BYU Football Countdown: Player 50 – Bulldozer
By Adam Gibby
No. 50 Brandon Ogletree – Linebacker – 2009-2012
Brandon Ogletree like a few other players on this list have great names that make them memorable in themselves. It is sort of like the Kaufusi clan. No matter how good or bad Isaiah and Jackson are, they automatically get a boost because of the name they have.
Ogletree was not your typical athlete at all. He was a balding 5’11” (actually shorter, I stood by him and he was shorter than I was at 5’10”) 222 pound linebacker who just didn’t look like the kind of player that would be leading the No. 3 defense in the nation. Yet there he was.
What is even crazier is that coming out of high school, he was only a 2 star rated athlete, not something uncommon to land at BYU, but again he was the team captain and leader of the third ranked defense in the entire country as a senior.
Rankings
Impact A-
2010-2012, the years he really played, didn’t have any super special seasons as far as big bowl games or finishing ranked in the Top 15, but that was no fault of the defense. As mentioned above, BYU’s defense was ranked third in the nation in 2012 and in 2011 they only gave up 20.4 points per game, also in the Top 25. The leader in tackles during those two seasons was Brandon Ogletree with 76 and 103 respectively. His leadership helped the Cougars win at least five times when the offense struggled to put up points and it was a one score game.
He also helped the development of young players like Kyle Van Noy and Daniel Sorensen who went on to become stars themselves.
Statistics B
245 tackles, 21.5 tackles for loss, three interceptions, two forced fumbles and quite a few fourth down stops. While those statistics are really good, as mentioned before, the entire defense was really good in 2012 which sort of took away some pass breakups and tackles of loss for Ogletree. That is a good problem to have though.
Memorable Moments B-
Ogletree doesn’t have the pick sixes or the big sacks that make the highlight reels but he still had a few nice moments. Most of those came on crucial third and fourth down conversion attempts when Ogletree would hit the hole before the running back preventing the first down. Most of the time, Ogletree sat patiently seven yards in front of the line of scrimmage and then when he saw where the ball was going he took off, rarely having to adjust his angle. Watch the video below and see time after time how he waits a second before going, and when he does he bulldozes his way in a straight line and gets the stop.