BYU’s offensive line has gone from liability to strength in a hurry, and the numbers from the last few seasons make that jump hard to ignore. In the Cougars’ first Big 12 season, the run game sat 14th-worst in college football at a little more than 100 yards per game. A few years later, that climbed to just under 180 yards per game, with new offensive line coach TJ Woods playing a major role in the turnaround.
That’s why the expectations entering 2026 are so high. This group is being discussed in the same breath as BYU’s best line of the independence era, when the Cougars produced three straight draft picks at left tackle and finished top 10 in pass protection for three straight years. There are still a few unresolved spots, but the ceiling is obvious: if those questions get answered, BYU could be looking at its best offensive season in the Big 12 era.
The projected two-deep starts with Andrew Gentry, Sonny Makasini, Bruce Mitchell, Kyle Sfarcioc and Paki Finau, with Jr Sia, Joe Brown, Trevor Pay, Zak Yamauchi and Siosiua Latu-Finau next in line.
What makes the outlook so strong is what BYU is bringing back. Bruce Mitchell, Sonny Makasini, Andrew Gentry and Kyle Sfarcioc combined for 1,394 snaps last season and gave up only 10 combined sacks and quarterback hits. Add in a top 15 run-blocking unit per PFF, and it’s easy to see why Pick 6 Previews ranked BYU 14th, Athlon put the Cougars 19th and PFF slotted them 10th among the nation’s offensive lines heading into 2026.
The headliners are Andrew Gentry and Bruce Mitchell, and their roads to this point could hardly be more different. Gentry arrived as a former top-100 recruit and national champion at Michigan, then transferred to BYU and turned in a productive junior season while coming off a major foot injury. He allowed one quarterback hit and one sack.
Mitchell’s rise has been even more unusual. He started out as a walk-on defensive tackle before developing into the nation’s third-best returning center, according to PFF.
Last season, he graded as the fifth-best run blocker and seventh-best overall at his position while playing nearly 1,000 snaps. BYU, in other words, had a top center in the country all along.
He just happened to play football.
The biggest competition still centers on the guard and left tackle spots. Six players are in the mix as fall camp continues, and four of them logged more than 140 snaps at the Power Four level last season.
Zak Yamauchi, a transfer from Stanford, and Paki Finau, who came from Washington, are both blue-chip additions pushing incumbent starters Makasini and Sfarcioc. Former Stanford commit and redshirt freshman Siosiua Latu-Finau has also rotated with the first group during camp.
Even with those battles unresolved, the overall profile is strong. Under Kalani Sitake, BYU has built a reputation for physical play up front, and that was reinforced in 2025.
The Cougars controlled plenty of games on the ground and finished with a top 15 run-blocking grade per PFF. Pass protection looked solid at first glance too, with BYU ranking 13th in sack rate allowed, but Texas Tech exposed some of the cracks that had been there all along.
Bear Bachmeier was pressured on 31.1% of his dropbacks, which ranked 75th nationally, a sign that the line still had room to grow against elite pressure teams.
That’s the big reason optimism is so loud now. BYU lost half of its top six linemen, but it may have upgraded at the spot that caused the most trouble.
Last season, the starting offensive line allowed 21 combined quarterback hits and sacks, and 11 of those came from left tackle. The line also committed 11 penalties.
Projected left tackle Paki Finau allowed no sacks, one quarterback hit and no penalties in 229 snaps at Washington. If those numbers carried over to BYU’s left tackle production from last season, the Cougars would have allowed just 12 combined sacks and hits - the same total as the 2021 offensive line that ranked second nationally in those metrics.
So yes, there are still questions, especially on the left side. But there’s no mistaking the overall talent.
BYU looks loaded up front, and if Finau delivers the way the staff hopes, this could end up as one of the 10 best offensive lines in the country by the time the season is over. The schedule also gives them room to work: outside Texas Tech, BYU faced five teams last year that ranked in the top 40 in EPA per rush allowed with a healthy LJ Martin, and the Cougars averaged more than 180 yards per game in those matchups.
This season, they’ll see four of those teams again, plus six more that ranked outside the top 60.
In plain terms, BYU should be able to run the ball whenever it wants to with the talent in the room. And if the Cougars take another step in pass protection, this offense could wind up as their most productive since 2021.
In Other News...
BYU Is Transforming LaVell Edwards Stadium In One Key Way
BYU Football is spending the run-up to the 2026 season making LaVell Edwards Stadium a more polished home for both players and visitors, with a slate of enhancements aimed at recruiting, facilities and premium game-day experience. The upgrades include a new PACS Recruit Lounge, an improved home locker room and a hospitality area called LaVells Lounge, all part of a broader effort to modernize the stadium without losing the identity that has made it one of college footballs most recognizable venues.
There is more change coming soon after that, too. A newly built northwest platform will be ready for 2026, and the next phase is already on the calendar with plans to start work after the season on a two-story premium club known as the PACS Pavilion, which is expected to be finished by 2027. For BYU, the timing matters because the stadium project is becoming as much about the programs future as the game days themselves. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Fall Camp Is Revealing Who Might Change This Offense
BYU has reached the third week of fall camp, and the picture is starting to sharpen as the Cougars move toward the end of camp and into game prep. Quarterback Bear Bachmeier has stood out for the way he can extend plays with his legs, giving the offense a different kind of stress to work with, while the defense has answered with a more disruptive pass rush during a two-minute drill.
On the perimeter, the wide receiver rotation is beginning to take shape around Jojo Phillips, Kyler Kasper, Legend Glasker and Reggie Frischknecht, a group that already looks like it will set the tone for how this passing game is built. The more interesting question now is how quickly the younger talent can push into meaningful roles, because several true freshmen are expected to make an immediate impact before the season even gets rolling. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Fans Finally Have Some Clarity On Jaxon Kohlers Eligibility
For BYU fans trying to sort through the eligibility noise, Jaxon Kohlers status finally comes with some much-needed clarity. The transfer who committed to the Cougars remains eligible to play in the 2026-27 season because his case rests on a separate California state injunction that granted him a fifth year, not on the broader federal ruling that has been making waves around college basketball.
The NCAA did win a temporary stay in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals on that federal decision, but it does not touch Kohlers situation. His eligibility would only be in jeopardy if the California injunction were reversed, and that appears unlikely, which should at least give BYU some peace of mind as it looks ahead. [Read more 🡒]