Provo • If nothing else, defensive back and kick returner Michael Shelton has learned how to be patient in his three seasons at BYU. The junior typically doesn’t see a lot of action the first half of the season, then gradually gets more playing time as other players falter or get injured.
It’s happening again this year. Shelton played quite a bit in last week’s 35-10 loss to Mississippi State, and even got the opportunity to return some kicks.
“At first, it is kind of upsetting, a little bit,” Shelton said of his role. “But you get used to it, and you learn your role, and you take part in it, and you do your best at what you can do.”
The opportunity comes at just the right time this year, because on Saturday the Cougars play the East Carolina Pirates, a team that Shelton is more familiar with than any other player on the BYU team.
He grew up in Raleigh, N.C., and played at Wakefield High, which is about a 90-minute drive from the ECU campus in Greenville, N.C.
BYU at East Carolina<br>Saturday, 5 p.m.<br>TV • CBSSN
“The game means a lot to me,” Shelton said Tuesday. “There are still a lot of guys on that team that I know, so it will be fun. It will be a lot of fun, actually.”
Shelton believes he will have about 50 friends and family members for BYU’s first-ever game in North Carolina. He is hoping none of them have to buy a ticket.
“I am trying to get teammates to give me all their tickets,” he said. “I have guys who are making sure that other guys are giving me their tickets, so hopefully I make sure I have all those tickets I need. … I should have my own little section there.”
Shelton, who is LDS, is one of the smallest players on the team at 5-feet-8 and 180 pounds. He was not recruited heavily by ECU until he chose BYU. After that, local schools such as ECU, Auburn, Duke and North Carolina expressed interest, but it was too late.
Las Vegas cornerback picks BYU
Having recently lost three recruits to the University of Utah — two Herriman High seniors who had previously committed to BYU and a returned missionary who signed with BYU in 2015 — the Cougars received some more positive news on Tuesday.
Isaiah Herron, a 5-foot-11, 175-pound cornerback from Arbor View High in Las Vegas, wrote on Twitter that he committed to BYU. Herron also had offers from Southern Utah and Dixie State College, according to Rivals.com.
Brothers galore
Most BYU fans knew about the Warner brothers — Fred and Troy — and the Pau’u brothers — Butch and Neil — but many were surprised to learn that fullback Brayden El-Bakri also has a brother on the team, sophomore tailback Bracken El-Bakri. They lined up together against Mississippi State last week, a moment that Brayden called the “highlight” of the game for him.
“I love them. They are two of my favorite people on the team,” BYU quarterback Tanner Mangum said of the El-Bakris. “They are just unbelievable teammates and friends. Just good guys and they play so hard. They go all out every play. They block hard, they run hard, and so it is fun to see their hard work pay off. They are only going to get better as the season goes on.”
In all, BYU has six sets of brothers on the team. The others are Marvin and Aleva Hifo, Adam and Addison Pulsipher and Young and Beau Tanner.
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