Injury bug continues to bite the No. 10 Cougars ahead of showdown with old rival TCU
· Yahoo Sports
If there’s been a downer to BYU’s football season so far, it has been that the No. 10 Cougars can’t seem to stay entirely healthy.
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The latest starter to get bitten by the injury bug is senior right tackle Andrew Gentry, who suffered a lower leg injury in BYU’s 41-23 win over Colorado State on Sept. 19 and has been taken off the depth chart for Saturday’s game at TCU (5 p.m. MDT, ESPN).
Gentry, a transfer from Michigan, has been replaced on the two-deep chart by true freshman Bott Mulitalo and redshirt freshman Siosiua Latu-Finau.
Monday afternoon, Gentry posted on his Instagram account that “the mild ankle sprain in the first quarter of the CSU game ended up being a little more significant than that” and that he underwent surgery Monday morning on his right foot/ankle. He added that he is “looking forward to coming back by the end of the season stronger than ever.”
BYU offensive tackle Andrew Gentry shared a post on IG on his injury status:
— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) September 28, 2026
“What I thought was a mild ankle sprain in the first quarter of the CSU game ended up being a little more significant than that.
He later added, “I’m looking forward to coming back by the end of the… pic.twitter.com/ch5wh4tFlX
Starting linebacker Siale Esera is also still off the depth chart, after sustaining an injury in the 28-17 win over Arizona. Monday, head coach Kalani Sitake said more will be known on Wednesday when BYU’s availability report is due, but he said Gentry and Esera are “questionable” for the Cougars’ first Big 12 road game of the season.
“Yeah, (Gentry) got banged up, and then the reason we took him off — I think we have him and Siale both off the depth chart — is because we are just trying to be as transparent as possible,” Sitake said. “… The worst case is that they won’t be ready, but that’s the college game.”
There’s some good news on the injury front, however, after the Cougars had a bye last weekend. Three players who sat out as game-time decisions against CSU — tight end Roger Saleapaga, right guard Kyle Sfarcioc and backup receiver/returner Tiger Bachmeier — will be back in action.
“We feel really confident with our depth, and those guys that are behind (Gentry and Esera) are going to … get to play this weekend and are going to do a great job, and luckily they’ve had a lot of reps in the first three weeks.”
Sophomore Nusi Taumoepeau, freshman Braxton Lindsey and Kansas State transfer Jake Clifton, a junior, have seen their roles increase in Esera’s absence, and BYU has played five defensive backs at once more often than not so far, with sophomore Cannon DeVries stepping up in that regard.
Now the Cougars (1-0, 3-0) will have to play nine straight games without a bye, but Sitake says they are ready.
“Whether (the bye) was week four or week eight, it didn’t really matter to us,” he said, noting that in the offseason they prepared to play for 13 straight weeks, and got into that mindset. “That was always going to be a work week for us, and so especially when it falls in the first half of the season. We implemented our plan and we’re right where we want to be.”
Not sweating over the rankings drop
While they were idle last week, the Cougars dropped from No. 9 to No. 10 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, which is a survey of media members who cover college football. Sitake said he’s not worried about it.
“I didn’t worry about that stuff before, and I don’t worry about it after the bye, either,” he said. “I’m more focused on trying to get our team to be at their best right now.”
Asked in which areas the team improved last week, Sitake said they approached the week as if they had an opponent and game last Saturday, then gave the players the weekend off.
“We feel like our guys accomplished what we wanted to get done last week for the bye,” he said. “We were ready to play a game. We just didn’t play one, but the guys put in time and they put in a lot of work, and we got some bodies healed. But we still practiced with the intention of playing a game. The intensity and everything was still there in terms of our practice. … We are looking forward to seeing them play this weekend.”
Sitake still has plenty of respect for TCU
Even though the Cougars walloped the Horned Frogs 44-13 last year in Provo, Sitake believes Saturday’s game will be much more difficult. And he hasn’t forgotten 2023, when TCU blew out BYU 44-11 in Fort Worth.
“The last time we went out to TCU, it didn’t work out in our favor, and it was a bad experience,” he said.
The Frogs lost 21-13 at UCF last week, a function of committing 11 penalties and four turnovers. Sitake expects a much more focused effort from Sonny Dykes’ team as it returns home where it walloped Grambling State 63-7 and Arkansas State 31-7 in week two and week three.
“They’re full of great athletes. That’s usually what TCU has, a lot of size and athletic ability. You can see the talent that’s on their team. You can see the reason why they were able to move the ball offensively,” Sitake said. “I think what hurt them last week was turnovers. … But you see the amount of yards they can put up, giving them opportunities to score. Defensively, they are assignment-sound. They make things really hard for teams to put up a lot of points on them.”
This BYU player got engaged during bye week
Receiver Kyler Kasper, linebacker Cade Uluave and center Bruce Mitchell also spoke to the media on Monday, with Kasper announcing that he used the weekend off to successfully propose to his girlfriend.
The Oregon transfer expects a much more hostile environment on Saturday.
“They got a pretty decent squad,” he said. “They have some good DBs, lengthy DBs. So it is going to be fun for us receivers. We haven’t seen that yet this season.”
Uluave said new TCU quarterback Jaden Craig, a transfer from Harvard, is going to be a handful for BYU’s defense.
“Yeah, he’s a good player. He’s really elusive. He can run, he can scramble out of the pocket. He makes some good throws, and so we’re gonna have to be solid on defense across the board,” Uluave said. “… I think putting pressure on the quarterback is going to be huge this week, and just getting after him, disguising looks and just doing our thing.”
BYU wide receiver Kyler Kasper (3) celebrates after scoring a touchdown during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Arizona, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, in Provo, Utah. (AP Photo/Tyler Tate) | Tyler Tate