BYU Football: Is the defense in serious trouble?

BOISE, ID - NOVEMBER 6: Quarterback Cade Fennegan #8 of the Boise State Broncos gets sacked during second half action against the BYU Cougars at Albertsons Stadium on November 6, 2020 in Boise, Idaho. BYU won the game 51-17. (Photo by Loren Orr/Getty Images)
BOISE, ID - NOVEMBER 6: Quarterback Cade Fennegan #8 of the Boise State Broncos gets sacked during second half action against the BYU Cougars at Albertsons Stadium on November 6, 2020 in Boise, Idaho. BYU won the game 51-17. (Photo by Loren Orr/Getty Images)
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HOUSTON, TEXAS – OCTOBER 16: Kyle Porter #22 of the Houston Cougars is tackled by Keenan Pili #41 of the BYU Cougars in the second half at TDECU Stadium on October 16, 2020 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)
HOUSTON, TEXAS – OCTOBER 16: Kyle Porter #22 of the Houston Cougars is tackled by Keenan Pili #41 of the BYU Cougars in the second half at TDECU Stadium on October 16, 2020 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)

Next year the defense may really struggle for BYU Football.

Fourteen players from the 2020 BYU Football team have signed contracts or have received mini-camp invites from the NFL.  While that sounds amazing on the surface, it uncovers one very big issue. Fourteen players are now gone. Now if we were talking about Alabama, Georgia or Clemson this would be just fine since they have 4-star athletes waiting as backups to take the place of the starters once they leave.

For every other school, replacing stars is a tall task, including BYU.

While the Cougars lost a lot of production from the receivers, quarterback and offensive line, all of those positions actually seem to be alright, with the receivers actually possibly looking stronger with the addition of the Nacua brothers.

The defense on the other hand is where we start to run into some potential concern. Let’s take a look with a position group breakdown.

Schedule

Schedule