Can BYU's offensive line carve out another 12-win season? Here's why Cougars are confident

PROVO — LJ Martin's junior season was, in most ways and especially individually, a smashing success.

The 6-foot-2, 225-pound running back from El Paso, Texas, blew by defenses for 1,305 yards and 12 touchdowns in 13 games en route to Big 12 offensive player of the year honors.

Martin took the momentum of an offensive MVP performance against Colorado in the Alamo Bowl and only got stronger, helping the Cougars to a 12-2 record, an 8-1 record in Big 12 play, and a runner-up finish in the conference behind only league champion Texas Tech — the only team to beat BYU in 2025, though the Red Raiders did it twice.

But like all good running backs, Martin knows he's only as good as the offensive line in front of him. So with gratitude for those coming back and the new guys coming in for his senior campaign this fall, he tried to take them to dinner.

There was just one problem.

"They didn't let me pay for them," he said Friday as the Cougars wrapped up spring practices, before adding with a snicker: "They must have had one of the coach's cards, because they used that instead. So it didn't work out.

"If you know those guys, they don't want nothing," he added. "They just want to go out and play ball. That's why I love them. I'm pretty much the same way."

BYU's run game has been on a roll in two seasons under offensive line coach TJ Woods, the run-game coordinator who previously coached at Georgia Southern, UNLV and Utah State, and who admits his job is "easy when you're handing the ball to LJ Martin."

But after back-to-back double-digit win campaigns and a 23-4 composite record, can the Cougars sustain success in the trenches as quarterback Bear Bachmeier takes another step forward in his sophomore season?

Offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick thinks so.

The ninth-year BYU offensive assistant (has it been that long?) declined to name a starting five along the trenches at the close of spring football. But it's not for lack of options.

"We have more than five," Roderick said. "That gives me a lot of confidence, just like last year when we had more than five.

"We have more than five who can play, so we're going to be fine there," he added.

One season after graduating starters Weylin Lapuaho, Austin Leausa and Isaiah Jatta to possible NFL futures, the Cougars appear to be loaded again in the trenches.

Anchored by former Michigan tackle Andrew Gentry, interior lineman Kyle Sfarcioc and center Bruce Mitchell, BYU has hardly missed a beat through the NCAA-maximum 15 practices that wrapped up the night before Friday's annual alumni game.

"We rotated so many guys last year that it feels like we're returning four starters," Mitchell said. "I think the guys coming in can feel the urgency. Nobody was unhappy about last season, but nobody was satisfied with how it went, either.

"We were so close," he added. "And our goal is to win a Big 12 championship; I think they feel the urgency and understand what this team is about. … It doesn't feel like we're going to take a step back at all, even though we lost some key contributors."

With respect to Lapuaho, Jatta and the rest of the departing linemen, the Cougars didn't sit idle to fill out the trenches in the offseason.

With only one transfer portal to aggregate in the offseason, the Cougars went to the transfer portal and added Zak Yamauchi from Stanford, Jr. Sia from Utah State, and Paki Finau from Washington.

The latter is a 6-foot-5, 310-pound exterior lineman who is cut more like a tight end and has been seizing the left tackle position left vacant by Jatta.

"He's a smooth cat," BYU offensive line coach TJ Woods told BYUtv of Finau during the annual alumni game to cap spring practices. "He does a good job, and we're very fortunate to have him and excited to watch him do his thing this year."

Finau brings 16 games of experience over the past two seasons with the Huskies, Herriman native Sia started 10 of his 13 games at right tackle for the Aggies, and Yamauchi — the 6-foot-4, 320-pound interior lineman from Las Vegas who served a mission in Brazil before enrolling at Stanford — started three of eight games for the Cardinal as a true freshman in 2025.

Yamauchi was hurt for part of spring practices, Woods said. But the other two were regular rotations along the line, and Finau seizing the lead at left tackle.

All three have fit into the culture of Woods' room that also returns redshirt seniors Sonny Makasini and Trevin Ostler to go with underclassmen like Joe Brown, Andrew Williams, Trevor Pay, Ethan Thomason and incoming freshman Bott Mulitalo.

"They've had buy-in already," Mitchell said of the newcomers. "They are BYU guys already, you can tell. They mold great with the room, and they fit in well."

Mitchell knows about buy-in for excellence. The former South Summit standout committed to BYU as soon as he got his first offer, walked on to the program as a freshman, and worked his way into the rotation before starting 20 of the past 27 games at center.

His wife Sadie (née Sargent) is also an elite athlete, a former BYU track and field and cross country star who runs professionally for Nike and Swoosh TC in Provo. Keeping up with the former North Summit standout has helped him in his own sport, he admits.

It's made him a better football player, which has extended to the rest of his line mates.

Is there another level?

"We want to be a dominant O-line," Mitchell said. "I don't think anybody is satisfied with how last season ended. So we've got plenty of motivation."

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