The 2020 BYU Cougars football team represented Brigham Young University in the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Cougars were led by fifth-year head coach Kalani Sitake and played their home games at LaVell Edwards Stadium. This was the 10th year that BYU competed as an NCAA Division I FBS independent.
Before the season Coaching changes Running back coach A.J. Steward took a position on the University of Arizona coaching staff and was replaced by former BYU fullback Harvey Unga.
2020 recruits Name Pos. Height Weight Hometown Notes Sol-Jay Maiava-Peters QB 190 Laie, Hawaii Kody Epps WR 170 Los Angeles, California Isaiah Tupuo OL 316 Sacramento, California Mission prior to enrolling Josh Larsen DL 230 Woods Cross, Utah Absent from fall roster Micah Harper DB 170 Chandler, Arizona Josh Wilson LB 210 Draper, Utah Terence Fall WR 185 San Bernardino, California Alex Muti DL 200 Kealakekua, Hawaii Nukuluve Helu RB 195 Tooele, Utah Mission prior to enrolling Petey Tuipulotu DB 190 Fort Mill, South Carolina Ty Burke DB 175 Syracuse, Utah Mission prior to enrolling Dean Jones DB 190 Phoenix, Arizona Mission prior to enrolling Bodie Schoonover LB 215 American Fork, Utah Mission prior to enrolling Logan Pili LB 205 Provo, Utah Mission prior to enrolling John Nelson DL 260 Salem, Utah Mission prior to enrolling Jake Griffin OL 265 Mesa, Arizona Mission prior to enrolling Chandler Bird OL 285 Ocean City, New Jersey Devin Downing WR 175 American Fork, Utah Mission prior to enrolling Tate Romney LB 220 Chandler, Arizona Mission prior to enrolling Miles Davis RB 193 Las Vegas, Nevada Ace Kaufusi DB 200 Kahuku, Hawaii Mission prior to enrolling Koa Eldredge WR 190 Honolulu, Hawaii Mission prior to enrolling Burke Parker OL 275 Honolulu, Hawaii
2019 returned missionaries Name Pos. Height Weight Year Notes Tyler Batty DL 261 Jacob Conover QB 205 Mason Fakahua QB 217 Bentley Hanshaw TE 225 Preston Lewis LB 225 Ryan Rehkow P 205 Andrew Slack DL 290 Seth Willis OL 325 Ben Tuipulotu TE 200 Connor Pay OL 295 Truman Andrus LB 215 Joe Nelson WR 190 Austin Riggs LS 215 Kade Moore WR 170 Justen Smith K 190 Chayce Bolli WR 190 Jacob Palu DL 295 Ethan Slade DB 175
2020 other additions Name Pos. Height Weight Year Notes Caleb Christensen DB 193 Originally Signed in 2019 |publisher=BYU Cougars |accessdate= 2018-12-19 Fisher Jackson DL 252 Originally Signed in 2019 |publisher=BYU Cougars |accessdate= 2019-12-19 Hobbs Nyberg WR 195 Originally Signed in 2019 Baseball |publisher=BYU Cougars |accessdate= 2020-7-4 Jaques Wilson DB 185 Transfer from West Los Angeles College Chris Jackson WR 180 Transfer from Mt. San Antonio College Lane Lunt TE 230 Transfer from Eastern Arizona College Hinckley Ropati RB 210 Transfer from Cerritos College Theo Dawson RB 225 Transfer from University of Wyoming Chase Hughes LB 214 Transfer from University of Wyoming Wes Wright DB 175 Transfer from Snow College Jason Money DB 203 Transfer from Snow College Hirkley Latu DL 240 Return after sitting out 2019 Samuel Allred DB 205
2020 departures Name Pos. Height Weight Year Notes Sam Baldwin LB 205 Graduation Emmanuel Esukpa RB 225 Graduation Dayan Ghanwoloku DB 200 Graduation Mitch Harris LS 219 Graduation Aleva Hifo WR 187 Graduation Austin Kafentzis LB 200 Graduation Moroni Laulu-Pututau TE 240 Graduation Austin Lee DB 200 Graduation JJ Nwigwe DL 260 Graduation Trajan Pili DL 255 Graduation Sawyer Powell DB 195 Graduation Addison Pulsipher OL 293 Graduation Thomas Shoaf OL 300 Graduation Talon Shumway WR 210 Graduation Micah Simon WR 195 Graduation Beau Tanner DB 189 Graduation Ty'Son Williams RB 220 Graduation Batchlor Johnson IV WR 160 Graduation Skyler Southam K 195 Transfer Devin Kaufusi DL 257 Transfer Austin Chambers DL 305 Transfer Alex Wyble-Meza RB 200 Transfer Ethan Atagi OL 323 Transfer Darius McFarland DL 254 Transfer Joe Critchlow QB 220 Alex Miskela LB 235 Danny Jones P 240 Dallin Lee DB 200 Jacob Smith OL 306 Austin Whetzel WR 175 Nate Heaps TE 260 Brevan Ward OL 298 Spencer Romney WR 171 Jacob Talbot WR 200 Will Watanabe DB 202 Kimball Henstrom DB 191 Dimitri Gallow DB 190 Chapman Beaird DB 196 Koy Harris WR 175 Tevita Ika WR 186 Solofa Funa DL 245
Schedule BYU's games against Michigan State, Minnesota, Utah, Arizona State, Stanford and Missouri were all canceled before the season started. These were moves by the Pac-12, Big Ten and SEC related to COVID-19 in order to reduce the spread of the virus through travel restrictions. Any other changes to the schedule will be made in accordance with these restrictions. On August 8, 2020, the Mid-American Conference suspended their season taking Northern Illinois off of BYU's schedule. On August 10, 2020, Mountain West Conference suspended their 2020 season removing Utah State, Boise State and San Diego State from the Cougars’ 2020 schedule. The game at Army, scheduled for September 19 as part of the replacement slate of games, was postponed indefinitely on September 12 with both the academy and BYU pledging to attempt to reschedule the game for a later date. Subsequently, the Mountain West Conference announced that both Boise State and San Diego State would be permitted to play BYU late in the season.
