No. 24 BYU women’s volleyball landed in the middle of the Big 12 preseason conversation on Tuesday, checking in at seventh in the league poll while placing three players on the conference’s Preseason Team.
Alex Bower, Claire Little Chambers and Brielle Kemavor earned the nods for the Cougars, and Kemavor was one of the unanimous selections. BYU finished behind No.
12 Arizona State, No. 18 TCU, No.
15 Kansas, No. 21 Baylor, No.
23 Colorado and (RV) Iowa State in the 15-team league, and ahead of Utah, UCF, Arizona, Kansas State, Cincinnati, West Virginia, Houston and Texas Tech.
Bower’s résumé from last season helped explain the recognition. The setter, a 2025 AVCA All-West Region Honorable Mention and All-Big 12 First Team pick, stacked up eight double-doubles, second most on the team, and led BYU in digs in seven matches. She also finished with 1,265 assists, which ranks second in the Cougars’ 25-point rally-scoring era.
Little Chambers matched Bower with eight double-doubles and paired that with an All-Big 12 Second Team selection and AVCA All-West Region Honorable Mention honors. She turned in 26 double-digit kill matches, paced BYU in kills in nine contests and led the team in aces in seven.
Kemavor rounded out the trio after an all-conference season of her own. The middle blocker, who was an AVCA Honorable Mention All-American last season, also picked up AVCA All-West Region and All-Big 12 First Team honors. She led BYU in blocks in 19 of 31 matches and posted nine double-digit kill matches.
The three Cougars were also on last season’s preseason team, and Little Chambers was named the Preseason Player of the Year.
BYU will open head coach Rob Neilson’s first season with an exhibition against Utah Tech on Saturday, Aug. 22 at noon MT.
The Big 12 preseason poll was topped by Arizona State with 194 points and 12 first-place votes. TCU followed with 177 points and three first-place votes, then Kansas, Baylor, Colorado, Iowa State and BYU. Utah came in eighth, with UCF, Arizona, Kansas State, Cincinnati, West Virginia, Houston and Texas Tech filling out the rest of the poll.
In football news, BYU safety Raider Damuni was named a nominee for the 2026 Allstate Wuerffel Trophy, an honor that highlights student-athletes who serve their communities while also excelling in the classroom and on the field.
Damuni, a 6-1, 210-pound senior from Provo, Utah, has appeared in 39 games over the last three seasons, missing only a couple because of injury. In that span, he has posted 90 tackles, three tackles for loss, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, a sack and an interception.
His work off the field is part of why he made the list. Damuni carries a 3.61 GPA in Experience Design in the Marriott Business School and has earned Academic All-Big 12 honors in 2025, CSC Academic All-District honors in 2024 and two Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll selections in 2024 and 2025. He has also been a two-year team captain and taken on a long list of service roles, including a summer trip to Nuku’alofa, Tonga, with BYU coach Kalani Sitake and others to help set up the BYU-Pathway Worldwide program call center.
He and teammate Ace Kafusi also organized a service project for communities on Oahu’s North shore after major flooding, and Damuni regularly visits patients at Utah Valley Hospital. He speaks at local school and church events, served a two-year mission in the California Oakland-San Francisco Mission from 2021-23, and currently serves as a young men’s advisor in his local church congregation. He also volunteers at the Food & Care Coalition of Provo and helped distribute 35,000 pounds of donated protein to families statewide through the Utah Food Bank.
For the third straight year, Allstate and the Wuerffel Foundation are pairing the Allstate Wuerffel Trophy with the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team. The trophy is named for Danny Wuerffel, the 1996 Heisman Trophy winner and former Florida quarterback.
Last year, BYU safety Tanner Wall was named to the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team and was a finalist for both the Allstate Wuerffel Trophy and the Pop Warner College Football Award.
BYU linebacker Cade Uluave was also added to a national award watch list, earning a spot as a candidate for the 2026 Lombardi Award. The annual honor from the Rotary Club of Houston goes to the nation’s premier linebacker or lineman, and this year’s preseason list includes 54 players.
Uluave, a 6-foot-1, 235-pound senior from South Jordan, Utah, is in his first season at BYU after transferring from Cal. He was a 2025 All-ACC First-Team linebacker and played in 34 games for the Bears across three seasons, starting 26. His career numbers include 237 tackles, 21.5 TFL, six sacks, three interceptions and two forced fumbles.
Elsewhere, senior captain Ellie Walbruch picked up preseason soccer recognition from Top Drawer Soccer, landing on the Preseason Best XI Second Team.
Walbruch led BYU in goals with 16, shots with 91 and shots on goal with 41 during the 2025 season. She scored the first hat trick of her career against Arizona and had four multi-goal games.
Her postseason run was even louder: at the Big 12 Tournament, her five goals led the conference, and she earned Most Outstanding Offensive Player honors along with a spot on the Big 12 All-Tournament Team. She also collected All-Big 12 First Team and All-Midwest Region First Team honors, plus United Soccer Coaches Second Team All-America recognition.
In Other News...
BYUs Newest Commit Brings Real Upside And One Freshman Hurdle
Dovydas Buika gives BYU something it can always use on the wing: a long, versatile piece with room to grow. The Lithuanian guard/wing has the kind of size and playmaking feel that can make a roster more dynamic, and he brings enough scoring ability to project as more than just a developmental add. For a program that likes to create matchup problems and keep multiple handlers on the floor, there is obvious appeal in a prospect who can do a little of everything.
The harder part for Buika is not whether he fits, but how quickly he can carve out a role in a crowded guard-wing rotation. His three-point shooting and physical strength remain areas to sharpen, which is hardly unusual for a young international prospect, but it does mean the path to freshman minutes will not be simple. BYU has options on the perimeter, and Buika may need time to turn the upside into something the staff can trust in live Big 12 play. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Freshman Legend Glasker Is Forcing His Way Into The Conversation
Through the first five days of BYUs 2026 training camp, freshman wide receiver Legend Glasker has done more than hold his own. The early returns have been strong enough to get coaches talking, with his speed, athleticism and grasp of the playbook helping him stand out in a group that is still taking shape. It has been a promising opening for a young player trying to carve out a role before the depth chart is even settled.
Glasker is part of a larger wave of newcomers the Cougars are trying to fold into the offense, along with tight ends Walker Lyons and Roger Saleapaga II, both of whom are expected to matter this season as well. For BYU, the bigger question is how quickly those pieces can become dependable options once the games start, but Glasker has already given the staff reason to believe he belongs in that conversation. [Read more 🡒]
Big 12 Coaches See One Defining Question For Bear Bachmeier
Bear Bachmeiers name showing up on ESPNs list of 43 top returning quarterbacks for the 2026 season is a good sign for BYU, even if the conversation around him is still more cautious than conclusive. College football analysts rounded up opinions from coaches and coordinators, and the takeaway was clear enough: Bachmeier has already earned attention for the skill set and development he showed, but he is still the kind of quarterback opposing staffs are studying closely to figure out what comes next.
Inside the Big 12, the debate around Bachmeier seems to come down to projection versus familiarity. Some coaches see a player ready to take a real step forward in 2026, while others believe the safer read is that he will look much like he did a season ago. For BYU, that split matters because it speaks to both the ceiling of the offense and how much uncertainty still surrounds a quarterback entering what should be a defining year. [Read more 🡒]