BYU’s offensive line coach envisions a big season ahead for the trenches

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3:29.

That’s the exact moment TJ Woods watched freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier win over his offensive line. The Cougars had marched 82 yards on five plays, highlighted by runs of 47 and 11 yards by LJ Martin and a 17-yard catch by Sione Moa.

Staring at second-and-goal at the Stanford 3, Bachmeier got his offensive into formation and called for the ball with 3:29 on the clock.

“We motion a tight end inside and we run quarterback-split zone,” Woods told the “Y’s Guys” livestream show this week. “We botch it up front. We don’t get to the backside linebacker. He is scot-free on the 2-yard line and Bear just runs him over and scores a touchdown. If you are the left guard, how do you not just absolutely fall in love with that — that’s your quarterback!”

Woods, BYU’s offensive line coach and running game coordinator, watched his big boys galvanize around Bachmeier, who just months earlier was taking snaps at another school.

“Any offensive linemen that has a quarterback that they know is excited about running the football, he automatically becomes one of the guys — and that’s Bear,” Woods said. “He’s got a heck of a relationship with those guys. They take it personal when people hit him. He’s out there wearing No. 47!”

In addition to Bachmeier, the offensive line paved the way for LJ Martin to earn honors as the Big 12’s Offensive Player of the Year. For the guys in the trenches, having Martin back for the fall is as welcomed as an all-you-can-eat buffet.

“It gives them a bunch of confidence. We are not wondering what this guy can do. We know what he can do — as long as we let him do it,” Woods said. “I think there is a level of expectation too for the (offensive) front. We know what happens when we give him a chance. Let’s make sure we keep doing that.”

Big boys

With summer conditioning and individual workouts underway, Woods is tutoring a group of behemoths that include 6-foot-8, 315-pound Andrew Gentry, 6-4, 304-pound Bruce Mitchell, 6-4, 310-pound Kyle Sfarcioc, 6-4, 315-pound Sonny Makasini and a slew of others.

“Smart, tough and together,” is how he describes them.

“Physicality requires a mentality. Mentalities can’t be taught, they have to be trained. That’s the No. 1 thing we do,” Woods said. “It’s controlled aggression. You can’t just go out there and lose your mind because when emotions go up, intelligence goes down.”

Motivated by the dent delivered by Texas Tech in the Big 12 championship, the offensive line is spending May thinking about earning another December day in Arlington.

“Experiencing that and not coming out on top, there is some salt in the wound, especially for the offensive line,” Woods said. “We’d like another crack at that game, to be able to put another performance up against a formidable opponent.”

Special feeling

Spring recruiting has the Cougar coaches spread far and wide as they look for future players. Pitching an established culture and a 23-4 record over the last two seasons has made it easier for Woods to proselyte the program.

“It’s a powerful thing to go into these recruits’ homes and express how different BYU is and, in the same breath, be able to explain the football successes, too,” Woods said. “We really aren’t sacrificing anything on the field in order to have our culture and our morals and values and that is very very powerful.”

Once the Cougars get a recruit on campus, something else happens.

“I think the hardest thing about BYU is — it’s hard to explain, it’s the feeling you get when you are around the people that surround not only the football program, but the university, community, everything,” Woods said. “From the time they get off the plane and all the way until they are going back home, every kid that I’ve recruited has been very wowed or taken back by the difference here. It’s palpable when you get on campus and you get around the quality of people we are all surrounded by.”

Woods credits head coach Kalani Sitake for establishing the culture. Sitake is depending on Woods to control the line of scrimmage.

“The culture that Kalani sets up is second to none. I also think a lot of our players come from successful experiences. They have high expectations for themselves. Our confidence is high right now. We’ve been successful. We’ve won a lot of games and we are riding high on that right now,” Woods said. “The leading cause of failure is mismanaged success. Our challenge is to make sure we keep our nose to the grindstone and not forget what got us here.”

Dave McCann is a sportswriter and columnist for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com.

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