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PROVO — Ben Bywater was embarrassed.
It was BYU's first scrimmage of fall camp, and he had just been cut up by one of the Cougars' running backs. But it wasn't Aidan Robbins, the 1,000-yard rusher from UNLV, or Deion Smith, the graduate transfer who led Colorado in rushing yards a year ago.
It was LJ Martin, the 6-foot-2, 215-pound freshman three-star recruit who cut him up in the closed-door scrimmage.
By Saturday night (and into Sunday morning) in the same stadium after the Cougars' 14-0 win over Sam Houston, the former Olympus High multisport athlete didn't feel quite as bad.
"LJ's the freaking man. He was dicing us up in the first scrimmage; he had a big run on me, and I was embarrassed," said Bywater, who tied for a team-high nine tackles against the Bearkats. "Having fun, going balling out there, that's a little less to my ego. … He's going to be special. I'm really excited for his future."
The defense stole the show in the Cougars' season debut, with an offense that averaged just 3.8 yards over 67 plays, including 3.3 yards per rush. Kedon Slovis completed 20-of-33 passes for 145 yards and scored the first two rushing touchdowns of his collegiate career that spanned USC and Pitt before landing in Provo.
Down two top receivers in Kody Epps and Keanu Hill, Chase Roberts and Eastern Michigan transfer Darius Lassiter were the top pass catchers with 42 and 43 yards, respectively. Robbins averaged 3.3 yards per play and backup Deion Smith finished with negative-2 rushing yards on just three carries, and head coach Kalani Sitake said at least part of that blame lies squarely on an offensive line that featured just one starter playing his same position from a year ago at BYU.
But Martin, who didn't have a carry before halftime, helped the offense find some form of rhythm after the break.
The freshman from El Paso, Texas, ran for 91 yards on 16 carries in his collegiate debut, the most by a BYU freshman since Jamaal Williams put up 104 against Idaho in 2012.
It's too soon to know if Martin will find a career that resembles the Cougars' all-time leading rusher who is currently on the New Orleans Saints' roster. But at times, Sitake thought Martin looked like another former BYU great.
Is Martin's emergence enough to move him up the depth chart?
"The competition is always going to be there. We feel really good about those three running backs," Sitake said. "I think we'll have to evaluate it and see, but I thought he played much more maturely than a true freshman.
"We've been bragging about how good he's been, and he had a little bit of Tyler Allgeier out there with some of the runs and vision that he had," Sitake added. "But you look at the stuff that Aidan can do, he's a capable runner, and so is Deion. I don't put it all on the running backs; I think towards the end, they felt really comfortable with him being able to run the ball and he did some good things."
Martin, the No. 37 running back nationally by 247Sports and a four-star recruit by ESPN who committed to Stanford before a signing-day flip to BYU, rushed for 2,737 yards and 29 touchdowns as a junior at Canutillo High — part of a 6,150-yard career that garnered recruiting interest from Texas Tech, Baylor, Kansas, UTEP and UTSA, among others.
Saturday night was different. Martin had dreamed of the moment for most of his life, but he admitted he never envisioned it going the way it did.
"I always dreamed of it. I probably didn't expect it to happen tonight. But for it to happen was awesome. Having guys like Kedon and everyone in the locker room, Aidan, Deion, Miles, Enoch, Hinckley, all those dudes supporting you whatever you do. You go out there and get one yard, they're happy for you. You get negative-2 they're happy. They're the greatest people I could ask for to mentor me."
When his number was called, running backs coach Harvey Unga had one piece of advice: keep it simple.
"Just go out there and run, just like I do in practice," Martin recalled. "I run with the twos in practice and go against the one's defense. So I was sure that with a shutout, the guys I go up against in practice built me up for this."
With three months on campus and one game of experience, several players and coaches have noted Martin's immense maturity — wise beyond his years, well above the teenager's age experience.
"I think the most impressive thing is just that he's so mature, both in the way he carries himself, as a person, and also in his knowledge of the game," Slovis said. "You wouldn't think he's a freshman who came here three months ago. Everyone else is kind of surprised, but I think everyone in the building knows what type of player he is. … We have high expectations for him."
Ditto for the freshman.
"I've got to credit my support staff; the whole team supports me in whatever I do," Martin said. "We just support each other, so it's really easy to go out and make the most of the opportunity I've been given. The O-line blocked their tail off, and I thought a lot of the holes were wide open when I was in. Kedon was directing me, making sure I knew what I was doing. … He's the man. You know everyone did their part. It was a team effort all-around."
