Football opens third week of spring practices

PROVO, Utah — BYU opened its third week of spring ball on Monday with the team's seventh practice session conducted both outside on the SAB fields and inside the Indoor Practice Facility. 

BYU center Connor Pay and linebacker/defensive lineman Pepe Tanuvasa joined head coach Kalani Sitake talking with the media following practice on Monday about the team's progress in spring. 

Pay and his teammates on the offensive line are one of the team's deepest and most talented units coming into the 2022 season. Pay played in all 13 games last year, started 10, as one of 26 players to play in every game.  He stepped in for injured four-year starter James Empey to play center over the final five games after starting five games previously at right guard. The offensive line also returns All-American Clark Barrington among four returning starters and eight with starting experience in addition to several talented newcomers like Oregon transfer Kingsley Suamataia.

Tanuvasa, like Pay, was among the 26 players on the team to play in all 13 games last season. The senior-to-be started nine games last year and finished the season as BYU's fifth-leading tackler with 42, including 23 solo takedowns. He made seven tackles for loss with three sacks while adding three quarterback hurries and one interception in a productive season on the field in 2021. He will contribute on the field once again in 2022 as a versatile defender who can play either defensive end or linebacker. This fall the linebackers and defensive line will return all of their starters and most of their depth while adding several talented newcomers. 

See below more about what Sitake, Tanuvasa and Pay had to say following Monday's practice.

Head Coach Kalani Sitake | watch interview

On spring ball week three
“We had a good practice today. We are in full pads, so I saw a lot of great tackling early on in practice. The defense was able to keep up and I saw great competition. I have liked what I’ve seen in the last seven practices and I'm excited to keep going to work.”

On quarterback Jaren Hall
“Jaren is really starting to own the offense. He has been talking to the other players and giving advice just like another coach out there. He is making great decisions and I am excited for this fall for him.”

On competition for the backup quarterback role
“I thought we would have more of an idea by now of our second quarterback, but it just goes to show how each of the players are competing for that position. Sol-Jay crept in there, Cade Fennegan is doing some great things, and Jacob Conover has continued to improve from last season. We still have a lot of practices to go and will see how it looks at the end of spring.”

On competition battles being resolved by the end of spring
“I don’t know if we will have a lot of them resolved. If you look at linebackers, there are still some guys that are banged up. Payton Wilgar and Keenan Pili are going to be in the mix, but there are a bunch of other players that are competing for those spots too. You imagine those guys (Pili and Wilgar) will come back healthy and it will be hard to keep them off the field. Ben Bywater will be there in the mix. … (With all the positions) I don’t know if we need to have guys solidifying right now in the spring. I think we have plenty of time to see how it goes going into the fall.”

On positions with a lot of depth
“Both of our receiver and safety groups are really deep. There is not any position I am looking at that is very thin. We need to get some guys healthy and then we will be even deeper than we are now.”

On offensive line
“The big boys lead the way. The linemen do the hard work that nobody gives them any credit for. Offensive line is going to be interesting since there are several different lineups we are testing. It’s good to see Keanu (Saleapaga) get back. To see him and Joe (Tukuafu) and Kingsley (Suamataia) and others playing different positions. I think we will have a really good opportunity to rotate some guys at O-line. We have 10 guys that have started games.”

On Pepe Tanuvasa and the linebacker position
We can move Pepe into that hybrid spot if we need to, as we did last year due to injuries. We will be excited to have our guys (at linebacker) back from injury and out on the field (in the fall).

Linebacker/Defensive Lineman Pepe Tanuvasa | watch interview

On Switching back to linebacker
“It’s been great, we have a lot of great linebackers and especially great coaches. It’s been great getting back into the swing of linebacker, it’s a lot different than d-end but I have all the tools. During offseason, I asked where they wanted me to really focus and a couple weeks before [spring practice] they said they wanted me to focus more on linebacker this spring, so here I am. I’m more apt to strength than I am to quickness and so that’s my mindset I have to flip. Now I have to go more into quickness mode because we play in so much space at linebacker.”

On linebacker room 
“We have a lot of depth and we have a lot of youth who are getting meaningful reps in the spring—that’s what it’s for. You’ve seen firsthand what these guys can do and there’s some special talent here.”

On defense
“We feel really confident with the guys that are coming back. We lost a few key leaders, but we feel confident with the guys that are stepping up and the talent we’ve seen in the spring. I’d say overall we feel really positive.”

On keeping focus 
“I can’t even see fall right now, all I can see is when we have practice again. I’m just trying to make it through another day. I think that’s where a lot of the guys’ focus is right now and can’t really get pulled away.”

Offensive Lineman Connor Pay | watch interview

On the progress of the offensive line
"The offensive line is doing well but obviously there is a ton we need to improve upon. We had a good year last year, not a great year, so we still have so much room to grow. We have a lot of experience returning, which I think is a huge positive. And because there is a lot of experience, we can move beyond base level into some of those more advanced things and take our game to the next level."

On competitive depth bringing out the best in the offensive line
"It's huge. Nothing is given on this team, everything is earned. Every practice is evaluated by your coaches and your reps for the next day are determined by that evaluation. So you have to be on your A-game all the time or else you're going to be passed up by somebody, and I think that brings out the best in everybody, including myself."

On if the offensive line feels like they have something to prove
"We've got something to prove. Last year the question was 'how can you keep up the same productivity that the 2020 O-line had?'  And now this year, it's 'your running back is gone? What are you going to do now?'  And so we want to show people that we can elevate our game and control the line of scrimmage all the time and that takes a lot of work that we're going have to do throughout this offseason, all summer long. We play some very good teams this year and so we're going to have to be prepared week-in and week-out to do that, and I think that definitely gives us a chip on our shoulder."

On having Keanu Saleapaga back
"It’s awesome to have him back. When I first got here, Keanu was coming off of his first injury and he was able to come back for a little bit and we were able to play together. But then he, unfortunately, got injured again. Now that he's back and healthy, it's just another level of experience for the offensive line that has started in big games. So just having that experience to add to the overall depth of the group, I think is huge."