Sophomore QB Bear Bachmeier, senior running back LJ Martin have become the faces of BYU football in 2026

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FRISCO, Texas — BYU brought six players to Big 12 football media days this week at The Star in the Metroplex, but two guys in particular commanded the most attention, along with affable and self-deprecating head coach Kalani Sitake.

Clearly, sophomore quarterback Bear Bachmeier and senior running back LJ Martin have become the faces of BYU’s football program in 2026 as the Cougars embark on their fourth season in the Big 12 with expectations as high as they have been in quite some time.

Remarkably, neither Bachmeier nor Martin are members of the faith that supports BYU, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Still, both players have emerged as valued ambassadors of not only the football program, but the school as a whole.

“All six guys that we brought are outstanding representatives of our program and school,” Sitake said, adding defensive back Evan Johnson, linebacker Isaiah Glasker, offensive lineman Bruce Mitchell and defensive tackle Keanu Tanuvasa to the list. “We had a lot of (candidates) to choose from this year to bring to media days, so it is (considered) an honor to be chosen.”

BYU athletic director Brian Santiago said Bachmeier’s emergence is especially noteworthy, considering that at this time last year he was a true freshman from Murrieta Valley, California who had only been in Provo for a month and was in a starting quarterback derby with McCae Hillstead and Treyson Bourguet.

“Yeah, listen, he’s QB1 now, and there’s a Bear on the loose in Provo. I’ve been super impressed with his maturity. As a leader, I’m super impressed with the way the players around him respond to him. The guys in front of him, the guys behind him,” Santiago said. “We have a lot of talent around him, but I’m really impressed with his leadership ability, his work ethic, the way he’s taking the bull by the horns with that leadership responsibility as QB1.”

A year ago, after participating in Stanford’s spring practices and then moving on to BYU before news broke that projected starter Jake Retzlaff was facing some legal and honor code issues, Bachmeier delivered short, choppy answers and struggled a bit to articulate himself in front of reporters and television cameras.

Not anymore.

“He’s an amazing, talented guy, but he’s also mature beyond his years. He’s got a quiet humility about him. You hear Kalani talk about staying humble and hungry,” Santiago said. That’s what I see in Bear. And I’m really excited to see what happens in year two.”

Bear and LJ learning how to lead

Planned or not, Bachmeier and Martin recently together took a BYU religion class entitled “Leadership and the Gospel of Jesus Christ” and Bachmeier specifically mentioned it Tuesday to say he learned a lot from professor Lonny Ward.

“Just being around Christlike examples has prepared me for this,” Bachmeier said. “Just being a disciple leader and leading with Christlike principles and having humility and having trust and loving one another (was taught in the class).

“BYU is such a perfect fit for me because I all I want to do is be a good person and that’s how I was raised. And again, I keep harping on it, but being around Keanu, being around Bruce, being around LJ, just all the guys, they’re just such great people, and it just motivates you to be even better.”

Martin, who has described himself as a Christian, said he has relied on his faith and teammates as he’s recovered from offseason shoulder surgery.

“I have recovered well from the surgery offseason and I am back to 100%. I am lifting, running, and everything,” he said. “So I am feeling really good.”

LJ Martin is ready to be the man, again

The 6-foot-2, 220-pound Martin enters his fourth season at BYU with his sights set on some school career rushing records and a career in the NFL when his time in Provo ends. Martin’s metamorphosis from quiet, shy and soft-spoken freshman to confident, friendly and engaging team spokesperson, of sorts, has been a wonder to behold.

He showed signs of breaking out of his off-the-field shell here last year, and showed even more glimpses of what teammate Mitchell called a “fun personality” this year.

“The decision to return (to BYU), it was tough, because ultimately my goal is playing in the NFL,” Martin said Tuesday. “But just looking from the outside in, I thought the best opportunity was just to come back for another year and up my draft stock as much as I can so I can possibly go higher in the draft as well. And, I just wanted the opportunity to come back and play one last time with these guys because I love them.”

Love and learn. That’s one of Sitake’s culture-building mantras for the program, and Bachmeier and Martin embody that as much as anybody on the team.

Sitake said he can’t take credit for Martin’s development off the field.

“He comes from an amazing mom and father. His parents have been great and have done a great job teaching him. I just try to make sure he stays on the path that his parents set for him, which is alignment with what we do at BYU football,” Sitake said.

“… That’s with all our young men. They come from amazing families and backgrounds, and so I’m just trying to make sure that I don’t mess it up, that I keep it, keep the momentum going, and that I provide them with the direction that their parents would want me to.”

Martin said when his college career is over he hopes to take a lot of what he learned at BYU back to his hometown of El Paso, Texas, and share it through camps and other opportunities.

“LJ has bought into everything we asked him to do. In fact, the only thing that you probably say about him is that he’s really shy and he doesn’t talk much,” Sitake said.

“This is his second media day. Last year I said that’s the most I’ve ever heard him speak. … He’s been outspoken a lot more since then, and so I think he’s feel a lot more comfortable in the public and in the media, and so now we’re getting to hear him and (learn) a little bit more about his maturity and about how he was raised. … It has everything to do with his upbringing.”

Bachmeier is big man on campus in Year 2

Like many of the great BYU quarterbacks before him, guys such as Jaren Hall, Zach Wilson, Taysom Hill and Max Hall, Bachmeier could easily become the unofficial mayor of Provo.

How did he do it?

“I am always thinking about my family and being grounded in my family, and in my faith,” he said. “I think it goes back to being humble and hungry, just being humble in the sense that I’m blessed to be in this place with this opportunity and having the understanding that I am put on this platform for something way bigger than just throwing a football.”

The Big 12 Offensive Newcomer of the Year last year, Bachmeier shrugged off suggestions that he should be receiving more preseason accolades this year. Arizona’s Noah Fifita is the preseason All-Big 12 quarterback this year and will bring the Wildcats to LaVell Edwards Stadium on Sept. 12 for a huge early season showdown with the Cougars.

“Everybody in America should watch that game,” Arizona coach Brent Brennan said Wednesday after the school had passed out “Noah Fifita for Heisman” fliers noting that the senior was one of only five senior QBs in the FBS who have spent their entire career at one school.

Will Bachmeier join that list? He speaks as if he plans on being a Cougar for life.

“From a football side, I am just trying to stay hungry, not be complacent,” Bachmeier said. “We want to keep it going. I am very grateful to play for BYU, represent such a great university, and just play for such great people, play for Kalani, and my teammates.”

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