BYU football: 3 reasons the Cougars should win the Big 12 in 2023

1. BYU should return a lot of experience

BYU should have a load of experience returning to Provo for the 2023 season as the team begins play in the Big 12 for the first time.

There are always caveats with this, of course, and more so today with the growing ease for players to use the transfer portal and be immediately eligible for the following year. BYU won’t be immune from this in the next 12 months. There could always be a star player or two who decides to declare early for the NFL Draft and forgo college eligibility.

But let’s assume that the Cougars bring back their cast of returning players for the 2023 football season. It’s an impressive list of players that will likely rival any other aspiring Big 12 title team.

It starts with quarterback Jaren Hall, who took over the offense from the No. 2 overall pick from the 2021 NFL Draft, Zach Wilson. Hall accounted for nearly 3,000 total yards in 2022 while leading a BYU offense that ranked No. 17 in the nation with 452.2 yards per game. If the Spanish Fork, Utah product remains healthy this season, there’s no reason that he wouldn’t statistically rank among the nation’s 20 best passers.

The receiving corps is deep, too. Junior wideout Puka Nacua was the team’s leading deep threat last fall with 43 catches for 805 yards and six touchdowns. The Provo native played two seasons at Washington before transferring to BYU. Starting tight end Isaac Rex is classified as only a sophomore and already has 56 catches for 15 touchdowns and 643 receiving yards during his career with the Cougars.

Though he foreseeably won’t be eligible next year, reliable target Gunner Romney will be back for his fifth season with BYU in 2022 — he’s nearing 2,000 career receiving yards after starting with the Cougars in 2018.

Left tackle Blake Freeland has made quite an impression with BYU and figures to play a starring role during the next two seasons. You’d think that he’s unlikely to transfer away, given that his father played linebacker for BYU and his mother was an All-American with the BYU women’s basketball team.

Defensively, BYU should bring back several key linebackers in 2023 such as junior Payton Wilgar (56 tackles) and sophomore Ben Bywater. Bywater, a native of Salt Lake City, led the team in tackles in 2022 with 102 stops for the season.

Of course, there’s a lot of action that can happen within the span of the next year, but BYU figures to return a deep, experienced roster as it transitions to the Big 12 in 2023.