BYU’s new offensive line coach in 2024, TJ Woods, lived up to his billing last year and helped the Cougars rediscover the rushing attack that had been missing in BYU’s first season in the Big 12 in 2023.
We should be great. That’s the standard. That’s the expectation. And these guys have been working their tail off to try to uphold that standard.”
— BYU offensive line coach TJ Woods
BYU also did a respectable job protecting the quarterback, as Jake Retzlaff was able to start in all 13 games — he got banged up a bit in the Utah game, but didn’t miss any playing time — and lead the Cougars to an 11-2 record. Retzlaff was sacked only 18 times, losing 95 yards on such occasions.
So what will Woods and a revamped BYU offensive line — starters Connor Pay, Caleb Etienne and Brayden Keim have moved on to professional football — do for an encore in 2025?
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Get even better. That was the 23-year college football coaching veteran’s response Monday as the Cougars entered the final week of spring practices.
While acknowledging that Pay, Etienne and Keim will be extremely difficult to replace, Woods said that from a pure talent standpoint, the unit he is building this spring and summer puts them “in a much better spot this year” than last year.
“Our vision for this season is going from good to great with our unit. I think we did a lot of good things last year. I don’t know if we did a lot of great things. That’s been my challenge to them. We should be great. That’s the standard. That’s the expectation. And these guys have been working their tail off to try to uphold that standard,” Woods said.
Who are these guys?
Some of the names are familiar because they saw significant starts and playing time in 2024, most notably left guard Weylin Lapuaho, center Bruce Mitchell and right guard Austin Leausa. Lapuaho started 13 games as a true freshman at Utah State in 2022, and has started in 23 of BYU’s 25 games the past two seasons.
The Bingham High product, a 310-pound senior, is a mainstay after briefly considering a departure to the NFL with the aforementioned players who had exhausted their eligibility.
“I feel very confident about us this year. A lot of us have played snaps and a lot of us can play different positions, too,” said Lapuaho, who underwent surgery after the 34-16 win over Colorado in the Alamo Bowl to have his ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) repaired on the inner side of an elbow joint and is not participating in spring practices. “We look solid. We’ll be ready. There won’t be a drop-off.”
Lapuaho can also slide over and play left tackle — as he did in the Houston game — while Leausa can also play guard or tackle. Mitchell filled in admirably at center after Pay broke his foot in the Baylor game, but can play guard as well, if needed.
The 305-pound junior from Kamas’ South Summit High said he has been playing mostly center this spring, “which is a position I feel comfortable playing. I think we are going to keep doing that, pressing forward.”
Redshirt junior Sonny Makasini made six starts at guard last year, and will likely compete with Leausa for playing time at right guard in 2025. At left guard, if the media viewing portions of spring camp are any indication, Southern Utah transfer Kyle Sfarcioc, a three-year starter for the Thunderbirds, is another possible starter to watch.
Who will replace Etienne at the all-important left tackle position? Colorado transfer Isaiah Jatta, who played right tackle in the Utah, Kansas and Arizona State games when Keim got hurt, will be the man there, it appears.
“Isaiah is still progressing, still refining his craft and his technique and all those things. But we are happy with where he’s at,” Woods said.
Assuming he returns from a lisfranc foot injury, Michigan transfer Andrew Gentry, a former four-star recruit, will step in at right tackle.
“Man, he is a big, physical guy, really athletic, has good length,” Lapuaho said of Gentry, who is from Littleton, Colorado. “He is a ball player, too. He just knows ball. You can tell already.”
Woods said that the 6-foot-7, 327-pound Gentry isn’t fully participating in camp right now, so it is difficult to ascertain what his impact will be this fall, but so far all signs are favorable.
“He is obviously an A-plus human being, very smart. All the intangible things,” Woods said. “He is going to be a big addition for us and we are excited about him.”
As it appears now, those seven — Jatta, Lapuaho, Sfarcioc, Mitchell, Makasini, Leausa and Gentry — will be the main blockers when BYU opens the season Aug. 30 against Portland State.
“We are making progress. Obviously Year 2 is much different than Year 1 (of his tenure),” Woods said. “In Year 2, you can focus on a lot more on the how, other than the what, if that makes sense. The biggest challenge for us is replacing the guys that we lost. Right? And the leadership of the guys that we lost. Obviously, they are good players, too. But man, we had some tremendous leaders in that group that really carried our unit.”
Lapuaho said he’s ready to take on that mantle, and he believes Mitchell, Leausa and Jatta are, too. He said Gentry is so “mature and wise” that he will become a fast leader as well.
“With this being our second year with coach Woods, we are learning more about the little things, the little details, instead of just the big picture,” Lapuaho said. “So we are just going to build off last year and give it a good run.”
Monday, true freshman Andrew Williams got some run with the ones, and looked impressive in the final 20 minutes or so of practice. Williams, 6-8, 280, graduated early from Kirksville High in Missouri and has a chance to be a contributor sooner rather than later.
Others waiting in the wings to get their shots are Joe Brown, Jake Fisher, Ethan Thomason, Trevin Ostler, Trevor Pay, Kaden Chidester and Weston Jones.
“We are going to have some hard conversations and some hard discussions, and hard decisions, to be honest with you, in the next week or so.”
— TJ Woods on the need to trim the Cougars’ roster
“I like that offensive line group a lot. You know, there are a few guys that are still learning what to do and they are making mistakes each day. But you see the size and the athletic ability is definitely there,” said offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick. “I am very confident in that group. The guys that are mostly taking reps with the starting five are playing well, and then we have three or four others that are close to those guys, and then three or four that are a notch below them, just in terms of their knowledge and knowing what to do. But athletically, physically, it is a really good group.”
Currently, 22 offensive linemen are on BYU’s spring roster.
Woods said the number of OLs that BYU can keep when roster limitations take effect this fall “is still in flux,” but noted that it is difficult to operate a Division I college football program without 17 or 18 offensive linemen.
“We are going to have some hard conversations and some hard discussions, and hard decisions, to be honest with you, in the next week or so,” Woods said.
“It is a tough deal. We got a lot of good kids. We got good players here. BYU attracts a lot of good football players. The real truth is we don’t have enough room for all of them. So that’s part of it. Roster limits (are coming), and it will definitely impact the offensive line as well.”
