Even with a 2-year-old toddler at home, BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick says he’s been able to get plenty of sleep the past month as he’s prepared the Cougars’ offensive attack for the 2023 season.
Having an experienced and deep offensive line, a starting quarterback with 37 starts and 9,973 career passing yards under his belt and a stud running back coming off a 1,000-yard rushing season will do that for a coach.
“I also think this will be great for Connor (Pay). He’s got a couple years under his belt of playing center. Now he gets to show the NFL a season of playing guard. I think it is a great thing for him personally.” — BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick
“I think we are on track to be ready to play. We are confident in this group,” Roderick said Wednesday after practice as the Cougars continued preparations for Saturday’s opener against Sam Houston (8:15 p.m. MDT, FS1). “I expect us to play well.”
That is not to say that BYU, coming off an 8-5 season in which the offense was more than adequate but the defense was shaky throughout October, expects to roll through the Bearkats’ defense, Roderick quickly stressed.
“We are playing against a good defense,” Roderick said. “These guys are disruptive. There is a chance with all the disruption they do on defense that some plays won’t go our way. We are going to have to stick together. I am interested to see how we do that. We got so many new players, I want to see how we handle adversity when we have a bad play, or even a bad series.”
In last year’s opener, BYU couldn’t have started faster offensively, as receiver Puka Nacua took a jet sweep to the house the first time the Cougars snapped the ball in an eventual 50-21 victory in Tampa, Florida. Nacua (Los Angeles Rams) and the man who handed him the football after a lengthy weather delay, quarterback Jaren Hall (Minnesota Vikings) are gone now, having recently made NFL opening-day rosters.
BYU’s starting 11 on offense Saturday could feature as many as seven new faces, led by Utah transfer offensive lineman Paul Maile, Pitt transfer QB Kedon Slovis and UNLV transfer RB Aidan Robbins. Roderick said his comfort level with the 2023 Cougars’ attack is the same as the past two years, when Hall was under center.
“I think we are going to be a very good offense this year,” Roderick said. “But (season openers) are always kind of a wild card, because they could come out and do something totally different than what they have shown.
“We have some new players that they haven’t seen. And then we have some new players that haven’t played together yet as a unit,” he continued. “So there are some unknowns there.”
Speaking of unknowns, perhaps the biggest one for the offense would be who would start at center — the aforementioned Maile or Connor Pay, who started 12 games at center for BYU last year.
Maile got the nod toward the end of camp, he said Wednesday, so Pay will start at right guard, a position he has also played a bit in the past.
“Me and Connor both knew that if he was center, then I would be the guard. And if I was center, he would be the guard. So we weren’t really tripping,” Maile said. “It is nice to have two dudes that play center on the line, because he can see everything on that right side, and I can see everything on the other side.”
Roderick said one of the deciding factors was that Pay is a little longer and taller and can block big defensive tackles a bit better as a guard. Also, the right tackle — Caleb Etienne or Brayden Keim — will be a new starter in this offense and Pay’s experience in it should help them adjust.
“I also think this will be great for Connor,” Roderick said. “He’s got a couple years under his belt of playing center. Now he gets to show the NFL a season of playing guard. I think it is a great thing for him personally.”
Having played on two Utah squads that made the Rose Bowl in 2021 and 2022, Maile said the Utes “had a room full of dogs” and the Cougars do, too.
“Honestly, just how many weapons we got here (is what jumps out),” Maile said. “Up front, O line, we are going to do what we are going to do. But we got so many receivers that we can throw it to as well.
“We got Keelan (Marion), Kody (Epps), Chase (Roberts), Keba (Hill). All those dudes. Then we got a room full of running backs that can take it to the house any play, so I feel like just having that versatility is big,” Maile continued. “Teams can’t prepare just for our run or just for our pass. We can hit them with both.”
Then there’s BYU’s quarterback, a five-year vet who head coach Kalani Sitake said Monday has been “more” than anybody expected he’d be when he left Pitt for Provo last January.
“Kedon is a great leader,” Maile said. “He’s one of the best leaders I have ever been around. He knows how to get the boys excited. I mean, if morale is low, he’s good at bringing us back to normal level. He can throw that thing now, too. He’s got a heckuva arm.”
Of course, Slovis will make his first appearance in a real game at LES since 2019, when he was a freshman at USC and the Trojans were upset 30-27 in overtime.
“Hopefully wearing blue will be a lot more fun playing in LaVell Edwards Stadium than last time,” Slovis said. “Just having some practices there recently in the fall has made that feel more and more like home every time I play there, so just being more acquainted with the environment and obviously having fans there it is going to be exciting and I am super excited to put on the royal and be on the right sideline this time.”
Robbins, who will be backed up by another transfer, Colorado’s Deion Smith, said he has been “waiting on this moment since I arrived on campus in January.”
Freshman LJ Martin is listed as RB3 on the depth chart.
Returning running back Hinckley “Folau” Ropati told a reporter after practice Tuesday that he is out for the season with another ACL injury, but Wednesday Roderick said that apparent self-diagnosis is “not necessarily true right now” and that he couldn’t comment further.
“It is still up in the air,” Roderick said.
Running backs coach Harvey Unga said the position is still deep, with returner Miles Davis and Utah State transfer Enoch Nawahine available for Saturday and improving daily.
