Kalani Sitake, BYU Cougars Head Football Coach

We continue this at the Yelp Show Coast to Coast on CBS Sports Radio. I was watching this game late Saturday night.

You could even say early Sunday morning. It was a top 25 matchup between the Baylor Bears and the BYU Cougars. And the Cougs in double overtime get the victory 26 to 20. They're now 12th in the nation. And them being in the top 25 has now just been a regular occurrence under their head football coach Kalani Satake who's kind enough to join us right now. Coach, congratulations on the win. I know you're getting set for a big matchup this week. Another top 25 get together in Eugene up against Oregon. But thanks for carving out a few moments.

No, my pleasure. Great to be on with you. So, I got to start you off, and this is why I love college football. And just football in general.

The next man up mentality. You're down your top two wide receivers. And what a day Chase Roberts had.

Not only catching the football, but also on that double pass through a touchdown. Just how about what the youngster showed you? Yeah, I'm just thankful I get to coach a great young man. And we talked about our depth. The goal as a coaching staff was to get our depth up there and make sure that they're ready to roll. That there's not a huge drop off from one to two. And missing obviously our two top targets from last year.

That's tough. But it also gives an opportunity for young guys like Chase to step up and make plays. And I'm glad that he was able to do that. And I'm glad that our offense coordinator, Aaron Roderick, and then our receivers coach and passing game coordinator, Fessy, to talk to you that they had a lot of confidence in him. Not just to run routes and play receiver, but also to throw the ball. I love having the players feel the belief in them to make plays. And I'm grateful to have a staff that puts these young men in a position to have success.

Eight receptions, 122 yards, the receiving touchdown, and also the passing touchdown. Were you at all surprised what Chase was able to do for you guys? No, we knew that he could do that. We have a good group of young men in that receiving room. And we feel good about those guys that were going to replace the two that were missing. They all did it together. They were pretty productive as a group. It just happened that a lot of the passes went Chase Robert's way. And then when they did, he made the plays. The other guys had some production as well.

And overall as a group, I was really pleased with them. What's the status for Pukanuku and then also Gunnaramne for this weekend? It's still day to day.

I wish I was an expert in the sports medicine department, but I'm not. So we will do whatever is best for them first. And then hopefully we can get them this weekend. That would be ideal for me and for our coaches. But right now it's still day to day.

Kalani Satake here with us. The Cougars of BYU, 12th in the nation. They just came off a win up against Top 10 Baylor.

And now they have No. 25 Oregon this weekend in Eugene. Speak to me a little bit about your defense and what you saw from them over the weekend. I know Baylor loved to run the football.

They did so 52 times. But that was in a big part the way that you guys played Blake Shape in their quarterback. What stood out to you about your defense? I felt really confident with our coaching staff and then our defense coaching staff, beginning with our defense coordinator, Eli Satoyaki, and him working with that group. And I thought they devised a great game plan. It was going to require our guys to be a little bit more stout and to probably get into a physical battle of online scrimmage. And I thought the guys didn't do as well last year. And this year was an opportunity for them to prove themselves a little bit. And I was really pleased with the way they played the game.

It wasn't perfect. There's definitely some things that we can improve on. But I thought the mentality was right. And I thought the coaches had their guys ready.

The players are ready to go. And I like the result. But definitely the coach in me just wants to be like, hey, let's make it even better.

Right. So there's a lot of room from improvement still. I saw the team improve, especially the line of scrimmage from week one to week two on the defensive side.

And I'd like to see the same type of improvement go from week two to week three. And it was kind of crazy how often Baylor was running the football to the coach. They ran it 52 times.

And I'm sitting on my couch. I think most fans probably watching that game go, oh, it's easy just because all they're going to do is just run, run, run. So it makes it easier to defend. But I was waiting for them to sneak in a pass or two or maybe even three. How difficult is that when a team starts to become one-dimensional and you have to just be on your toes a little bit even though you think a run is always going to be coming?

Well, yeah, I mean, it could be easy for players to get used to the same look and then bite on a play-action pass or something like that. But we knew when they had the ball on the five-yard line that that's kind of a test of will. Are they going to punch it in in the four downs that they have from here? And we were lucky we were in front of our student section there.

It was pretty loud. So we were able to get some help from the fans and get a penalty, force them back a little bit and give us some space. But the guys, the resilience in our players and the belief that they can still make plays even though it was working. Baylor was chipping away and getting the ball downfield.

And I'm just really proud of the guys and the way they were able to respond and get that stop and get us a win. We saw what your quarterback Jaron Hull could do last year, 20 touchdowns, only five interceptions. For people that aren't familiar with him, how would you describe your quarterback? Yeah, great leader.

