BYU closes out spring football Friday

PROVO, Utah – The BYU football team finished its last practice of spring football on Friday afternoon.

In preparation for the 2023 season, its inaugural campaign in the Big 12 Conference, the Cougars went through 15 practices throughout spring football to get started for next year's season. 

Head coach Kalani Sitake was featured on the nationally syndicated Jim Rome Show on Friday at the close of spring football. One of the most recognized and respected voices in sports broadcasting, Jim Rome spoke with Coach Sitake about a variety of topics, including the offseason, the move to the Big 12 and the BYU family. Listen to the full interview.

Following the practice session on Friday, Sitake, defensive coordinator Jay Hill and offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick spoke to members of the media to wrap up spring ball. Read select comments below from the general media session. 

BYU Head Coach Kalani Sitake
“We saw some really good things out there during spring ball. It was really nice to finally be outside this week, and I think the work on the field and in the classrooms worked out great this week. I’m really proud of these guys right now. This is a great start for us going into the 2023 season. We had a meeting today as a team about our 2023 expectations, and all their off-season expectations. We have a really good plan ready for our guys, and we have a lot of great film to evaluate going into fall camp.”

“The players already understand the sense of urgency needed because they have seen the strength of our schedule. We need to have that same mindset no matter who we are playing. It will be important for us to have more than our starting 11 on each side of the ball since it will be such a physical season against Big 12 opponents. We travel with 70 players, so we need to make sure all of them can be starters for us.”

On depth chart
“I think we are pretty close, and I think we have a good idea of who we want in each position group, but there will be some names to add, too. I think the foundation and bulk of our group is pretty set right now.”

On the transfer portal
“We will be active in the transfer portal for sure because there are a lot of guys in there. We will see if we can find some guys who are a good fit for our program and our team philosophy.”

On Kedon Slovis
“He is a steady guy because he has been through all of this already. More than anything, his ability to connect with the players is amazing. It feels like he has been around here for a long time and he has a great poise about him. The variety Jay [Hill] threw at him can only help him as we head into the 2023 season. His anticipation and movement is great, and he has been a super good mentor to the other quarterbacks.” 

On Jake Retzlaff
“He has a great arm, and he can make some weird throws to get the ball into the receivers hands. He has so many different types of throws in his arsenal, and he is really smart when it comes to football. He has the scheme down, so there is going to be great competition in that quarterback position.”

Changes to the sport with NIL
“I think the NIL will be different for us. I am not against student-athletes participating as long as it stays within the lines of name, image, and likeness. It has opened some opportunities for our players to get some extra cash in their hands, but at the same time that will not be our focus. Our focus will be on the experiences of our players, and what it means to be here at BYU as a student athlete.”

On being Big 12 ready
“My job is to make sure we play our best football for 12 games this season. Regardless of who the opponent is, we have to be ready to play our best. Big 12 ready will be us playing at our highest level, and making sure we are competing at our best.”

Offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick
“It was a good spring, but we have a long way to go. We need to get a lot better, but we made some good progress. We had great development from some younger guys, and for the most part we stayed healthy. This is the most physical spring season we have had since I’ve been here, and we had very few injuries.”

Areas to work on moving forward
“We need to keep developing our depth. We have a really good first team, and then we have some young players who are still learning and figuring it all out. They have a lot of ability, but aren’t quite there yet. Those 29 practice opportunities we get in the fall will be huge for us.”

Thoughts on Kedon Slovis
“I love his decision-making and his efficiency. He is exactly what I expected him to be, calm demeanor, and always in control out on the field. I wasn’t surprised how well he took to the leadership role because I had heard great things about him before I met him, and once I got to know him, I could see those qualities for myself. I was more surprised how much he loves it here. I was hoping he would, and it’s good to see him enjoying his time so much.”

