A lot of tough conversations have taken place in the BYU football offices at the Student Athlete Building the past three weeks, as coaches have started the unpleasant process of narrowing the roster to 105 players before the 2025 season.

Already, more than a dozen guys have entered the transfer portal since spring camp ended at the end of March, most of them having been told that there’s no room for them in the program any longer.

Of course, several players who were expected to be key contributors in 2025, guys such as true freshman running back Cale Breslin, senior receiver Keelan Marion and junior linebacker Harrison Taggart, are in the portal for other reasons, most likely linked to NIL or the desire for bigger roles this coming season.

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They will be difficult to replace, but that’s the nature of college football these days. Coaches have been bracing for it for years now. Rosters won’t be completely set until the season kicks off in late August.

However, those cuts may be put on hold, albeit a bit too late for some players who have already moved on. Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken told NCAA attorneys and the other parties involved in the House v. NCAA settlement that she won’t approve the settlement unless the roster limits issue is revisited, and tweaked, to allow grandfather current student-athletes from roster limitations.

Before spring camp even began, no fewer than 15 players who were on the 2024 BYU roster of 123 players had announced their intentions to enter the portal when it opened last December, most notably safety Crew Wakley, tight end Jackson Bowers, running back Miles Davis and defensive end Aisea Moa. Wakley landed at Purdue, Bowers at Oregon State, Davis at Utah State, and Moa at Michigan State.

“We have got to adjust again, and it stinks when you work on really getting the team as deep and as strong as you can, and there is not a lot of drop-off (from first team to second team) and all of a sudden you have to adjust and get the roster trimmed down.”

—  BYU coach Kalani Sitake

During that same time frame a few months ago, BYU coaches found replacements and filled holes in their two-deep, adding the likes of Utah defensive end Keanu Tanuvasa, Michigan offensive lineman Andrew Gentry, Utah tight end Carsen Ryan, Southern Utah offensive lineman Kyle Sfarcioc and Texas defensive end Tausili Akana, among others.

Look for those guys to make major impacts in 2025.

“I felt really good about this year, especially going into this offseason and this spring ball, about our whole roster at 123 being super strong and super deep,” said BYU coach Kalani Sitake. “Then to have this situation where now the roster is going to be cut to 105, I am not the only one that is complaining about it. That is everyone in college football that doesn’t want to see that.

“We have got to adjust again, and it stinks when you work on really getting the team as deep and as strong as you can, and there is not a lot of drop-off (from first team to second team) and all of a sudden you have to adjust and get the roster trimmed down,” Sitake concluded.

What BYU coaches concluded after the 2023 season in which the Cougars went 5-7 and failed to make a bowl game was that more continuity was needed. They only brought in a couple transfers, difference-makers such as Weber State defenders Jack Kelly and Marque Collins.

The strategy was the same this year — an emphasis on continuity over quick-fix additions — although the surprise (to some) departures of Marion and Taggart will likely force coaches to look for instant replacements for those two key players.

The Cougars are back in the player acquisition business again, just like almost every college football team in the country. It’s a domino effect, obviously.

As we’ve done the past few years, the Deseret News presents its list of five players who stood out in March during media viewing portions of practices, or who were singled out by coaches as having made significant improvement since the season ended.

Middle linebacker Siale Esera

Midway through spring camp, defensive coordinator Jay Hill said Esera and the since-departed Taggart were in a tight battle to be the Cougars’ starting middle linebacker in 2025, a statement that surprised some folks because Taggart was a mainstay at the position in 2024, starting in 12 of 13 games and making 69 tackles.

Really, it was just a testament to how well Esera, the former four-star recruit from Timpview High, was playing in camp. Esera suffered a Lisfranc foot injury in 2023 and played in only four regular-season games in 2024 in order to preserve his redshirt season.

He looked great in the 36-14 win over Colorado in the Alamo Bowl, recording two solo tackles and a sack, and at 6-foot-3 and 250 pounds he should be a force for BYU in the middle of the defense the next two or three years. If Esera can stay healthy, the loss of Taggart won’t hurt too much.

