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BYU Football Countdown: Player 27 – All time leader in INT’s

By Adam Gibby

FORT COLLINS, CO - NOVEMBER 01: The Brigham Young Cougars prepare to take the field to face the Colorado State Rams at Sonny Lubick Field at Hughes Stadium on November 1, 2008 in Fort Collins, Colorado. BYU defeated CSU 45-42. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
FORT COLLINS, CO - NOVEMBER 01: The Brigham Young Cougars prepare to take the field to face the Colorado State Rams at Sonny Lubick Field at Hughes Stadium on November 1, 2008 in Fort Collins, Colorado. BYU defeated CSU 45-42. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr/Getty Images) /

BYU Football is now only 27 days away from kicking off.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! American Football is happening! Yes the game last night was awful between the Atlanta and Denver in the Hall of Fame game but it was still American Football live in 2019.

Also, yesterday as I was walking in the park I noticed some leaves on the trees already starting to get an orange tint to them. This really is my favorite time of the year and these next 27 days couldn’t come soon enough!

Today’s player in the countdown features a defensive back who is the all time leader in interceptions both for a career and a single season.

No. 27 Dave Atkinson – Defensive Back – 1970-1973

There is a lot of question to Atkinson’s actual stat line because none of the websites that contain stats seem to match up. What we do know about Dave Atkinson is that he is the all time interception leader for the Cougars with 20 INT’s during his career as well as the BYU season record holder for nine during his sophomore season.

Atkinson played in a time when quarterbacks were just starting to throw the ball a bit more. This led to quite a few players getting a lot of interceptions but since running was still the main focus of teams it is incredible that Atkinson was able to get 20 interceptions.

We also know that he recorded somewhere between 150-180 career tackles, which isn’t too bad for a defensive back. While we don’t have all of the official stats or stories about Atkinson, his achievement of being both the all time interception leader AND the season interception leader is what earned him the No. 27 spot on the BYU all-time great list.

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