He'll do whatever it takes to win. He thinks about the team first. And I've been really impressed with the decisions that he makes, where to go with the ball, the audibles that he's making, the adjustments, his feedback that he gives us when he comes off the field.

And then just his willingness to keep working. It's all the little details, just the small little things that probably people don't see on film or on the field. It's the stuff that he does off the field that really matters the most. And I'm glad that he's our quarterback, but he's such a great example to the rest of the guys on our team on how to love your teammates and how to relish the role that you have. And he's always been a team guy, so even when he was a backup to Zach Wilson, he was a guy that's always learning, trying to find ways to get better, trying to help the team. And I appreciate that mentality and the standard that he set for the rest of the team. So everybody's relishing their roles. And so sometimes it's the guys on the field, but a lot of the other times it's the guys, what they're doing off the field and on the sidelines that get you a win. And I thought there was no better example of that. I know your kicker had a rough evening, but right after the game ended, the moment when it was over, you saw Jaron go right over to your kicker to try to lift him up a bit.

Yeah, exactly. And I'm very fortunate on our team to have great young men, and there's great young men in all of college football, but I'm very fortunate to have a good group of young men on our team that really care about each other and love each other. And they're there to pick him up. And obviously Jaron is one of them and he's our captain. But, you know, I saw an entire team embrace Jake and the things that Jake's made, made a lot of kicks and won games for us in the past, and he will win games for us in the future. But it was important that the team, you know, had his back and loved him.

And I thought that was a huge step for us, regardless of the outcome of the game. It just worked out that we won the game, but how awesome was it that our, as the fans were storming the field, that our quarterback and leader was hugging our kicker and giving him some words of advice and giving him some loving, and just embracing him, you know. So those are the guys that get to coach, and I wish we could take credit for it.

All I can say is that these guys are great young men, and I love being around them, and they make me a better person. Kalani Satake here with us, the head football coach at BYU on the Zach Gelb show. So you discussed it a little bit as you had Jaron Hall, your quarterback, take over for Zach Wilson. We know he's been in the program the last few years. There was a lot of pressure on him last year. He did a nice job for your football team. What did you really challenge him in this offseason to improve on? Because I know you're always about getting the most out of your players and getting better day by day. Well, I just wanted him to do whatever he could to improve and get better. And, you know, it's not me that's going to give him the direction.

It's our offense coordinator and quarterbacks coach Aaron Roderick, who has done a great job with quarterbacks in our position group and with this offense. I wanted them to devise a plan that could get Jaron to take the next step. I thought he did a great job last year earning the spot and winning the starting spot. This year was a little different now that he's a starter. It's how are you going to perfect your craft?

What are you going to do to get to the next step? It takes hard work and dedication, and that's what he's all about. And so to see the things that he did in the offseason, the leadership that he showed, the camaraderie that he had around our players, he's at a different level right now, way different than he was last year. And, man, I'm just loving the product that I'm seeing on the field, but more than anything, he's allowing this culture on our team to thrive and to grow stronger. And, you know, I think the guys really enjoy being around each other and showing on the field.

And right now we've just got to keep this team rolling, and I'm going to lean heavily on Jaron and others on this team to lead and then to keep bringing us along. I know you're caught up in the moment, but when you have a player like Zach Wilson, who's the second overall pick, and then Jaron replaces Zach, there's going to be NFL expectations. I saw Pete Thamel from ESPN before the season started say that he expects him to be a first-round quarterback.

Do you view Jaron Hall as someone that has a big-time future in the NFL as a potential first-round pick? I think we have a lot of NFL players on our roster, you know, and it's just a matter of timing and when they're ready to go. I don't run an NFL team, and I'm not a scout for them, but I'm willing to share whatever information I can give to them. We give the scouts access to be at our practices and come watch our guys because I want them to see them in the element. I want to see them competing.

I want to see how these guys work and practice. That matters to me. But at the same time, I want to keep our players focused on what's ahead. And then right now we've got to be focused on what's coming up this week rather than what's going to be there in April or May of next year, you know. So the focus on what's happening right now and live in this moment and appreciate it, all the other stuff will take care of itself. And I know it sounds cliché and everything, but my job is to keep Jaron focused on what he's doing, how can he improve, how can he be the best version of himself and make sure that that shows up on Saturday.

