How converted wide receiver, BMX rider bolster one of BYU's top linebacker units

PROVO — It wouldn't take too long into a dive into the multiverse to find one where BYU's top linebackers never touched the position.

Isaiah Glasker, last year's Alamo Bowl Defensive MVP and All-Big 12 selection, was a standout two-way player at Bingham High and led the Miners with 811 yards and nine touchdowns as a senior in 2020 prior to moving to defense full-time after he signed with the Cougars in 2021.

Jack Kelly's road was a bit more uncommon. The Big 12 defensive newcomer of the year by College Football Network after he transferred from Weber State grew up as a dirt-track champion BMX rider until he caught hold of the football bug at Kearns High.

But it's also not a long statement to say the two make up the core of perhaps the deepest unit on the BYU football roster in 2025.

Glasker and Kelly are the heart of second-year defensive coordinator Jay Hill's defense, one that will have even more of an eye on it with questions surrounding the Cougars' quarterback play as training camp opens next week.

There are no questions about the hard-hitting, throwback duo, though.

But Kelly's story is certainly unique.

"That's kind of how it works, right?" quipped BYU coach Kalani Sitake while adding BMX was "always something I wanted to do" when he was a kid. "That guy doesn't fear anything.

"When you put yourself through all the risks he did with a bicycle," he added, "chasing down a quarterback seems to be easier on him."

For Glasker, the move to linebacker was a bit more of a long play. First, the coaches had to convince him to move to defense. Then, a switch to one of the hardest hitting positions on the roster.

"It's hard telling a receiver in high school that you're going to play linebacker some day. So you start by telling him he's a safety," Sitake deadpanned. "We knew there was going to be something special about him, with the intensity that he plays the game.

"The fact that he can run how he runs and he's extremely physical, it's hard to put together."

Glasker was a 6-foot-5, 195-pound receiver in high school. But in his fourth year in the program — plus a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Montevideo, Uruguay — he's grown into the 235-pounder that regularly rocks the "cowboy collar" like a throwback linebacker.

Credit goes to Sitake for that, said Glasker, who had surgery on his wrist in the offseason after he "split a tendon right in half" during the Utah game.

"I have so much respect for Kalani, the way he believed in me," Glasker told KSL.com during Big 12 football media days in Frisco, Texas. "I wouldn't be playing linebacker if it wasn't for Kalani. I love him to death."

Though their paths were unconventional, Kelly admits he wouldn't want to be in a defensive unit with anyone other than Glasker and his BYU teammates that include former Timpview star Siale Esera and key reserves Ace and Maika Kaufusi, among others.

There are plenty of moments, even in games, where Kelly reacts dumbfounded at one play or another by Glasker.

"That happens all the time, actually," he said. "Just one-handed catches, behind the back; crazy stuff. You don't even know how to explain it."

The feeling is mutual for Glasker, who also played basketball at Bingham, and his teammate who could be on the X Games circuit in one of those alternate universes.

"I love this dude," he said. "When we're in the game, I can always count on him to be there, regardless of the play. He can drop into coverage, he's great on passing routes off, and I can just always count on him to be there.

"You don't see talent like him all the time, a guy who can move, who's quick, and who can pass rush? That's an NFL draft pick."

The linebackers were the heart of a defense that guided BYU to its 11-2 season a year ago, and are expected to lead in much the same way again as the defense that allowed 29.8 points per game.

And yet, the BYU defense was shut out of All-Big 12 preseason honors (only wide receiver Chase Roberts and kicker Will Ferrin represented the Cougars on the combined ballot of select media members).

So is it possible that BYU's linebackers could be even more underrated this fall?

"I feel like we're always going to be underrated," Glasker said. "That's just how it is at BYU now that we're in the Big 12 and everything. But I'm excited to show them what we really can do."

The Cougars lost seven starters off last year's defense, including linebacker Harrison Taggart to Cal. But they look to replace him with Esera, the 6-foot-3, 245-pound redshirt sophomore with 24 tackles, two tackles for loss and an interception in 10 games while dealing with injuries in the first three years of his collegiate career.

The Kaufusi cousins, former Skyline athlete Miles Hall, and UCLA transfer Choe Bryant-Strother are also expected to step up, Kelly and Glasker agreed.

"Maika Kaufusi really stepped it up during spring ball," Kelly said. "This linebacker room is deep; everyone can play, from top to bottom."

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