Zach Wilson On BYU RBs: ‘Tough Dudes Who Can Make Guys Miss’

PROVO, Utah – Saturday’s scrimmage for the BYU football team at LaVell Edwards Stadium was a turning point in fall camp.  The stars that emerged from the scrimmage were BYU’s running backs in Ty’Son Williams, Lopini Katoa, and Emmanuel Esukpa.

BYU sophomore quarterback Zach Wilson shared similar sentiments on Cougar Sports Saturday on KSL Newsradio.

“Honestly, I think the highlights go to our running backs.  It was a good day for them to prove that they are some tough dudes who can get up in the middle and make some guys miss and run some guys over,” said Wilson.

Coming up next: #BYU QB Zach Wilson joins me and @baiamontematt LIVE to recap the first fall camp scrimmage. #BYUCSS #CampKalani https://t.co/Dz46CRnMFB pic.twitter.com/8CJJlhgbWx

— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) August 10, 2019

Last season, a game that stands out for basically all of Cougar Nation is the road game at Utah where the Cougars squandered a 27-7 lead with 16 minutes left in the game.  Once senior running back Matt Hadley went down with an injury, BYU’s offense was one dimensional.  Fast forward to this year, Wilson feels confident about the players he’s going to be handing the ball off to this season.

When asked who stood out the most in Saturday’s scrimmage, Wilson emphasized all three.

“Lopini, Ty’Son, and Soup,” Wilson said. “Those guys are the ones that are taking reps with the first team, so obviously I see those guys running more.  The guys behind them are doing great too.  But all three of them stepped (on Saturday), whether it was a little rusty on the playbook because they’re still new, they did a great job running hard, making guys miss, finding their guy in protection and who they have to get on, getting into the flat, all of that.  They had a great day.  So I was really happy with how they played.”

One of the emerging storylines out of camp this past week has been the explosive plays that the offense is producing.  Having an effective running game is allowing BYU’s offense to take more shots down the field with Wilson and his arm.

Ty’Son Williams' teammates and coaches were singing his praises after his first scrimmage at LaVell Edwards Stadium https://t.co/DNeDtoLDjD

— Zak Hicken (@zakhicken) August 11, 2019

“There are definitely times like a third and two situation where you have the thought process and think, let’s just take something quick, and let’s just move the sticks but at the same time if someone’s going to give me a post or give me a fade it’s never a bad opportunity to surprise the defense and go deep on them a little bit,” Wilson said.

In a little over two weeks, we will see if BYU’s explosive camp from the ground and the air carries over to game day against Utah’s vaunted defense on August 29th.

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