For the last three seasons, Connor Pay and Brayden Keim have been mainstays on the BYU offensive line. Oklahoma State transfer Caleb Etienne joined those two in 2023 and also vaulted to a leadership role in the offensive line room.
What happens now, with those three stalwarts from the 11-2 season heading off to take a shot at making an NFL roster? Offensive line coach TJ Woods said there is a leadership void to fill, and how that pans out will go a long way in determining whether this 2025 group is as productive as the 2024 group.
"Losing Brayden, losing Connor, losing Caleb will be tough," Woods said midway through spring camp. "I don't know if I can overstate the impact of those guys not being here. They had a big presence to them, all of them."
Two candidates to fill the void are senior left guard Weylin Lapuaho and junior center Bruce Mitchell, perhaps the two most dynamic guys coming back in 2025. Other probable starters in Woods' second season running BYU's O line are tackles — Colorado transfer Isaiah Jatta and Michigan transfer Andrew Gentry .
The starting right guard is up for grabs, currently, with juniors Sonny Makasini, Austin Leausa and Kyle Sfarcioc, a transfer from SUU, in the running.
While Pay, who never had trouble coming up with some quotable content for reporters, will be sorely missed as one of the bigger personalities to come through Provo in awhile, Lapuaho isn't bad in front of a microphone, either.
"Weylin has a way of keeping everybody loose," Mitchell said.
Lapuaho had surgery on his ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) on the inner side of his elbow and missed spring camp while recovering. However, he was at practice almost every day, encouraging his teammates and showing the leadership that head coach Kalani Sitake and Woods want to see from the three-year starter.
"I feel very confident about us this year," Lapuaho said. "A lot of us have played a lot of college football snaps and a lot of us can play a variety of positions. We're versatile. It's going to be a great year for the offensive line. We look solid."
The rising senior from Bingham High who played his freshman season at Utah State also has one of the better first names on the team; his mother, Kelly, is from Montana and a "big country music fan," he said, so she named him after the country music singer Waylon Jennings, albeit with a different spelling.
"She's a little country girl," Lapuaho said. "She wanted me to be a little different, stand out from everybody else."
He does that with his size alone, weighing in at 310 pounds and standing 6-foot-4. He's the cousin of former BYU standout offensive lineman Ului Lapuaho, who played from 2014-18.
However, Lapuaho didn't grow up cheering for the Cougs. His dad, Sam, was "a very big BYU fan," but mom ruled the roost and the family had season tickets to University of Utah football games.
"It was good for him to come back one more year. You know, it was touch-and-go for awhile there with him. In my opinion, he's a Sunday player. So we are thankful and we are excited he is back with us."
"So I was a little bit torn growing up, but I am really glad to be here now," he said, adding that the entire family's favorite team is the NFL's San Francisco 49ers .
At Bingham, he helped the Miners go 8-4 his senior season before a loss to eventual state champion Corner Canyon in the 6A quarterfinals, and was a consensus three-star prospect. However, BYU didn't show much interest in him and he signed with Utah State.
While an Aggie, he started all 13 games in 2022 and blocked for 1,000-yard rusher Calvin Tyler Jr. But then the transfer portal beckoned, and BYU didn't whiff the second time around.
Utah State offensive lineman Weylin Lapuaho (61) celebrates a touchdown by the team against BYU during the first half of an NCAA college football game Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, in Provo, Utah. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) | Rick Bowmer, Associated Press
"As of right now, with injuries and everything, I think I will most likely play left guard again this season," Lapuaho said. "But if something happens like it did in the Houston game and I have to kick out to left tackle, then I will."
Lapuaho said he "definitely" gave the NFL a look after his junior season, but decided to return and get his degree this December in family studies and work on his craft at the college level one more year.
"I weighed my options with both, and it was definitely the right decision to come back and develop a little bit more, and get better, and sharpen my skills," he said. "As a kid I always told myself I am a three (years) and out guy and that was just the dream. So it was hard giving up on that, but the dream is still not over. We will get there."
Woods, who replaced Darrell Funk after the Cougars' 5-7 season in 2023, said Lapuaho "absolutely has what it takes" to play in the NFL one day.
"It was good for him to come back one more year. You know, it was touch-and-go for awhile there with him (turning pro). In my opinion, he's a Sunday player. So we are thankful and we are excited he is back with us. He has been on the shelf (injured) a little bit, but will be back for us in the fall."
Kelly Lapuaho, of Taylorsville, holds a sign of her son, BYU offensive lineman Weylin Lapuaho before a game against Arizona held at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. | Isaac Hale
