‘Run It Back’: BYU Football Piecing Together Foundation For 2026
Jan 5, 2026, 5:17 PM | Updated: Jan 6, 2026, 2:54 pm
SALT LAKE CITY – When BYU football lost defensive coordinator Jay Hill to Michigan, they combated that with a string of messages from notable players expressing that they are going to “run it back” in Provo for the 2026 season.
Among those players opting to “run it back” are Second Team All-American safety Faletau Satuala, BYU’s leading wide receiver in 2025, Parker Kingston, and defensive tackle Keanu Tanuvasa.
😁🤷♂️ pic.twitter.com/vRgVpaQuQj
— Faletau Satuala (@faletausatuala) January 2, 2026
But it didn’t stop there.
BYU also got cornerback Therrian “Tre” Alexander, safety Raider Damuni, offensive tackle Andrew Gentry, linebacker Siale Esera, defensive tackle Anisi Purcell, edge rusher Nusi Taumoepeau, and interior offensive linemen Bruce Mitchell, Kyle Sfarcioc, and Sonny Makasini all to commit to next year.
The challenge for these players is to get BYU football over the hump and reach the College Football Playoff next season.
In this episode of the Cougar Tracks Podcast, we discuss these players’ decisions and what they mean for BYU football’s retention of key players.
What went right & what went wrong for BYU football in 2025
Given how chaotic the college football calendar is, it can be easy to move quickly into preparations for the next season. For a brief moment, we looked back at 2025 in “What Went Right” and “What Went Wrong.”
After a 12-2 season, it’s hard to find the wrongs, but there are areas to improve.
One area of the 2025 squad that went right was true freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier.
Cougar Stock Exchange: AJ Dybantsa continues to be trending up for BYU
Every Monday on Cougar Tracks during the season, we roll out the “Cougar Stock Exchange” to see what’s trending up or down in BYU basketball.
After a strong performance in the 83-73 win over Kansas State in the Big 12 opener, the impact of star AJ Dybantsa continues to be felt for BYU. The impact is even greater when you compare him to his heralded freshman peers, such as Darryn Peterson at Kansas.
The Cougar Tracks Podcast is a daily show covering BYU Cougars athletics. You can watch the show daily on the KSL Sports YouTube page at Noon (MT) and on Mitch Harper’s X account, @Mitch_Harper.
The show also airs on KSL NewsRadio and the KSL NewsRadio app daily at 6:30 p.m. (MT), and the audio is available on demand wherever you get your podcasts.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and hosts the Cougar Tracks Podcast daily on KSL Sports YouTube and KSL NewsRadio (SUBSCRIBE). Harper also co-hosts Cougar Sports Saturday (12–3 p.m.) on KSL NewsRadio.
Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU athletics in the Big 12 Conference on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram: @Mitch_Harper.