“Kedon is our starting quarterback going into fall camp, and I want to make that very clear. We put him in a position to earn that job, and lived up to our expectations for him. As long as he continues to do what I expect of him, he will be our starting quarterback in that first Big 12 game. Cade Fennegan and Jake Retzlaff are battling for that number two spot. They have both had some good days, so I expect that battle to continue into fall camp.”

Position Battles on Offense
“Offensive line is going to be a huge battle. We have lots of guys fighting for starting jobs, and who will fit where in the second group still has a lot of question marks, too. We have a couple good players who didn’t participate this spring that will also factor in. That is probably our most uncertain area right now, but we have a lot of confidence in the quality of that group.”

On the transfer portal
“We will never turn down a good player. If we see a good player, no matter what position group, we will consider him. We need to get some more depth in each position area. We like the guys we have right now, but we’re a little thin, so we will keep working on that.” 

What to work on before becoming a Big 12 team in the fall
“We have a lot to work on, keep building our depth, keep recruiting and getting better in all areas. In my experience in the Pac-12, any team could beat each other, so the Big 12 will be the same.” 

Defensive Coordinator Jay Hill
“I think the players handled the scheme pretty well, they handled some of the change of pace things we did in practice very well and the depth chart solidified itself in a lot of places but in a lot of places, we have a long way to go. Overall, it was a huge positive, we stayed relatively healthy which was another key factor that we wanted to accomplish.

On physicality of spring practices
“Being physical, I think, helps you stay healthier in the fall because the players get used to the pounding, get used to the tempo at which the games are going to attack them at. That is a huge part that Kalani, A-rod and I were all on board to do this spring. It was fun to see the guys get after it.”

On depth chart
“A few that stood out: Tyler Batty had a great spring, Eddie Heckard, Jakob Robinson did a lot of good things, Micah Harper stood out in a few practices and was doing great stuff, Atunaisa Mahe did a great job. There are ten other guys I could mention, but some of the key guys that we expect to be great players on the field were some of the ones I mentions, those guys had a really good spring.”

On BYU’s use of the transfer portal
“I think that there are some guys that we have interest in that will announce soon what they are doing. We’re going to have some movement on our team, some guys that aren’t coming out of spring as high on the depth chart as they thought they’d be and looking elsewhere might be what they want to do. We envision adding a few guys that can make our roster more Big 12 ready, but that’s always going to be the case now with the way the transfer portal is.”

On transfers entering the program
“Any guy we bring into the program is going to be a big addition, or we wouldn’t be bringing them in. We think that they can help us. The guys that announce that are going to be on scholarship, those guys will be big additions to what we are doing or we wouldn’t be bringing them here and we obviously think they are great players and will help us.”

On the Big 12 to do list
“We’re going to continue to hit recruiting hard. That’s a big deal to get the roster and the depth Big 12 ready. That’s a huge step for us. Getting the defense learned and understood at a higher level. I thought spring was good, but for us to compete and be where we need to be with the Big 12, we need to continue to own the defensive calls and understand why we’re calling what we’re calling. I think the players handled it extremely well. We have intelligent players here at BYU and they handled the install great, but we need to continue to own the mastery of the defense.”

On Big 12 offenses
“A lot of talent, speed, physicality, creative offensive, they do a good job with the RPO and finding mismatches in the defense. There is a lot of creativity there and there is a reason that they score so many points. I’m excited to see exactly how we match up with some of those teams.”

On chemistry between staff and players during spring ball
"I think that was huge because I had to come in and gain the players respect and confidence and the players had to gain my respect and confidence as well. I think the spring was huge for that."

On the buy in of the players to the new coaching staff
“For the most part, phenomenal. I think the players have really taken to the coaches. We have great kids that want to be good, that want to do things the right way and they want to trust you. We have great kids, the buy in has been great and I couldn’t be happier about that.”

On his first BYU camp
“BYU has tons to offer, we know that. Going into the Big 12 is a big deal, the facilities that we have, administration and their support of football and athletics is huge, the fans have been outstanding. We have to do our part, go win football games and prove that we belong. The reception has been great and everything about the program, we have loved it so far.”