Kalani Satake here with us. Oregon 1-1, you'll go to their place this upcoming Saturday in the afternoon to have a little matchup against them. Their quarterback, Bo Nix, has some big-time experience at Auburn now. The quarterback in Eugene had a rough first game but then bounced back in a big way in game number two. What's your evaluation of their quarterback in Bo Nix?

Yeah, great player. And you look at the – I mean, they play the national champs week one, you know, so that's a tough outing. But you can see the talent on the team and you can see the poise and the ability that Bo has. But I'm really impressed with their team and especially after this last week, the film.

Tons of speed and athleticism. A very physical team up on the line, scrimmage especially. And this is a great opportunity for us to go see how we measure up and actually going on the road in a hostile environment.

I've been in Eugene and I've been in that stadium, been in Austin, so it's not going to be easy. But, man, we're excited about the opportunity and the challenge. And so we're going to do our best and see what happens in this week as we prep for the game. But we have tons of respect and definitely see the talent and the product of football that they're putting out.

I think Dan Lanning is doing a good job. He has a great coaching staff. And then those guys are just starting to see from last week what they're able to do and how many points they can put up and how physical and how these guys can run around. They're starting to really come into their own. And we're probably going to see their best on Saturday.

And I'm hoping that we can bring ours as well. I remember when the Oregon job was open a year ago. There was a report that they were interested in you, and then you signed a big extension with BYU.

Were you ever close to taking that Oregon job? Oregon got the man they wanted, and I'm the BYU coach. This is going to be about the players and not about the coaches more than anything.

I'm not going to get into that stuff other than just saying that the focus on this for me is my team, my players, and trying to get our fans everything that they expect. I know you've been the coach at BYU since 2016. Sometimes when I talk to people about coaching their alma mater, they say they love it, but it's also extremely challenging because you feel extra pressure because that is your school where you made a name for yourself as a player. Where is the enjoyment for you and that enjoyment level when it comes to coaching your own alma mater?

Yeah, I'm having so much fun. First of all, even though I played here, I grew up a BYU fan. I love BYU as a fan first. I'm a fan first. I just happen to be fortunate to be a player here for Lavelle Edwards, a great coach and a legend. Now I come back as a head coach. Before I was a head coach and before I was a player, I was always a fan. I'm enjoying it.

I'm having as much fun as I can. I understand the fans' expectations, and I'm looking forward to trying to meet all of them and make them all happy. Last year we saw Cincinnati go to the college football playoff. I know you guys are going to the Big 12, but that opened up a door for a school that's in your situation. Do your players feel that? Do you sense that from their players? There's a belief that this group could go to the college football playoff this year if you guys take care of business because you guys have a challenging schedule.

There's no doubt about that. I know a lot of people want to talk about playoffs and all this other stuff, bowl games and things like that. We're going to be focused on what's here now and trying to avoid all the distractions. We were lucky enough to have Andy Reid speak to our team this spring.

He's a former player here. One of the things that he gave us as far as advice was avoiding distractions. We're going to be focused on what we're trying to get done. That's being our best self when we get to the game in Eugene.

That's it. I think everything else will fall into place, whether it's the NFL or bowl games or whatever it may be in the postseason. Let's just take care of this right now. Our main goal and our entire focus is on Oregon and that great team that they have there in Eugene.

Totally understood. Last thing last year, head coach Kalani Satake, you've done a great job with this program. I think a lot of people that follow the sport recognize the toughness and the grittiness of your football team.

Do you sense nationally the respect for BYU there, or do you still feel like your squad gets disrespected year in and year out? I don't know the image or what people think of us. All I know is I love these young men. I love that they want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. I get a great group of young men that are from wonderful families. I want them to highlight their talents and their abilities.

It's not just limited to the football field. I want them to be the best versions of themselves in every way, whether that's being a friend, a son, a brother, and definitely being a BYU football cougar. We're going to do our best, and my focus is trying to get these guys to live their dreams but also to have great memories.

I want to do my best to make that happen, and then I'll just let everybody else figure out what they think about us. Coach, heck of a win over the weekend. We'll be watching this upcoming Saturday.

One more quickie before we let you run. Your old quarterback, Zach Wilson, I know he's hurt right now. The Jets are waiting for him to come on back. Where's your belief level that the Jets have their guy and Zach Wilson to be their franchise quarterback?

Yeah, he'll be fine. Listen, the kid works hard, and he has a great football IQ. His moment will come, and when he's healthy and ready to go, I think everybody will. People can predict and see the talent that he has. I think you just give him some time, and it'll work out.

That's all that guy does is step up, especially when there's some adversity or there's pressure on him. Well, Coach, we appreciate the time. Good luck this weekend. Thank you. Thank you.