Whether it was a deliberate move or just how the reps fell last week, Kalani Sitake acknowledged the amount of work BYU’s incoming freshmen have received in the first few days of fall camp.
“We have to give them a chance to perform and compete,” Sitake said on Tuesday after freshmen were heavily featured in team portions of practice. “They got a lot of reps, tons of reps last week and today same thing. … The young guys I’m really, really pleased. We just got to keep it rolling.”
And with those reps, the one name that keeps popping up is LJ Martin. The running back from El Paso, Texas — who flipped his commitment from Stanford in December — has routinely made plays when he’s had the chance.
Quarterback Kedon Slovis once again highlighted him after BYU’s scrimmage on Saturday, saying he was one of the standouts of the day.
“I really want to shout out LJ for running really hard and winning a couple of four-minute drills for us,” Slovis said.
It begs the question: Can Martin really play in his first year in the program?
The running back room is veteran heavy. UNLV and Louisville transfer Aidan Robbins tops the group. Deion Smith also has plenty of experience coming from Colorado. And Hinckley Ropati and Miles Davis both logged significant snaps.
But if last year was any indicator, BYU can cycle through plenty of running backs over the course of the year. Roptati was once a fifth-string back, but ended up starting games for offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick by November. Davis also rose from down in the depth chart to starting by late September.
Plus, Davis and Martin have loosely similar trajectories. Davis went into camp last year as a relative unknown. But he made plays and slowly became an option within the offense. Martin could possibly do the same.
When asked if Martin could play immediately, Sitake didn’t rule it out. He also mentioned that Martin has the benefit of the redshirt rule this year. He can play in four games — maybe the amount BYU needs from him with this many veterans — and still preserve his eligibility.
“Yeah, I think everybody is [ready to play] at this point,” Sitake said. “Especially now with the redshirt rule allowing them to play four games. So I think we have a plan for all these guys. But right now, we are trying to get them to learn the playbook and their role. And compete and work toward [playing] as we get closer toward the season. But I imagine there is not one guy on the team that I don’t think can contribute and help us out on the field.”
Martin had a productive high school career in Texas — rushing for over 2,000 yards as a junior and senior. Now it is a question of when will BYU call upon that production?
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