From the Austins to Willis: BYU defensive backs boast unique depth at position

PROVO — For a variety of reasons that would take far too long to explain, the BYU football team generally has struggled in recruiting one particular position: defensive back.

It’s not that the Cougars haven’t tried, or that they’ve never pulled in a standout cornerback or an elite safety. Even now, former BYU safety Daniel Sorensen has carved out a more-than-significant career in the NFL at the position, and the veteran of the Kansas City Chiefs since 2014 attributes much of his development to BYU coaches.

But there’s something different about this year’s safeties, something intriguing about this year’s cornerbacks. They’re everywhere on the Cougars’ opening-week depth chart as they prepare for the season opener Thursday against in-state rival Utah (8:15 p.m. MDT, ESPN).

It’s not just the names that appeared on BYU’s first depth chart of the 2019 season; it’s the number of them. And perhaps more particularly, who wasn’t listed among the starters.

Isaiah Herron wasn’t on the two-deep; neither was Keenan Ellis nor Jared Kapisi — all-stars in their own right in high school — highly-regarded recruits who picked the Cougars over bigger programs on signing day.

That’s not to say that these players won’t have a role, even a featured one, when they get their chance this season. The nature of the position says otherwise.

But BYU is deep at defensive back. If those aren’t words you thought you might read except on the bluest of blue-goggled fan blogs surfacing the internet, consider some of the talent on the Cougars’ roster.

“We can go more than two deep,” said Austin Lee, a fifth-year senior who is an unquestioned leader of the group at starting safety. “These guys are prepared. They put in extra work, and they want to improve their game. They are guys we can trust to be in there and can make a play when called upon.”

So it was that when defensive coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki casually mentioned on Monday morning’s Coordinators’ Corner show on BYUtv that defensive backs Troy Warner (foot) and Chris Wilcox (knee) could miss at least “a few weeks” with injuries, there wasn’t panic in the backfield.

It’s not that the Cougars won’t miss those two playmakers — especially Warner, the younger brother of former BYU great and current San Fransisco 49ers linebacker Fred Warner. Quite the opposite. But there’s a sense of comfort that comes with the depth of those still healthy in the defensive backfield.

At 6-foot (and a hair) and 200 pounds, Lee has experience, both at BYU and his former landing team of Utah. Lee played his freshman season with the Utes, then transferred after a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (and a semester at Salt Lake Community College) to Provo, where he eventually put up 41 tackles, two interceptions, and a tackle for loss as a junior in 2018.

But he’s not alone. Sawyer Powell is a similarly vocal leader at free safety, and the presence of the duo allowed former Northridge star Dayan Ghanwoloku to move to cornerback for his senior season — a move that heavily favors the 5-foot-11, 200-pounder who originally hails from Liberia (and went by the surname Lake as a teenager in Layton).

There’s Austin Kafentzis, the one-time record-setting quarterback at Jordan High whose career odyssey took him from the tundra of Wisconsin to the Sierra Nevadas to the deserts of Arizona before winding back home. Dimitri Gallow, Malik Moore, D’Angelo Mandell, Beau Tanner; they all have their stories, and they will all eventually be told.

“You can see the names on the list, and they all get me excited,” Lee said. “These guys are playmakers.”

Then there are some of the newcomers. Shamon Willis was a lightly recruited cornerback at Westlake High, where he earned second-team All-State honors and also played basketball and track and field for the Thunder. But after one redshirt season at Weber State, the son of BYU great Jamal Willis transferred to BYU, initially accepting a preferred walk-on role. He’s found his way to the depth chart, just behind fifth-year seniors Ghanwoloku and Tanner.

Another walk-on who impressed during fall camp enough to earn a spot on the depth chart is Hayden Livingston. The Rigby, Idaho, native is best remembered as the walk-on quarterback who got former BYU offensive coordinator Ty Detmer in trouble on signing day two years ago. But after recently returning from a mission to the United Kingdom, the 6-foot-1, 200-pound former quarterback who totaled 6,351 passing yards and 69 touchdowns with 1,900 rushing yards at Rigby High School has found a spot on the defensive side of the ball.

“Hayden’s been working so hard,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. “Just got home from his mission in January, and he’s put in some work. I’m excited to see those guys play. They’ve earned the right, and they proved themselves.”

Livingston was listed as a co-starter at free safety with Powell and Kafentzis.

“He’s always found himself around the ball,” Lee said of Livingston. “He’s very talented, very fast, and he’s been very assignment-sound. He’s always in the film room asking the right questions and wanting to improve his game.”

But Livingston won’t be the only one leaving his mark on the defensive backfield if coaches have their way. Neither will the ones listed on the depth chart. It may even come sooner than later, as early as Thursday night.

“There are a lot of DBs that aren’t listed on the depth chart that I think can still have a factor in their role, and in this game,” Sitake said.

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