Former BYU football players weigh in on Cougars’ season-opening win
The 2023 season opener established a milestone for BYU football — the Cougars’ 14-0 win over Sam Houston was the first of the Big 12 era for the program.
It was a far-from-perfect effort, as the Cougars looked uninspired — particularly on offense — during large portions of the late-night Saturday matchup.
Still, the victory gave a glimpse at a handful of positive elements to the 2023 version of the team, among them a good first impression of the new-look Jay Hill defense and the emergence of true freshman running back LJ Martin.
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The game also had former BYU players talking.
Several former Cougars turned to social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, to share some perspective after the Week 1 win.
1st half notes for Brigham
-run the ball down hill more please
-Wr 5 blockin is bad bad
-stop forcing it to Rex
-defense playing man to man and blitzing 👀👀
-number 10 on defense I like
-o line playin terrible !
-slovis forcing way to much
- defense needs to go for the ball— Kyle Van Noy (@KVN_03) September 3, 2023
2nd half Notes Brigham / Summary
-Fake punt was embarrassing call!!
-Jacob Robinson 2 piece shesshhh!!
-Frosh LJ Martin “who’s gunna carry the boats and the logs!!”- LJ!!!!
-offense needs A Lot of work!!
-special teams mehhh besides punter
-too many penalties (o line especially)— Kyle Van Noy (@KVN_03) September 3, 2023
- Shutout! Jay hill 👀
-defense good tackling (corners) still need more ball pressure
-chase Roberts needs more touches
-offensively never in rhythm besides first drive
- defense needs pass rush! need to win with 4 in big 12
-a win is a win and lots to clean up
-BEAT SUU!!!— Kyle Van Noy (@KVN_03) September 3, 2023
📝 My take on the BYU game.
1. We won.
2. First game jitters
3. Jakob Robinson
4. LJ Martin is the future, he is a natural 20-25 carry RB.
5. That fake punt 🤢
6. We need return specialist (J.Dye)
7. Too many sub packages
8. Offense C-
9. Defense B+
10. Special teams - Pass— Tim McTyer, MSc. (@timmctyer) September 3, 2023
BYU football has growing pains ahead
But they’ll grow and will be better
Can’t expect the amount of shifts they’ve had on offense to immediately work flawlessly
All former and current football players know game 1 is always shaky
Next game will provide good feedback— Houston Heimuli (@HHeimuli) September 3, 2023
Yes, I know the offense had some missing starters because of injuries, but that is a SCARY reason to have played this poorly. If there’s not enough depth to easily handle SH, how the heck will they handle P5 opponents EVERY WEEK?
— Nick Alletto (@nalletto) September 3, 2023
Foot in the Ground Zero Hesitation and Go! Take a look young DB’s. Robinson is the TRUTH! #Alpha pic.twitter.com/KUCNFMGLUw
— Will Snowden (@AlphaRecruits15) September 3, 2023
I'll say this much..
The holes that LJ Martin is running through, are much bigger than the holes that Aidan Robbins and Deion Smith were trying to run through.
Furthermore, BYU is running power, bringing pullers, and getting down hill in the 2nd half. I haven't seen any pullers…— Benjamin Criddle (@CriddleBenjamin) September 3, 2023
Shoulda known that Drake photo was bad news 😐
— Alema Pilimai (@painkilla6) September 3, 2023
Rehkow is out best offensive weapon. Lethal.
— David Nixon (@D_Nixon) September 3, 2023
Ryan Rehkow is disgustingly good at punting. He was built and developed in a lab. There’s no other explanation. He’ll go 5th round.
— Jonny Linehan (@jlinehan9) September 3, 2023
