BYU will enter the 2026 season with plenty of preseason respect, and the Cougars’ headliners are stacked across the roster. Six BYU players landed on the 2026 Preseason All-Big 12 Team, with senior running back LJ Martin earning the league’s preseason offensive player of the year nod.
Martin is joined by senior center Bruce Mitchell, senior defensive back Evan Johnson, junior safety Faletau Satuala, senior defensive lineman Keanu Tanuvasa and senior linebacker Cade Uluave. The selections were made by media members who cover the Big 12, and BYU’s six picks were second-most in the league behind Texas Tech’s seven.
Houston followed with three. In all, 29 players from 12 of the conference’s 16 teams were chosen, with 13 offensive players, 13 defensive players and three specialists making the list.
Martin, a 6-foot-2, 225-pound senior from El Paso, Texas, is coming off a huge 2025 season that brought him Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year honors and helped push BYU to a 12-2 record and the Big 12 Championship game for the first time in the program’s three years in the league. He was also a first-team All-Big 12 pick and added Pro Football Network All-America Second Team recognition, a semifinalist spot for the Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award and All-Big 12 honors from Pro Football Network, Pro Football Focus and Sports Info Solutions.
His production backed up the accolades. Martin ran for 1,305 yards last season, which ranked No. 11 nationally, and averaged 100.38 yards per game, good for No.
- He also posted 120.0 all-purpose yards per game, ranking No. 13 nationally.
That 1,305-yard total was the seventh-most in a single season in school history.
Mitchell, a 6-foot-4, 305-pound center from Kamas, Utah, became a full-time starter last year and immediately put himself on the radar for the Rimington Trophy. He also picked up All-Big 12 recognition from Pro Football Focus and Pro Football Network for the way he steadied BYU’s offensive front.
With Mitchell in the middle, BYU averaged 31.4 points per game and landed inside the top 25 nationally in 10 offensive categories. That list included time of possession at No. 9, rushing first downs at No. 12, sacks allowed at No. 12, rushing touchdowns at No. 13, rushing plays of 10+ yards at No. 18, total plays of 10+ yards at No. 19, first downs at No. 19, total offensive plays at No. 22, points scored at No. 23 and fewest interceptions at No. 23.
Johnson, a 6-foot, 185-pound senior cornerback from Monterey, California, was a playmaker all season in 2025. He finished with 47 tackles, including 38 solo stops, along with five interceptions, a sack and seven passes defensed. His five interceptions led BYU and matched the most in the Big 12.
After the season, Johnson was named Sports Info Solutions First-Team All-Big 12, Pro Football Network Second-Team All-Big 12 and Honorable Mention All-Big 12 by the league. He also earned Jim Thorpe National Defensive Back of the Week honors on Sept.
- Pro Football & Sports Network recently ranked him the No. 4 returning cornerback in the country, and Phil Steele placed him on its 2026 Preseason All-Big 12 Second Team.
Satuala, a 6-foot-4, 215-pound safety from Bountiful, Utah, led BYU with 84 total tackles in 2025 and was named second-team All-America by the FWAA. He also earned All-Big 12 Third Team honors and picked up Lott Trophy Player of the Week and Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week recognition for his performance in BYU’s win over Iowa State in Ames, a victory that moved the Cougars to 8-0.
Satuala’s 84 tackles included 47 solo stops, one sack, two forced fumbles and three interceptions. Those numbers helped BYU’s defense finish No. 9 nationally in total interceptions with 17 and No. 10 in defensive touchdowns with three.
Tanuvasa, a 6-foot-4, 300-pound defensive tackle from Mission Viejo, California, served as a team captain and started all 14 games for BYU as a junior in 2025. He finished the year as an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection.
He added 25 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, three pass breakups and a blocked kick. His season included four-tackle games against Stanford and Cincinnati, sacks against Stanford and TCU, pass breakups against Utah, Iowa State and Texas Tech in the Big 12 Championship, and a blocked kick against Georgia Tech in the Pop-Tarts Bowl.
Uluave, a 6-foot-1, 235-pound linebacker from South Jordan, Utah, arrives at BYU as a 2026 Lott IMPACT Trophy candidate after transferring from Cal. He was a 2025 All-ACC First-Team selection and played in 34 games over three seasons for the Bears, making 26 starts.
At Cal, Uluave piled up 237 tackles, including 21.5 for loss, with six sacks, three interceptions and two forced fumbles. He was also an All-ACC honorable mention pick in 2024, a first-team Freshman All-American in 2023 from the FWAA, College Football News and The Athletic, and a recipient of Pac-12 Defensive Freshman of the Year, Super West Sports Defensive Freshman of the Year and Phil Steele All-Pac-12 Third Team honors.
BYU opens the 2026 season against Utah Tech on Saturday, Sept. 5 at LaVell Edwards Stadium. The game will air live on ESPN+ with kickoff set for 6 p.m. MDT.
In Other News...
BYU Enters Big 12 Media Days With A Feeling Fans Missed
BYU heads into the 2026 Big 12 media days with a different kind of buzz than it brought into the league a few years ago. The Cougars have spent the past two seasons proving they can belong in the conference, capped by a 12-win run that turned a once-intriguing newcomer into a legitimate contender. Bear Bachmeiers rise at quarterback helped define that climb, and with LJ Martin back in the fold, the roster looks more like one built to stay in the race than simply surprise it.
Six veteran Cougars are scheduled to represent the program in Frisco, giving the team a chance to put its confidence on display before the season even starts. Bachmeier, Martin, Bruce Mitchell, Evan Johnson, Isaiah Glasker and Keanu Tanuvasa give BYU a mix of offensive and defensive leadership, and the bigger question now is whether the Cougars can turn that returning experience into the kind of consistency that changes how the rest of the Big 12 views them. [Read more 🡒]
Big 12 Respect For BYU Just Reached Another Level
BYUs rise in the Big 12 is showing up before the season even kicks off. In the leagues preseason media vote, the Cougars landed six players on the All-Big 12 team, a sign that last years breakthrough run has carried real weight with voters around the conference. The group includes offensive lineman Bruce Mitchell and four defensive players, giving BYU a broad footprint on both sides of the ball as it heads into another pivotal year.
LJ Martin is the headliner after a season in which he piled up 1,305 rushing yards during BYUs 12-2 campaign and Big 12 championship game run, even though his year ended with an injury before the bowl game. The rest of the preseason recognition also puts BYU in some notable company, alongside honorees such as Utah returner Mana Carvalho and Texas Tech defensive lineman A.J. Holmes, but the bigger takeaway is clear enough: the Cougars are no longer being treated like a feel-good surprise. [Read more 🡒]
LJ Martin Leads Another Major Sign Of BYUs Big 12 Respect
The Big 12s 2026 preseason awards gave BYU another clear sign of how the league views the Cougars heading into the new season. Running back LJ Martin was named the conferences Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, and he was joined by five teammates on the Preseason All-Big 12 Team, a haul that trails only Texas Tech and underscores how much respect BYU has earned in media voting.
For a program still building its standing in the league, that kind of recognition matters because it suggests the Cougars are being discussed not just as a feel-good story, but as one of the teams expected to shape the race. The selections also point to a roster with talent spread across both sides of the ball, and they leave BYU in a familiar spot entering camp: with outside expectations rising, and with the real test still ahead. [Read more 🡒]