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PROVO — LJ Martin is taking the good, and trying to improve on what wasn't from a breakout freshman season in his first experience with spring football.
At this time last year, BYU's 6-foot-2 tailback was still a high school senior, had recently signed with the Cougars after silently committing during the early signing period and formally flipping from his Stanford commitment during a signing day ceremony at Canutillo High in El Paso, Texas.
The youngster enrolled at BYU by fall camp, but hardly looked like a newcomer when he erupted for 518 yards and four touchdowns in 10 games as a freshman, including five starts.
So what has Martin been working to improve since the Cougars ended their inaugural season in the Big 12 on a five-game losing skid?
For starters, his weight.
"I came in at 204, and during the winter I added 20 pounds and feel the same," Martin told reporters as he wrapped up the second week of his first spring training camp. "I think I'm just used to my body growing. I feel great, and even feel faster."
Martin is expected to step into a big role as a sophomore, with starting experience and the graduation of UNLV transfer Aidan Robbins. Unlike last year, when the Cougars went to the transfer portal to take Robbins — a former two-time BYU recruit — and Colorado's Deion Smith, there was no transfer running back joining a group led by Martin, Miles Davis and Hinckley Ropati.
That doesn't mean BYU won't look again when another window opens in May. But for now, the Cougars are happy with what they have, too, and adding former Timpview standout Pokaiaua Haunga, as well.
"LJ has been looking really good, and I think Miles Davis is ready to have a really good year," said offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick, who added that the Cougars weren't "dead-set" on adding a transfer quarterback before former Baylor and USF starter Gerry Bohanon approached them. "Hinckley Ropati has been back (after suffering a season-ending knee injury in fall camp), and I've been really impressed with Pokaiaua. He doesn't look like a freshman."
Roderick added that Davis, a former track speedster from Las Vegas, is in a position to be an all-around running back rather than a role player like the fifth-year junior has been at BYU.
That's a vote of confidence for Martin, too, as well as for a running back group that includes Utah State transfer Enoch Nawahine, former Ridgeline all-around athlete and recently returned missionary Jovesa Damuni and one-time Timpview 1,000-yard rusher Sione Moa.
"That means a lot to all of us," Martin said about keeping his room intact. "We know what Miles is capable of, Hinckley too. Even Enoch, Jovesa, Sione, they're all playmakers. I'm just really thankful for them giving us the opportunity to go out and prove ourselves."
That's not to mean the Cougars didn't look at the transfer portal to add a running back, and they still might land another when the spring window opens in May, following BYU's spring practice sessions.
But the Cougars added tailbacks to a room that seemed to lose plenty last December when Robbins declared for the NFL draft. Davis reversed course and pulled his name out of the portal, and Ropati returned to the fold after the fifth-year senior was lost for all of last season with a knee injury suffered during fall camp.
So the biggest addition may simply be limiting subtraction, which is why the biggest focus in the Cougars' Camp Kalani has been on the players in the running back group.
The Cougars added full pads during the second week of fall camp, and that helped Martin improve in areas that may not always be evident from the box score. The sophomore was quick to note that improving as a tailback has been about more than just running with the football.
"I'm just trying to get better in all aspects of my game: running, catching, pass blocking," he said. "There's not one area I can't improve. I've just got to improve on everything."
