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PROVO — If it was supposed to be a surprise who would line up to take the Cougars' first snaps at running back when the BYU football team kicks off the 2019 season Thursday against in-state rival Utah, head coach Kalani Sitake eliminated any pretensions early.
The fourth-year head coach officially named South Carolina transfer Ty'Son Williams as the lead running back, with no ifs, ands or the usual "ors" on the depth chart about it.
"I think overall, he performed the best in the competition," Sitake said of Williams, who beat out Rice transfer Emmanuel Esukpa and incumbent Lopini Katoa for the job. "We felt like Soup and Lopini were right there with him. But he earned that spot the right way, in competition."
Williams came to BYU squarely through the transfer portal. As a native of Sumter, South Carolina, he had no connections to BYU, Provo or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints before running backs coach AJ Steward reached out to him through the NCAA transfer portal.
But the 6-foot, 220-pound rusher brings plenty of experience, including the past two seasons in the Southeastern Conference, where he ran for 799 yards and five touchdowns after transfering from North Carolina.
Don't expect Esukpa and Katoa to go away, though. Both are squarely listed on BYU's two-deep, implying the Cougars will have plenty of space for running backs in the second year of Jeff Grimes' offense.
"We have the ability to play two running backs at the same time, and certain sets that will allow us to do that," Grimes said on his weekly Coordinators' Corner show on BYUtv.
Even with a starter, BYU's running back competition has just begun.
"The great thing is that it brought those three even closer together," Sitake said. "Patti (Edwards, widow of legendary BYU coach LaVell Edwards) spoke to our team last week and mentioned the love that competition brings … and I think our players took it to heart. She confirmed to them that it's working.
"In the long run, hopefully there will be opportunities for all three of those guys to perform."
Speaking of running backs
The Cougars will be out to stop Utah senior Zack Moss, whom Sitake called one of the best running backs in college football.
It's a tall task, especially with the littany of offensive weapons the Utes possess — not just Moss, but quarterback Tyler Huntley, wide receiver Britain Covey, and many more.
"College football is better when he can play; the same with Britain Covey," Sitake said of Moss. "He came back to school for a reason … and our job is to try to disrupt it a bit and see where we can matchup with one of the best running backs in college football."
BYU football coach Kalani Sitake is excited for his team to face "one of the best running backs in college football" in Utah's Zack Moss.
— KSL.com Sports (@KSLcomSports) August 26, 2019
Stay 'til the end 🦆 .... pic.twitter.com/yQ4INq4X2b
You get a captain, and you get a captain
Everybody gets the chance to be a team captain this year at BYU.
No, BYU didn't list its entire roster on its captaincy squad, which has generally been named by the final week of fall camp.
But Sitake said he likes the leadership shown by the 2019 team so much that they'll rotate the four players called to lead the pregame coin toss before every game.
"Right now, I’ve assigned a lot of leaders — they’ll be the captains, and they’ll assign who goes out for the coin toss," he said. "I'm just really pleased with the amount of leaders we have on this team, young and old."
