Depth still key for BYU offensive line, but freshmen may start


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PROVO — Running 90 plays a game takes a toll on the big men paving the way up front.

Last season, BYU attempted 14.3 more plays than the average FBS team (75.6), which is why offensive line coach Garett Tujague knows he’ll need a group of players ready for the season opener Aug. 29.

“For as hard and as fast as we go, yeah, guys have absolutely trained and are more ready today than they’ve ever been,” he said. “But to ask for every single thing for 95 snaps is quite a bit.”

Tujague said he’s considering nine players who are currently healthy enough to play for the five starting spots, from the left side to the right: Ului Lapuaho, Brad Wilcox, Kyle Johnson, Tejan Koroma, Terrance Alletto, Brayden Kearsley, Brock Stringham and De'Ondre Wesley.

It would appear that Lapuaho and Johnson are ahead at the left tackle and guard positions, respectively, while Koroma has the advantage at center. Kearsley seems to have the edge on Stringham at right guard, and Wesley leads at the final tackle spot.

Add Solomone Kafu and Tuni Kanuch to the mix when they overcome injuries and the depth looks much better than it did during the 2013 campaign.


You've got to earn the right to be one of the guys that gets to put his hand down on the sideline and runs out first. I think that's something that's definitely earned every week. No one gets comfortable.

–Garett Tujague, BYU O-line coach


Being equipped with a stockpile of capable linemen, however, doesn’t take away from the fact that the starters will have won their jobs outright, even though the opening lineup could change weekly.

“There will be a definite group that we’ll settle on for sure and then spell guys as they need it,” Tujague said. “You’ve got to earn the right to be one of the guys that gets to put his hand down on the sideline and runs out first. I think that’s something that’s definitely earned every week. No one gets comfortable.”

A lack of experience won’t prevent true freshmen Koroma and Lapuaho, or redshirt freshman Kanuch when healthy, from seeing a high number of snaps, and head coach Bronco Mendenhall conceded that Koroma would start at center “if the season started today.”

“If you earn it, you’ve gone through the gauntlet and you deserve the right to be the guy,” Tujague said.

Koroma showed some of his inexperience in the Cougars’ second scrimmage, when he was ejected for two personal fouls. But coaches want their linemen to lay claim to and defend their space at practice.

Bottling that emotion during a game is a different story, and Tujague is sure Koroma will be able to handle the hefty responsibility of calling plays in the middle.

The BYU offensive line creates an opening for running back Jamaal Williams to run through during a BYU football scrimmage at LaVell Edwards Stadium, Friday, Aug. 15, 2014.
The BYU offensive line creates an opening for running back Jamaal Williams to run through during a BYU football scrimmage at LaVell Edwards Stadium, Friday, Aug. 15, 2014. (Photo: Mark Philbrick, BYU Photo)

Tujague said what’s impressed him most about the Allen, Texas, native is “his ability to command respect from the others — not because of his weight room ability, or not because of his conditioning level. He makes the correct calls and puts us in the correct situation. We ask a lot of our center.”

He added that Koroma has gone through a learning curve fraught with bumps and bruises, but “when he makes his calls it’s with vigor and confidence, and so that breeds throughout the rest of the guys.”

The stable of talented blockers will help BYU use more developed schemes in 2014. With so much attention on adapting to the rapid speed at which the offense played in coordinator Robert Anae’s return, the line couldn’t spend as much time learning other intricacies the Cougars hope to use to keep opponents off balance.

Tujague will be “asking more of our guys than just basic run-blocking or pass-blocking schemes,” he said of the changes, “adding little twists here and there to give us an advantage.”

He'll also require a number of players to be prepared when their numbers are called. How those rotations take place will be predicated on conditioning.

“The ability to keep pushing will have a lot to do with it,” Tujague said. “It would be awesome to go out and string together a 12-play drive and not have to sub anybody, but the reality of that is maybe not necessarily the case right now. To go as hard as you physically possibly can for five to six seconds and then maybe rest 18 seconds and then do it again, that’s some serious training.”

One thing the second year O-line coach has at his disposal is a group of veteran leaders. He singled out seniors Stringham and Wesley, as well as Johnson — a sophomore — in that regard and said their unique styles in which they go about it vary.

Wesley is the energy guy, constantly excited, while Stringham prefers to lead by example, Tujague said. Johnson is more determined to be the best technically and helps his teammates with their progression in technique.

Despite what appears to be a much-improved unit, the line is still working on getting better in shot-yardage running plays, "being able to run the football more effectively in critical downs — third and short,” Tujague said. “I think we should be 100 percent and we’re not quite there yet.”

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Kyle Spencer

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