BYU Football Newcomers Lisala Tai, Mory Bamba Arrive At Camp

PROVO, Utah – A pair of BYU football newcomers are now with the team as week three of fall camp is underway.

Those newcomers are offensive lineman Lisala Tai and cornerback Mory Bamba.

#BYU football issued a new roster today. Lisala Tai is on the list. He was issued his new locker yesterday.

JUCO DB Mory Bamba is not on the roster.

Also, not on the roster still is LB Chaz Ah You and DB Caleb Christensen.#BYUFootball @kslsports

— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) August 16, 2022

Tai, a former Snow College product, has been a name that Cougar fans have heard about for years. He was part of BYU’s first recruiting class under Kalani Sitake in 2016, when he signed out of high school.

He served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and then enrolled in Snow College in 2019.

Tai, a 6-foot-7, 336-pound offensive tackle, came around to BYU again, signing with the Cougars in the 2022 cycle.

During his Snow College career, he had recruiting interests from Maryland, West Virginia, Jackson State, Boise State, and UNLV.

During the media observation portion of practice, we didn’t see Tai line up in the live segments of practice. But he was suited up with his helmet and uniform.

On the sideline observing practice in a royal blue BYU hat was another junior college transfer in Mory Bamba. As he goes through the acclimation period, Bamba is not listed on the roster yet. But when cleared, he’s another cornerback BYU brings in with a lot of athleticism.

Bamba originally began his collegiate career in track and field, then started playing football at the junior college level. He was at Tyler Junior College in Texas, where former BYU DB Tanner Jacobsen is the head coach. That was the connection to Bamba, and BYU gave him an opportunity to join the program. He took that opportunity and is now in Provo.

Potential greyshirt candidates watched Tuesday’s BYU football practice

During Tuesday’s practice, I also saw some potential greyshirt candidates watching practice today in former Corner Canyon quarterback Cole Hagen and former Tooele star running back Nukuluve Helu.

At Media Day, BYU running backs coach Harvey Unga said the plan would likely consist of greyshirting Helu this season.

Cole Hagen is originally a Yale commit out of high school. He was a quarterback prospect in the 2020 recruiting cycle. Hagen is the older brother of BYU signee Cody Hagen, who is preparing to leave for a Latter-day Saint mission. After Cole Hagen returned from his mission, he committed to BYU as a walk-on.

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.

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