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PROVO — Years ago, when Jackson Cravens was a first-team all-state defensive tackle as a junior at Timpview High just a few miles away from BYU's campus, the 6-foot-2, 305-pound nose tackle didn't imagine himself playing for the Cougars.
There was no bad blood, the nephew of University of Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham admits. He just committed to the U. early, siding with his mom Julie's brother over Oklahoma. When his path took him to transfer to Boise State, Cravens didn't think much of coming home then, either.
Nothing against BYU or head coach Kalani Sitake, who got to know Cravens during his recruitment while as Utah's defensive coordinator. There was never any ill will, the run stopper said.
But when Cravens, who has one season of eligibility remaining after piling up 69 tackles, five tackles for loss and three sacks in 26 games for the Broncos, including 13 starts, graduated from Boise State this past spring, there was only one place he wanted to go.
"This is my home," Cravens said after the Cougars' penultimate practice of spring camp on Wednesday afternoon in Provo. "I know I'm playing for the team in my backyard. It's just been great to be home and around everybody again.
"I went up there for four years and graduated," he added of Boise, "and the opportunity came up to come home and play for BYU. So I took it, and it's been the best decision I've made."
Cravens said he wanted to come play out his collegiate eligibility at BYU, regardless of the Cougars' conference affiliation, but moving to BYU in the first year of the Big 12 was definitely a plus, he added.
He certainly has fit into a defensive tackle room that averages over 300 pounds across a group of 10 interior linemen that runs deeper than last year's starter Caden Haws and Atunaisa Mahe, now back from injuries ready to play out his fifth-year senior season. It also includes plenty of youth, including Southern Utah transfer Wyatt Dawe, a sophomore; freshmen Brooks Maile and Mac Aloisio; and redshirt sophomore Joshua Singh, who appeared in eight games in 2022 but mostly on special teams.
Cravens' addition to the room brings another much-needed veteran presence to the group, even if the one-time Timpview star is more than happy just being another body during drills for his lone graduate transfer season.
Another plus? Playing for Sione Po'uha, BYU's new defensive tackles coach who recruited Cravens to Utah and coached him as a freshman before transferring to Boise.
"It's kind of like we're ending right where we started," said Po'uha, a Utah graduate from Salt Lake City who played eight seasons in the NFL with the New York Jets. "He's a better version, and hopefully I've become a better version for him.
"Jackson's been a great addition to the room. He's a guy who is a seasoned veteran, but has a very different demeanor about him. He's just respected as a guy who came in and has done everything we've asked him to do. It's the way he carries himself that affects him."
In a lot of ways, though, Cravens is still the same recruit that Po'uha pulled to Utah as an architect of the No. 3 rushing defense in the Football Bowl Subdivision and top Pac-12 team in total yards allowed, rushing yards allowed, and points allowed while developing NFL defensive linemen Leki Fotu and John Penisini, among others.
"He's everything I had seen and everything that I knew he would be," Po'uha added. "He's done that on his own accord, taking his own journey. I'm fortunate to be his coach at this crossroads, towards the end of his own career in college."
Cravens also has experience under BYU defensive ends coach Kelly Poppinga, the former Cougar star linebacker who returned to Provo after a career at Virginia and one season with the Broncos. Poppinga, it turns out, was Cravens' main coach on special teams, where he played "shield" on punt coverage.
"We bonded, and we created a really good relationship and it carried over here, too," Cravens said.
When it comes to the interior defensive linemen after Cravens' addition to the room, Sitake has already seen a "huge difference" in the group.
"I know Sione has been focused on stopping the run, but also collapsing the pocket in the pass game and freeing up the defensive ends to do what they do best: to come off the edge and coordinate the pass rush," Sitake said. "The disruption at the line of scrimmage is nice. We need to get those types of battles on the O-line. The O-line is a good group, with lots of talent, and it's nice to see that back-and-forth.
"Our O-line guys are getting knocked back by our D-line, and that's a good thing. … It's good that we're getting competition."
Cravens probably won't be sharing many pass-rush secrets at family reunions with his uncle to the north. But being closer to home has been nothing but "good vibes" from the Whittingham side of his family — including the former BYU linebacker who has led the Utes to back-to-back Pac-12 championships.
"He's had nothing but encouragement for me," Cravens said. "He was just happy that I could be home again around the family, too."
