Provo • Kalani Sitake made drastic changes to his defensive staff two weeks ago. He pulled play calling duties away from Ilaisa Tuiaki and started making personnel decisions. He also took over the game plan and the call sheet.
Translation: Sitake essentially became the defensive coordinator without taking on the title.
But Sitake’s move bumped the rest of the defensive coaching staff into different roles, which haven’t been clear for the last two games. This week, they were solidified.
Tuiaki has been moved from defensive coordinator to the defensive line “full-time.” He is also in the role of troubleshooting the game plan for holes in packages and personnel.
Defensive ends coach Preston Hadley then moved to safeties. Hadley coached safeties from 2018-20 at BYU and also played corner for the Cougars.
Finally, safeties coach Ed Lamb altered his role into more of an “overview” duty for the entire defense. He helps Tuiaki in troubleshooting the game plan. He’s also spends more time with the special teams unit in recent weeks.
“When you have games like [Arkansas] you’ve got to look at who’s doing what,” Tuiaki said about the role changes. “What role are you asked to do, or are you going to change your role? Our players are always scrutinized for how they play, and changes are made. So for us as coaches, we’ve got to look at it as well and just figure out, do roles need to change and are we on board?”
Sitake made the move after BYU allowed 644 yards and 52 points to the Razorbacks at home. Since then, BYU’s defense allowed 41 points and 547 yards to Liberty. Against East Carolina, the unit gave up 7.3 yards per play and 27 points.
The Cougar defense ranks near the bottom of the country in most defensive categories this year. It is 121st (out of 131) in run defense, 107th in total defense and 126th in sacks.
Notably, Tuiaki is in his seventh year as defensive coordinator and has been Sitake’s only defensive coordinator in his head coaching tenure.
Kody Epps out, Gunner Romney doubtful as receivers take more hits
The wide receiver room has been decimated by injuries this year. Gunner Romney has missed seven games. Puka Nacua has missed four. Chase Roberts and Kody Epps have missed three combined.
It will not get any better this week. Epps, Jaren Hall’s most targeted weapon, is out for the season with a shoulder injury. Romney is doubtful to play, according to wide receivers coach Fesi Sitake.
“It is tough,” Sitake said. “But it is something I have seen almost every year and just something that you plan for as a coach.”
The core group that will go against Boise State includes Nacua, Brayden Cosper and Roberts. Behind them, the backups include third-year freshman Terence Fall and Hobbs Nyberg. True freshman Parker Kingston is also in the mix.
Fall has played sparingly this season but made a catch against USF in the first week. Kingston hasn’t made much of an impact yet, but traveled with the team. Sitake acknowledged Kingston is still “raw” in terms of learning the playbook, but could start to make an appearance in the final three games of the regular season.
The way the schedule falls, with a bye week next and Utah Tech after that, it will give the younger receivers time to ramp up in practice and play more against the Trailblazers. The coaching staff intends to rest older plays during bye week practices.
Does BYU have a path to beat Boise State?
Boise State, at least on paper, presents a matchup nightmare for BYU. The Broncos are ranked second in the country in total defense and are among the leaders in passing defense.
If BYU had to draw up an opponent that would be a worst-case scenario, that would likely be the formula.
The Cougars know the path to winning is by keeping its offense on the field. Beyond that, if BYU struggles to throw the ball, there won’t be many reinforcements in the running game. Starting running back Chris Brooks is doubtful this week, meaning it will again be a bevy of backups taking on the carries.
“They don’t have a lot weaknesses,” offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick said. “Statistically they are top 10, top five, in everything.”
On the offensive side for Boise State, it is also a problem for the Cougars. The Broncos have a mobile quarterback and a run-first offense, and BYU has struggled to consistently stop the run.
East Carolina was the latest team to rush for over 200 yards last week as the defense struggled to get off the field. Sitake mentioned the shape of the defense was leading to poor tackling angles and running backs bouncing runs to the outside. It led to several touchdowns last week on long runs.
The only path for the Cougars to stop Boise will be to fix that glaring issue that has been following it all season.
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