2019 BYU Cougars

[Shadowlight]

Since 2005 white starter totals are 18,16,15,16,16,16,14,12,14,9,9,8,11,12 and this year roughly 12. The trend of settling in at a lower average continues.

I have never been sold on dullard HC Kalani Sitaki. His team went 9-4 in his debut in 2016 but fell to 4-9 in 2017. Last year they crept over .500 at 7-6 handily winning their bowl game against Western Michigan 49-18. In that game freshman QB Zach Wilson went 18-18 for 317 yards.

Wilson is a rising star and just the type of QB the media will enjoy in college until it comes draft time down the road. For caste reasons athletic white QBs are frowned upon when it comes to NFL media types. Just think of how much guff Alex Smith has taken over the years. And most analysts were dumping on Josh Allen when he was drafted. And the same scenario played out with Daniel Jones this past draft. It was ugly.

The NFL gurus sure love their "athletic" black QBs though but they are quick to dismiss athletic white QBs. I predict the media whipping boy come this next draft will be Michigan QB Shea Patterson. Which is why he is my favorite QB for the 2020 draft.

But Zach Wilson was the main reason BYU had a winning record. Look for him to improve on his freshman campaign and start to draw NFL attention as the season wears on. He is very good. And he is a quick decisive runner.

On defense the main focus will be on LB Zayne Anderson. A converted safety, Anderson has a wealth of athletic talent. The key for him is to stay healthy. He has exciting NFL talent.

The Poly proliferation looks like a permanent thing now at BYU as they dominate the defensive front every which way. I don't know the details but somehow Poly athletes have infiltrated the state of lily white Utah and have made it their nesting home.

There are some white players beyond the two deep especially on defense but notable back ups at skill positions include include WRs Gunner Romney (SO), who I expect to see the field a lot, and Dax Milne (SO). Freshman red shirt WR Brayden Cosper also might see some action. Chase Roberts is a tall freshman WR to look for down the road.

It is too early in the program to tell if any of the white WRs listed in this write up will break out so to speak. Shumway is a solid veteran. But there are just enough of them which increases the odds that one or two will eventually stand out.

Offense:

QB-Zach Wilson
OT-Brady Christenson
OG-Keiffer Longson
C- James Empey
OG-Tristen Hoge
OT-Harris Lachance
WR- Talon Shumway ( SR)


Defense:



DE-Zac Dawe ( Late edit courtesy of TwentyTwo see below. I entirely missed him but the source I am using has him starting).
LB-Max Tooley (redshirt freshman)
LB-- Zayne Anderson
FS- Austin Lee

 

[TwentyTwo]

Excellent write up Shadowlight!

The memories of college football As an 80's kid ....the Oklahoma's Wishbone or Nebraska's Power I....but there was also this wide-open passing of BYU with White WR's all over the field. Always interested to keep an eye on the demographics of this team!

The Polynesian pipeline is an interesting phenomenon. spread across the rest of the country. ..a mini football factory in SLC Utah & Euless TX . Many come with plenty of intensity & work ethic. BYU does maintain a Snow plow O-Line unit....you'd think a few could play on the D-Line as well.

QB Zach Wilson is a game changer! Taysom Hill laid the ground work!

Been following Hybrid Zayne Anderson for a few years...hope he stays healthy! Maybe DE Zach Dawe on the 2 Deep (Athlon's) can make an impact

Chase Roberts has the look of a future big time WR!

 

[Rocky B]

Has anyone heard what has happened to Beau Hoge?
Has Austin Kafentzis disappeared????

 

[TwentyTwo]

Has anyone heard what has happened to Beau Hoge?
Has Austin Kafentzis disappeared????

Beau Hoge is no longer on the team and has medically retired.

QB Zach Wilson seems to be good to Go after shoulder surgery

Guessing Swiss-Army-Knife Austin Kafentzis could not settle on a position. After a brief stint at RB he's playing DB again. Not on the 2 Deep

D-Lineman Bracken El-Bakri is on the 2 Deep as well....this Mission eligibility stuff can get confusing at times.

Monday, DB Austin McChesney announced that he is retiring from football after suffering multiple knee injuries.
He had a 37-yard INT return in a win at Cincinnati in 2016 before suffering a season-ending knee injury later in the game on a special teams play.
Then during the first week of fall camp in 2017, McChesney suffered a season-ending injury

Hoping younger brother RS Fr. RB Jackson McChesney can get some carries this season.

It will be interesting to see if Freshman Masen Wake (6'-2" 235) gets some carries at Fullback/Running Back in the future. Can also play Inside Linebacker

Still getting used to BYU as an "Independent" & not Mountain West Conference.

 

[Thousand Okie]

Utah has the third largest population of Polynesians in the U.S., behind only Hawaii and California. The Mormons were highly successful in their missions to Polynesia in the late 19th and 20th centuries. About 60% of Tonga is Mormon and a large percentage of Samoa as well. There are a lot of goodies and benefits available for Polynesians in the U.S. and Utah is particularly attractive because of the LDS church. Salt Lake City now has a Tongan gang problem. There is also a growing Mexican gang problem. There have been dramatic changes in Utah during the last 40 years. There are now about 40,000 Polynesians in Utah.

 

[Claimjumper]

With Zach Wilson put with a thumb injury, ESPN got to gleefully run this as a front page headline yesterday, followed by a classic ‘if a white person said this there’d be hell to pay’ type quote from the new QB. Also make me curious which FBS schools still haven’t started a quota yet.

BYU to start black QB for first time in school history

"I am very proud of my ancestors, very proud of my ethnicity and all the things that come with that," Hall said this week. "So it is an honor and a privilege to be here and to be playing this sport at this wonderful university.

 

[Shadowlight]

I was a bit disgusted last night but not surprised. There were two totally unessential bits of news that ESPN scrolled all night long at the bottom of the screen. One was that Coco had advanced to the semifinals of a "post season" tennis tournament and of course no other tennis player was scrolled. The public conditioning is well in place with this one with ESPN at the helm.

And of course the scroll news that BYU QB Hall, see above post, will be the first ever starting black BYU QB. Who gives a flying you know what. That is not news in this day and age. No wonder most everyone is physically ill these days.

 

[Bucky]

Finally progress. Way to go BYU.

It's amazing how it's 2019 and every time a black person does something for the 1st time it's worthy of a celebration.

 

[icsept]

In sport where 75% of the players have been black for the last 30 years, it’s somehow “newsworthy” that an unranked BYU team starts a black quarterback? And it’s still scrolling the bottom of the screen on college game day? It’s like BSPN has a whole department of employees scouring the country for the “1st black” of any endeavor. It’s actually insulting to blacks at this point.

 

[mattgianone]

I wanted to post this a while ago but forgot to. While I was watching Jackson McChesney's beat down of UMASS I noticed late in the 2nd quarter a white cb getting beaten on a fade route for a touchdown by a Mass. receiver. I thought it was corner turned strong safety Beau Tanner. It turned out to be true freshman ( back from a mission ) Hayden Livingston. He was a one time dual threat qb who has walked on to BYU. He is supposed to have 4.4 speed and was slotted to share time at Free safety with Kafentzis and Lee. He was definitely playing corner. I think the score was about 28 - o BYU at the time but I hope they keep him there and he pans out in the future.