BYU enters the season with plenty of familiar faces in plenty of places, but special teams is a different story. That unit is taking the biggest hit of any phase, and new coordinator Justin Ena has a lot to sort through before the Cougars kick things off.
The challenge starts with the obvious departures. BYU has to replace its starting kicker and punter from last season, along with its main kick and punt returner. It also has to fill the holder and deepsnapper spots, those low-profile jobs nobody notices unless something goes wrong.
Ena, who moved over from coaching linebackers, said he’s leaning into the work rather than treating it like a burden.
“I’ve got a great special teams assistant in Dylan Almond and the kids are already stoked and ready to go,” Ena said. “They’ve had a great special teams coordinator with Kelly Poppinga the last three years. So all we’re trying to do right now is make sure that we’re on top of it, and turning in the right direction.”
He’s no stranger to the role, either. Ena pointed to several previous stops where he handled special teams responsibilities.
“I think that would be at least five to six years of my coaching career,” Ena said. “I started as a special teams coordinator at Southern Utah, and then I was a co-special teams coordinator at Utah for three years as well with Coach (Jay) Hill. So I’m used to the position and now to be able to carry on the great special teams that was established here by Coach Poppinga is something I’m excited about.”
The biggest personnel question is at kicker, where BYU is trying to follow up the steady production of Will Ferrin. Senior Matthias Dunn and true freshman Brody Laga are battling for the job.
“Matthias and Brody Laga are brand new, and they’ve never kicked a PAT or a field goal in a game, so it’s going to be a big change for them,” Ena said. “Saying that, they’ve done a good job. We’re trying to put them in the most stressful situations possible to (simulate a) game-like scenario, but it never really is until you actually do it.”
For now, Ena has Dunn as the ‘1A’ and Laga as the ‘IB’ in the competition.
At punter, sophomore Fuller Shurtz appears to have the edge in replacing Sam Vander Haar.
“Shurtz is definitely the top guy right now. He’s hit the ball well in spring and he’s continued to do so during this fall camp,” Ena said.
Freshman Cole Shulman is behind him.
The snapper job is also open after Garrison Grimes moved on, and sophomore Ty Smith has made the strongest early impression.
“Right now Ty Smith has done a really good job with the short snaps and the deep snaps. He’s the most consistent,” Ena said.
“He’s got great pace on the ball, and great accuracy as well. For field goal snaps for the most part, he’s almost a laces-out type of guy, so he really hones in on his craft.”
Smith is from Gilbert, Arizona.
BYU also has to replace Parker Kingston in the return game. Ena said the players in the mix include true freshman Legend Glasker, sophomore cornerback Cannon DeVries and senior receiver Tiger Bachmeier. Freshman DeVaughn Eka is also in the running to return kicks, along with others.
Even with all the turnover, Ena said the group has bought in to the idea that special teams is everybody’s job.
“If you’re going to play on defense, you’re playing on special teams. And if you think you’re better than special teams, then you ain’t playing on defense,” Ena concluded.
“Coach Poppinga is doing the exact same thing, honing in and making sure that the guys understand, again, that’s the philosophy that we’re doing. And then Kalani does a great job being from the very top understanding that, again, if we’re not playing our best players, then we’re a deficiency.”
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