Tyler Batty Announces Return To BYU Football For One Final Season
Dec 3, 2023, 2:32 PM | Updated: Dec 4, 2023, 1:13 pm
PROVO, Utah – BYU football captain Tyler Batty is running it back one more year.
Batty announced on Sunday that he is taking advantage of his final year of college eligibility to return to BYU football.
In 2023, Batty was selected as a Second Team All-Big 12 performer. He led BYU in sacks with 5.5 and had 57 tackles, nine for loss and a fumble recovery.
The extra year of eligibility is due to the NCAA’s blanket waiver on eligibility amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Batty spoke with KSL Sports on the Cougar Tracks Podcast about his decision to run it back one more year in college football.
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“It has been a process in deciding. You know, it wasn’t something that I knew, even a week ago, you know what I mean? It’s been a lot of deliberation and a lot of talking with the wife,” Batty said to KSL Sports. “Just trying to figure out what we want to do. We feel like we have unfinished business, so we’re coming back!”
Tyler Batty is returning to BYU football in 2024
The defeat in Stillwater at Oklahoma State left a bad taste in Batty’s mouth. He didn’t want to go out with a loss and a year that doesn’t include a bowl game.
“It was frustrating. That’s not how I want to go out and that’s not how I want to play my last year of college football.”
Batty continued, “I love BYU. I love this team and I love our coaching staff. Honestly, I think for me personally, it’s the best option. There was definitely an opportunity to go to the NFL this year. But I felt like coming back and playing another year, improving my draft stock, improving myself as a player, and finishing my college eligibility out. The more I thought about it, ‘what the heck?’ Why not use it all up and don’t have any regrets? You only get this opportunity once.
Batty gives defensive coordinator Jay Hill a captain to lead the defense into year two under Hill and BYU’s defensive staff. He initially informed defensive ends coach Kelly Poppinga of his decision to return. Poppinga then told Batty that they he had to play a joke on Jay Hill and make it seem that he was moving on. After initially doing that his defensive playcaller, Jay Hill was excited about Batty returning for one final season.
“I’m hoping to help lead our squad this coming year to a few more victories and the opportunity to compete for a Big 12 conference championship.”
Goals in his final year
Batty acknowledged that the NFL feedback he received wasn’t as high as he’d like. His goal is to improve while helping BYU win more ball games.
“It was late round to undrafted free agent. With a little bit of luck, and a good pro day, I definitely think I would have been in that draftable six to seventh-round conversation. Worst-case scenario, priority undrafted free agent. … It might be the same next year, but I’m coming back hoping to come back and improve on that and make myself a solidified draft pick.”
Batty graduated from Payson High School in 2017. During his time at BYU, he has racked up 165 tackles, 26.5 tackles for loss, and 15 sacks. BYU has won 34 games during the four seasons Batty has been part of the program.
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 Mitch’s coverage of BYU in the Big 12 Conference on X and Threads: @Mitch_Harper.
