BYU Football: Is the defense in serious trouble?

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BOISE, ID – NOVEMBER 6: Running back Andrew Van Buren #21 of the Boise State Broncos breaks through the BYU Cougars’ defensive line during first half action at Albertsons Stadium on November 6, 2020 in Boise, Idaho. (Photo by Loren Orr/Getty Images) /

Linebackers

The linebacker position for BYU Football is always strong. 2021 may be a bit different. Losing Zayne Anderson, Isaiah Kaufusi and Kavika Fonua will be very tough to overcome. Despite this, the Cougars do return a lot of production with Chaz Ah You, Max Tooley, Payton Wilgar and Keenan Pili.

The issue will be depth.

Depth has been the Achilles Heel of Kalani Sitake’s tenure to this point. It always seems like the 1’s are great but if a starter gets hurt or isn’t playing well, normally there isn’t a good backup to pick up the slack (Utah 2018).

Although there are some promising players in Josh Wilson, Pepe Tanuvasa and Jackson Kaufusi, they are not yet proven to be good enough to keep up with opposing offenses, especially if the defensive line isn’t playing at a high level.

If the linebackers can stay healthy, this group will be just fine, but if injuries start to stack up, the linebackers and defense as a whole could face some serious run defense issues.

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