2022 Fall Camp: Practice 12 Gallery and Safeties Preview

PROVO, Utah — With just two weeks before No. 25 BYU football travels to take on South Florida, the Cougars ran their 12th practice of fall camp on Friday.

View images from Friday’s practice below or by selecting the following link.

•  Fall Camp Exposure Gallery

The team will conclude the week’s work with another practice on Saturday.

Safeties Preview

Veteran Malik Moore returns in 2022 as a fifth-year senior and the unquestioned leader of the BYU safeties.

The 6-foot-1, 195-pound native of San Diego, California, played in and started all 13 games in 2021, recording a career-best 32 tackles (20 solo) and three interceptions. Moore’s three picks tied with fellow defensive back Jakob Robinson for the team-lead and proved momentum-swinging in BYU victories over No. 19 Arizona State, Utah State and Washington State. With five for his career, Moore is tied with linebacker Payton Wilgar as the Cougars’ active career interception leader.

Pro Football Network named Moore to its All-Independent First Team following the 2021 campaign and Phil Steele’s Preseason All-Independent Second Team featured Moore upon its July 15 release.

Despite 2021’s success and recognition, the seasoned ballhawk is left wanting more in the season to come.

“I need to tackle a little more and finish takeaways,” Moore said at BYU Football Media Day on June 22. “I’m working on my craft and trying to get better this year.”

Ammon Hannemann, Hayden Livingston, George Udo and Matthew Criddle each return with playing experience and are vying for a spot alongside Moore in 2022.

“Ammon has done a really nice job,” said BYU assistant head coach and safeties coach Ed Lamb after practice on Aug. 18. “He played a lot last year but had big ups and downs. His consistency is much better right now, and we feel very good about where he’s at.”

The 6-foot-1, 205-pound sophomore from Highland, Utah, played in 10 games in 2021, stating four, and recording 34 tackles (25 solo).

Livingston, a 6-foot-1, 205-pound junior from Rigby, Idaho recorded 12 tackles (10 solo), two interceptions and a fumble recovery through 13 games played a season ago. Udo and Criddle appeared in five and four games, respectively, with Criddle snagging his first career interception in the Cougars’ 59-14 win over Idaho State.

Upon returning to full health, versatile defensive back Micah Harper will provide BYU with further options in the secondary. Harper burst onto the scene as a freshman in 2020 with 25 tackles (15 solo).

“We moved Micah from corner, and he’s been available the whole camp but not at full speed,” Lamb said. “He will be fine for the opening game and I’m really anxious to see what he brings coming from a different position.”

Lamb also sees potential in the room’s younger players: Ethan Slade, Talan Alfrey, Carter Krupp, Dean Jones, Isaiah Glasker and Chika Ebunoha.

“Ethan has had a really nice fall camp,” said Lamb. “I would say he’s been the surprise of camp.”

Slade saw limited action in 2021 prior to redshirting. Jones played on the scout team last season while Alfrey spent the year returning to playing shape after a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Krupp and Glasker both enrolled at BYU in January 2022 following their full-time missions. Ebunoha joins the team as a true freshman out of Marana High School in Tucson, Arizona.

Whether in the secondary or front seven, defensive coordinator `Ilaisa Tuiaki knows his players were disappointed in 2021’s season-ending loss to UAB and is confident they can be better in 2022.

“It was not fun to lose the way we did in the Independence Bowl,” Tuiaki said at Media Day. “But the silver lining is that these guys are hungry. They know they can and should do better. Going into the offseason, the players put it on themselves to be better and do more.”