The BYU Cougars kick off the 2025 season in 28 days against Portland State. As we continue counting down the days until kickoff, today we will profile the player who wears No. 28 - redshirt senior free safety Tanner Wall - by providing three interesting, fun facts:
Fun fact No. 1 - He's got the brains
Coming out of high school in the Washington, DC area way back in 2018, Tanner Wall excelled at football, baseball, and his academics. He reportedly had a 4.3 weighted average GPA in high school while completing nine AP classes. While he was a standout two-way player in high school, he flew under the radar of many big-time programs. With his sterling academic record, he originally garnered a lot of interest from Ivy League schools like Harvard, Princeton, and Yale.
His academic prowess has continued at BYU. Per his player profile at BYU's team website, he was a CSC Academic All-America First Team in 2024 after being Academic All-Big 12 First Team in 2023. He began BYU's prestigious MBA program in the Fall of 2024.
Fun fact No. 2 - He was fantastic in 2024
Tanner began his BYU career as a redshirt freshman in 2021 and appeared in two games that year with zero tackles. The following season he had one tackle in 11 games.
In 2023 he earned the starting spot but his season was cut short due to injury after just five games. He racked up 22 tackles in that injury-shortened campaign before coming back fully healthy in 2024. And last year he turned out to be one of the biggest defensive contributors in BYU's remarkable 11-2 season. In 2024 he started all 13 games and registered 53 tackles and three interceptions. He was named All-Big 12 Third Team by College Football Network.
Fun fact No. 3 - He's a returned missionary
Tanner served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Maceio, Brazil from 2018 to 2020. He is fluent in both Portuguese and Spanish.