A lot of BYU football players on the 2024 roster have changed their bodies significantly the past year or so under the tutelage of second-year strength and conditioning director Ryan Phillis and his staff.
Few look more different than towering offensive lineman Caleb Etienne , however. The 6-foot-8, 320-pound senior from New Orleans, who transferred to BYU from Oklahoma State in 2023 , has shed around 20 pounds in an effort to get quicker, faster and more explosive.
"I will be at left tackle for sure this year, this whole season. That's where I am most valuable and ready to play, for sure. That's where I plan to rewrite the script (after struggling in 2023)."
"Slow feet don't eat," was Etienne's mantra the past eight months as the gentle giant started to make amends for a debut season at BYU he termed as "disappointing" and "not satisfactory."
If there's a player on BYU's offensive line in 2024 that looks like a bona fide NFL tackle, it is Etienne. On the other side, right tackle Brayden Keim , 6-9 and 315 pounds, also looks the part. Add 6-5 center Connor Pay to the mix, and BYU has a trio collectively taller than most college basketball front lines.
"We've got some massive offensive linemen, and the good news is they've all improved," defensive coordinator Jay Hill said.
As has been widely reported, Etienne is entrenched as the starting left tackle this season. That's where he will line up when the Cougars take the field Aug. 31 against Southern Illinois at LaVell Edwards Stadium (6 p.m. MDT, ESPN+).
"I will be at left tackle for sure this year, this whole season," he said. "That's where I am most valuable and ready to play, for sure. That's where I plan to rewrite the script (after struggling in 2023)."
Left tackle is also the spot where Etienne played at Oklahoma State in 2022, starting all 13 games for the Cowboys there . After jumping in the transfer portal and landing at BYU last summer, he was moved to right tackle because Kingsley Suamataia replaced NFL-bound Blake Freeland on the left side.
Suamataia, of course, is now trying to start at left tackle as a rookie for the Kansas City Chiefs . Can Etienne become the fourth-straight BYU left tackle to make an NFL roster, joining those two and Brady Christensen of the Carolina Panthers ? He believes he has the ability, which is why he transformed his body and doubled his offseason film-watching and strength and conditioning work.
"I've watched a ton of tape. I have been in the weight room a lot, too, just getting my body right, staying strong, staying in shape," he said. "I'm doing it so I can get out there and play fast."
He's also doing it for his young son, Caleb Jr., who turned 3 on July 30. Junior and his mother, Sataizha Buckner White, to whom Etienne is engaged, were in Provo for most of July so the future family could spend time together.
"He's my junior. He's my world. He's my everything," Etienne told BYUtv. "He looks up to me. He is a goofball. I love him to death, though. Yeah, he's my boy."
Clearly, right tackle didn't suit Etienne, and he was benched a couple games into the 2023 season in favor of Keim, and others. He was moved inside to guard and played some there when starters Paul Maile and Weylin Lapuaho were injured, with better success.
He really shined the last couple of games, losses to Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, as BYU finally got its struggling rushing attack going.
"Those first games, I know I probably wasn't the best," he said. "I was in and out of positions, at right guard and right tackle. So I really didn't play as much, didn't play as well as I could have. So I just have to (improve). This year I am going to do way better."
As Pay, Keim and Lapuaho have said this summer, the offensive line has something to prove this season.
"We are excited to prove a lot," Etienne said. "There is a lot of stuff people are questioning us on. There is a lot of stuff we gotta prove. That's all that is."
One of the best matchups in preseason training camp, which concluded Tuesday, was Etienne vs. defensive end Tyler Batty, the preseason all-Big 12 pick.
"We go after each other pretty good. He's been working on his technique over the summer, and I have been working on mine," Etienne said. "We are just (improving) each other's craft each and every day.
"He is a really good player. I am excited to go against him and the other D ends we have, too."
Want proof that Etienne has improved? Ask Batty and Hill, the defensive coordinator.
"Caleb has really improved. So to watch that battle with those guys, it is fun for us," Hill said. "Each day, we get to watch one-on-ones. We say it is one of the great parts of the day, just kicking your feet up, drinking a Mountain Dew, and watching those guys battle. That is one of our favorite parts of the day."
BYU offensive lineman Caleb Etienne in action during game against Arkansas in 2023. | BYU Photo
