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BYU Football: Prepare for the 100 best players of BYU history

By Adam Gibby

7 Dec 1996: Quarterback Steve Sarkisian of the Brigham Young Cougars looks on during a game against the Wyoming Cowboys at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. BYU won the game, 28-25. Mandatory Credit: Todd Warshaw/Allsport
7 Dec 1996: Quarterback Steve Sarkisian of the Brigham Young Cougars looks on during a game against the Wyoming Cowboys at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. BYU won the game, 28-25. Mandatory Credit: Todd Warshaw/Allsport /
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1 Jan 1997: Quarterback Steve Sarkisian of the Brigham Young Cougars looks to pass the ball during the Cotton Bowl against the Kansas State Wildcats at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas. BYU won the game, 19-15. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Dunn /Allsport
1 Jan 1997: Quarterback Steve Sarkisian of the Brigham Young Cougars looks to pass the ball during the Cotton Bowl against the Kansas State Wildcats at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas. BYU won the game, 19-15. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Dunn /Allsport /

Who are the best 100 players in BYU Football history? With 101 days until BYU and Utah kick off the season, we will countdown with one every single day.

This time of year there isn’t a ton going on around BYU sports. Sure BYU baseball, track and golf are wrapping things up really well, but at the end of the day football is king and we are really needing it.

With over 2,500 players coming through the program since it’s beginning, to make the Top 100 means that players are in the top 3-4%.

Obviously, there is going to be a lot of debate of who is really a top ten player and who misses the cut but we are going to be ranking players on three areas: Impact, statistics and memorable moments. Because of the first two areas, linemen or even punters will be featured as all-time greats despite not having any memorable moments.

I apologize ahead of time for the players pre-2000’s. Despite watching hundreds of games including many from the 1970’s, 80′ and 90’s, watching those and actually living in them are two different things. The truth is, I wasn’t alive for many of those games and so the storylines, injuries, and rivalry moments just don’t affect me the way they would have for those who lived through them. A perfect example is Matt Hadley who will be featured later.  Thirty years from now nobody will know who he is or see him as a great player, but given the circumstances and what happened in 2018, he was a much bigger player than what paper shows.

As far as the grades go, this how they will be rated:

A – Elite, the sort of thing that still makes the highlight reel in twenty years. Think the Taysom leap, Ty Detmer’s heisman season or Beck to Harline. 

B – Memorable, makes the top 100 plays of all time but not legendary. 

C – Had good moments that true fans will remember, but a casual fan wouldn’t recognize it. 

D – Almost no significant impact/statistics/memorable moments. 

The players are being ranked against themselves, not against BYU in general, otherwise all the players would have A’s and B’s on everything.

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