BYU football: Francis Bernard is seeking transfer from Cougars

BYU football defensive coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki says Francis Bernard is leaving the program.

UPDATE (Tuesday, 1:15PM MT): During his post-practice media availability this afternoon, Tuiaki said he messed up in regards to his comments made on Monday. At this point there’s no clarification on whether the error was in Bernard’s desire, or in speaking about the situation at all.

BYU football will no longer be synonymous with linebacker Francis Bernard.

The talented Cougar linebacker is redshirting the 2017 season – stemming from a Honor Code violation – and was still participating in team activities.

The news comes just a few days after James Bernard (the older brother of Francis) told the Salt Lake Tribune’s Jay Drew that Francis was frustrated with BYU and wanted to go to Utah.

BYU football defensive coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki told Greg Wrubell during the Coordinators’ Corner show yesterday that Bernard will be leaving the program.

“He’s going to leave,” Tuiaki told Wrubell. “But I don’t know where he is going to go. We give him our advice and he just has to make the decision for what is best for him. What you want with a kid like that when he is leaving is to treat him like your son.”

At this point, there’s no concrete report on Bernard and Utah. It is unknown if Utah coaches have even reached out to the 6-foot-1, 240-pound backer. However, the general consensus is that Bernard ends up becoming a Ute.

As far as BYU football is concerned, Matt Hadley is the next man up to take Bernard’s spot. Adam Pulsipher is next, followed by Isaiah Kaufusi. We may also see Chaz Ah You at the position, too. Will Sedgwick and Christian Folau are extremely talented, but a source close to BYU football told me the coaching staff would prefer to redshirt both players this season.

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Hopefully Bernard can get everything in order and get his life on a positive track – regardless of what his violation was.

With any luck, Bernard and BYU are parting ways with nothing but good feelings. It is a shame things didn’t work out, but he was a very fun player to watch in Provo.

BYU hosts Portland State on Saturday.