and can see who has made it into school, recovered from injuries, and is performing on the field. There’s always a surprise — a new face, or somebody who for whatever reason doesn’t make it on the field.

He must replace three key pieces from a year ago, linebackers Max Tooley and Aj Vongphachanh, and corner Eddie Heckard.

Hill has the challenge of preparing his defense to be physical run stoppers without being injured before the season opener and during the long league season.

It’s a balancing act.

But in the end, you’ve got to be demanding, see results and put players under pressure to make plays while creating competition for roles and create a list to travel.

It will be interesting to see how Hill assembles bodies and coaches up this unit.