The Cougars also have Miles Hall and Ace Kaufusi as backups to Esera, and they also looked good in the spring.

Tight end Carsen Ryan

The aforementioned Bowers’ transfer to Oregon State and freshman Ryner Swanson’s departure on a church mission to Kenya necessitated a quick fix at tight end from the transfer portal, and BYU coaches hit paydirt in the form of Ryan, a 6-4, 252-pound pass-catcher who played at UCLA and Utah. Swanson, coincidentally, was on this list last year after turning heads in spring camp.

BYU is also replacing several tight ends who exhausted their eligibility — Mason Fakahua, Mata’ava Ta’ase, Keanu Hill and Ray Paulo.

“We have been making a point of getting the ball to Carsen every day in practice,” offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick said the second week of spring camp. “… Through seven or eight practices, Carsen is one of our best players on offense.”

Ryan caught 10 passes for 113 yards and a touchdown at Utah last year.

“He’s a heckuva football player,” BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff said. “I love throwing him the ball.”

Cornerback Jonathan Kabeya

Signed in 2024 as a three-star defensive back out of Euless, Texas, Kabeya began turning heads in fall camp last year, but was stuck behind veterans like Jakob Robinson, Marque Collins, Evan Johnson and Jayden Dunlap on the depth chart in 2025.

Still, the 5-foot-10, 177-pound speedster appeared in nine games, mostly on special teams, and recorded his first pass breakup in the 38-9 win over Kansas State. He finished the season with four tackles.

Kabeya picked up where he left off in spring camp, and very well could be BYU’s primary nickel back in 2025, if he continues to progress.

“I think Jonathan Kabeya and Tre Alexander, some of the young corners, have made great strides,” defensive coordinator Jay Hill said on March 15, about midway through camp. “That has been a good deal.”

Kabeya’s parents, Edward and Pauline, migrated to the United States from Congo and he’s best friends with Utah linebacker Jaeden Bland, according to his profile on BYUCougars.com.

Running back Sione Moa

Junior LJ Martin is hands-down BYU’s top returning running back, and will be Roderick’s featured back all season, if the product of El Paso, Texas, can stay healthy. But Martin has gotten dinged up in each of his first two seasons in Provo, and BYU almost certainly will need a couple of other decent running backs to carry some of the load.

Enter sophomore Sione Moa, who made a splash last year before suffering an undisclosed injury in the Kansas State game. He returned for the Alamo Bowl and had four carries for 25 yards and a touchdown vs. Colorado.

Moa and redshirt freshman Pokaiaua Haunga, who was on this list last year and also contributed in the bowl game with six carries for 25 yards, got a lot of work in spring camp and showed well, according to Roderick.

“They are both very good players. Those guys have had a great spring, and Pokai is one of the most dynamic guys on this team, and Sione, I mean, he looks like a fullback, but that guy can dunk a basketball any way you want. He is ambidextrous. He throws with both hands. He is a really good receiver, a good blocker,” Roderick said. “He is a fantastic athlete as well.”

Free safety Faletau Satuala

Senior Tanner Wall was one of the unsung heroes of the 2024 campaign, emerging as the starting free safety and displaying outstanding ball-hawking skills after originally walking on at BYU. Had the aforementioned roster cuts arrived a few years ago, Wall probably wouldn’t still be on the team.

This spring, Wall got in some good work and is entrenched as the starter again in 2025, but BYU fans can rest assured that there is plenty of talent behind him.

Toward the end of spring camp, sophomore Faletau Satuala started making some big plays and showed the promise that accompanied him out of Bountiful High in 2024 when he was the top-rated recruit in the state, in some publications.

Satuala appeared in 12 of 13 games in 2024, and recorded an interception against UCF. He and strong safety Tommy Prassas, who made this list last year, are future stars on Hill’s ever-improving BYU defense.