My son Marcus (who was a highly recruited small college WR and paid OC for 6 years and a very smart guy) brought up a good point at lunch today. BYU’s scheme guarantees 4 things: 1) no sacks, 2) no TFL, 3) LBs dropping into coverage, and 4) DBs playing soft zone. Marcus says, “Dad, why would ANY stud defensive player want to sign with BYU? What DL or OLB wants to play in a system where he knows he won’t get sacks? What stud corner wants to drop back into a zone and be invisible to pro scouts?”
So I checked 247 for BYU’s 2023 commits–10 offensive players and only 5 defensive players. Of our 8 most highly rated commits, only ONE is primarily a defensive player (Esera from Timpviw). Obviously Tuiaki and Co. are TRYING to land top defensive players, but the bottom line is that we are failing in recruiting defensive stars. A MAJOR factor is that our scheme is no fun. The best HS defenders dominate and play downhill. BYU D does the opposite. It’s terrible to watch, embarrasses the school (yes, I heard the ESPN guys literally laughing at our D on the broadcast), and is NO FUN to play in–and every defensive star we recruit sees exactly the same thing on TV that we see.
On a side note, we have two excellent DEs in Batty and Nelson, but they are COMPLETELY wasted in this scheme. Both can dominate a single blocker, but are wasted because they are rushing 3 vs 5 or 6 on every drop back. Wasted.
Sooooooo, when you have the recruiting limitations (academic and HC) that we have in the first place, it’s recruiting suicide to favor a style of play that looks at best boring and at worst comical to a high school player watching it on TV…am I wrong???
It’s clear Tuiaki (and Kalani) don’t think our defensive players are good enough to actively and regularly challenge an offense. So they “play it safe”. This may “work” against lesser opponents, but has demonstrably failed against better opponents. Taking this passive approach may “work” occasionally, but it hampers our recruiting, and without major upgrades in BOTH scheme AND talent, we will be a B12 doormat.
Imagine Bronco telling KVN, “Hey 4 star OLB and future starter in multiple super bowls, come to BYU. You will never get any sacks or TFL, but I can make you good at dropping into zone coverage.” Or telling Ziggy, “Hey, come out for football. I can make you a DE where you get doubled teamed on every play and you will never get any sacks. It will be fun.” HAHAHAHAHAHA.
Kind of like what we have been saying all along. No reason to sign with BYU if you can’t have the GLORY of Sacks, hurries and TOs, the 3 stats that get NFL scouts salivating. D players go to BYU to die a slow death.
So sorry, I have been away guiding hunters and have not had the opportunity to suffer through these last 2 games like the rest of you.
I fortunately was on an airplane flying cross country and missed the entire ND game (didn’t even bother to record it because I knew what would happen–death by 1000 cuts). Very unfortunately, I saw the whole Arkansas game.
Kalani is so personable and kids love him–but he HAS TO KNOW that the best HS defensive players are not coming to BYU, and he HAS TO KNOW WHY. I am very disappointed in him; it’s one thing to be afraid of Arkansas–we were, and it showed. It’s an entirely different thing to scheme against USU and Wyoming as if we believe our defense is overmatched by their offensive personnel. In addition to being boring and making me feel like I’m wasting my time watching the games, my beef with our D is the HS recruits watching this on TV are like, “um, no thank you.” I don’t want BYU to be a laughingstock in the B12, but we will be if we can’t recruit some studs on D.
We never had a chance at McClain, the 5 star DB from Lakeland Florida who visited BYU. But even if he was considering BYU, there is no way a stud like him would come when he sees our scheme. Playing corner on a team where the corners never get picks? Yeah, right.
Tuiaki’s solution to no pressure on the QB: move walk-on offensive linemen to the defensive line? I about fell out of my chair laughing when I read that yesterday. He simply cannot be serious.