Rankings
Broadcasting team The NuSkin BYU Sports Network is owned and operated by BYU Radio. The network features Greg Wrubell (play-by-play), Riley Nelson (analyst), Mitchell Juergens (reporter/sideline analyst), and Jason Shepherd (host). The network is in charge of producing and broadcasting all BYU Football pre- and post- game shows, coaches shows, and live broadcasts. The network also does the radio portion of BYU Football Media Day, but the 2020 Media Day was canceled due to COVID-19.
Affiliates These affiliate stations broadcast the shows live as part of the network simulcast. BYU Radio – Flagship Station Nationwide (Dish Network 980, Sirius XM 143, KBYU 89.1 FM HD 2, TuneIn radio, and byuradio.org) KSL 102.7 FM and 1160 AM – (Salt Lake City / Provo, Utah and ksl.com) KSNA – Blackfoot / Idaho Falls / Pocatello / Rexburg, Idaho (games) KSPZ – Blackfoot / Idaho Falls / Pocatello / Rexburg, Idaho (coaches' shows) KMXD – Monroe / Manti, Utah KSVC – Richfield / Manti, Utah KDXU – St. George, Utah
Personnel Coaching staff Name PositionKalani Sitake Head coach Ed Lamb Assistant head coach/special teams/linebackers coachJeff Grimes Offensive coordinatorEric Mateos Offensive line coachFesi Sitake Wide receivers coachSteve Clark Tight end coachAaron Roderick Passing game coordinator/quarterbacks coachIlaisa Tuiaki Defensive coordinator/defensive line coachPreston Hadley Safeties coachJernaro Gilford Cornerbacks coach Harvey Unga Running backs coach
Roster
Depth chart
Game summaries Navy
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Uniform combination: white helmets, white jersey, white pants w/ royal blue accents
Troy
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Uniform combination: white helmets, royal blue jersey, royal blue pants w/ white accents
Louisiana Tech
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Uniform combination: white helmets, royal blue jersey w/ white accents, white pants w/ royal blue accents
UTSA
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Uniform combination: white helmets, navy blue jersey w/ white accents, white pants w/ navy blue accents
Houston
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Uniform combination: white helmets, white jersey, royal blue pants w/ white accents
Texas State
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Uniform combination: white helmet, navy jersey w/ white trims and numbers, navy pants w/ white trims
Western Kentucky
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Uniform combination: white helmet, white jersey w/ navy trims and numbers, white pants w/ navy trims; pink gloves, socks, and long sleeves optional (Breast Cancer Survivor game)
Boise State
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Uniform combination: white helmets, white jersey, white pants w/ royal blue accents
North Alabama
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Uniform combination: white helmet (gray facemasks), navy jersey, white pants
Coastal Carolina
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Uniform combination: white helmets (grey facemasks), white jersey, white pants w/ royal blue accents
San Diego State
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Uniform combination: black helmets, black jersey w/ white numbers and royal blue stripes, black pants w/ royal blue accents
Boca Raton Bowl: UCF
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Uniform combination: white helmets, white jersey w/ royal blue numbers and royal blue stripes, white pants w/ royal blue accents
Players drafted into the NFL
1 2 Zach Wilson QB New York Jets 3 70 Brady Christensen OT Carolina Panthers 7 250 Khyiris Tonga DT Chicago Bears 7 251 Chris Wilcox CB Tampa Bay Buccaneers 7 258 Dax Milne WR Washington Football Team
References