BYU preparing to dance the ‘Texas three-step’
BYU football and the famous Texas two-step share the 1920s in common. That is when the Lone Star State coined the collegiate fox trot as its own and it’s also when the Cougars started playing football in Provo.
Cougars on the air
BYU (4-1)
at TCU (3-2)
Oct. 14, TBA
Amon G. Carter Stadium
(Capacity: 50,000)
TV: ESPN
Radio: 102.7 FM/1160 AM
More than 100 years later, BYU is ready to merge the two and add a twist of its own — the ‘Texas three-step’ when the Cougars do something they have never done before — step onto the dance floor (or football field) with TCU, Texas Tech and No. 3 Texas over three consecutive weekends.
There are four Texans on the BYU roster who may have impact opportunities during the 21-day run — junior receiver Keanu Hill (Bedford), freshman running back LJ Martin (El Paso), sophomore quarterback Cade Fennegan (Dallas) and senior running back Deion Smith (Houston).
A chance to make their case before the judgement bar of Texas football, the self-awarded standard of the game America loves, will provide a full-circle moment for each of them. The landscape they grew up in seems to naturally produce oil fields, steers and football players.
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All four Cougars were standouts in high school but overlooked by the local programs. Hill’s father, Lloyd, is in the Texas High School and Texas Tech halls of fame. Fennegan shattered Davey O’Brien’s quarterback records at Woodrow Wilson High.
Martin rushed for 2,137 yards and 23 touchdowns last year at Canutillo High and was named the Texas 5A MVP. Smith carried the ball at Second Baptist High. ESPN ranked him 52nd nationally among running backs.
The chance to beat TCU, Texas Tech and Texas are what dreams are made of, especially for Texans who left the state to play elsewhere. Reality screams these games won’t be easy, but reality also brings BYU the opportunity to face them as a new member of the Big 12.
The Cougars have always had an interest in recruiting Texas kids, but in the glory years of the Wilson-McMahon-Young-Bosco era, much of the focus was on Hawaii and California. However, there have been several players over the years who have left Texas and flourished in Provo.
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Ty Detmer (San Antonio), David Nixon (College Station), Lee Johnson (Conroe), Jordan Leslie (Houston), Margin Hooks (Waco), Derwin Gray (San Antonio), Brandon Ogletree (McKinney), Ross Apo (Arlington) and McKay Jacobson (Southlake) are among the notables.
Detmer was considered too small and too skinny for home-grown football, so he brought his Texas-sized heart to BYU and won the Heisman Trophy in 1990. Johnson earned All-America status as a punter on the 1984 national championship team. Jacobson’s claim to fame came in the back of the end zone at Cowboys Stadium where Max Hall found him late in the fourth quarter to upset No. 3 Oklahoma 14-13 in 2009.
“We are going to recruit young men that want to be here. It doesn’t really matter where they are from. Being in the conference, it makes sense. We are going to be playing in that area quite often.” — BYU coach Kalani Sitake
BYU coach Kalani Sitake doesn’t care if his players come from Texas, Tennessee or Tooele. He just wants talented kids who are coachable and will play hard. However, a larger footprint in Texas, the heart of the old Big 12, will be welcome.
“We are going to recruit young men that want to be here. It doesn’t really matter where they are from,” Sitake said. “Being in the conference, it makes sense. We are going to be playing in that area quite often. We are always going to recruit guys that fit what we want to get done here, fit the mission of our school and our church and the program. We are all in alignment with that.”
BYU’s ‘Texas three-step’ starts in Fort Worth against TCU on Oct. 14 (1:30 p.m. MDT, ESPN) and continues in Provo on Oct. 21 against Texas Tech and wraps up in Austin on Oct. 28 at Texas. No one knows how it’s going to look or how long the music will last. But it’s a dance that has commanded a century to create, and Cougar Nation can’t wait to see what happens.
Dave McCann is a contributor to the Deseret News and is the studio host for “BYU Sports Nation Game Day,” “The Post Game Show,” “After Further Review,” and play-by-play announcer for BYUtv. He is also co-host of “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com.
