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PROVO — When a talented football player commits to a specific university, his decision often creates a ripple effect that changes future recruiting.
Such was the case with BYU linebacker Manoa Pikula, who’s slated to start at Buck linebacker in the Cougars’ season opener at UConn Friday.
Pikula’s role model while he played prep ball at Bingham High was fellow Miner alum Jordan Pendleton.
“At Bingham, I remember everyone just always shouting, ‘Jordan, Jordan, Jordan’ whenever he’d play,” Pikula said. “I wanted to be that guy. When he went to BYU I just wanted to follow in his footsteps.”
And Pikula is well on his way to accomplishing that. Like Pendleton, he saw immediate game action as a freshman and recorded his first start as a sophomore.
Pendleton was a senior during Pikula’s freshman year, which provided the junior from South Jordan more time to pick up some of his example’s characteristics.
“I loved the way he approached the game — how physical he was and how top shape he was and how serious he took this game,” Pikula said.
Since they only spent one year in Provo together, Pendleton wasn’t necessarily able to mentor Pikula directly, especially since he was dealing with a number of injuries. But that doesn’t keep Pendleton from reaching out to the current BYU linebacker.
“I text Manoa every now and then and just tell him I’m excited to watch him play and that he’s going to do great things,” Pendleton said. “That kid — he can lay the hat. He’s a tough player.”
I think this year will be a breakout year for him, and I think everybody's going to know who Manoa is.
–Jordan Pendleton
Pendleton envisions big things from Pikula now that he’s earned a starting job.
“We’ve had so many great linebackers that he just really hasn’t had a shot yet as far as a lot of playing time,” he said. “But I think this year will be a breakout year for him, and I think everybody’s going to know who Manoa is. I just told him if he needs anything, any advice — not just football-related but outside of football, whatever he needs — come talk to me.”
Now transitioning to a greater role on defense where he’ll be expected to lead, Pikula is extremely confident, while trying to emulate the effort Pendleton displayed.
“I’m the hardest critic on myself,” Pikula said. “There’s some plays where coaches compliment me, but I know I could’ve done it better a different way, a better way and got a tackle for loss.”
He said it’s been easy to take on the added responsibilities because of the veteran presences around him, and sees this team functioning very differently than the group he played with his first year in 2012.
“I kind of felt it last year, but the year before I felt it the strongest. I felt it was two separate teams — defense and offense,” Pikula said. “It was kind of like, ‘We’re doing our part, what are you guys doing?’ I feel like that’s kind of died out this year because we’re all training together.”
He attributed the roots of the transformation to player-run practices prior to camp, the Cougar Challenge — a grueling conditioning challenge that pitted offensive and defensive players alike on the some of the same teams — and the bonding that’s stemmed from holding each other accountable.
Pikula said his offseason work has included losing weight, better understanding his assignments and working with defensive backs to improve his pass coverage skills.
He spent time with cornerback Robertson Daniel to know how he should react and where he should be in specific passing situations.
It could’ve been that experience alone, but Pikula raved about the Cougars’ secondary.
“I personally feel like our DBs are going to be as good as BYU has ever seen,” he said.
Pikula went on to add that the pass rush won’t be lacking while it’s led by Bronson Kaufusi, Alani Fua and Remington Peck, whose mutual presence on the practice field he believes gives the offensive line “the best one-on-one looks they could probably get going against anyone.”
BYU is in store for a special season, according to Pikula, due to how united the team has become.
“As the whole team comes closer together, I feel like our team will be a lot better,” he said. “We’ll be more supportive and playing faster and playing unselfish to the point where, ‘Yeah I don’t care if I take this block for this guy because I’ve seen him put in the work and I’ve seen him put in the time. I trust this guy.’ ”
Pikula is certain the Cougars won’t only be prepared Friday, but every game day, because, he says, their opponents aren’t as good as the players they square off against in preparation.
