{"id":850744,"date":"2026-04-03T05:02:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T05:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/850744\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T05:02:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T05:02:19","slug":"seniors-andrew-gentry-bruce-mitchell-dish-on-byus-new-o-line-deseret-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/850744\/","title":{"rendered":"Seniors Andrew Gentry, Bruce Mitchell dish on BYU’s new O line \u2013 Deseret News"},"content":{"rendered":"

When BYU senior Andrew Gentry was a freshman<\/a> on the Michigan football team in 2022, the Wolverines\u2019 offensive line won the coveted Joe Moore Award for a second consecutive year.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the Joe Moore Award? <\/p>\n

It is an award named after former Notre Dame and Pittsburgh offensive line coach Joe Moore that was instituted in 2015 and goes to the best college football offensive line unit annually. It\u2019s a good way of honoring hardworking guys who normally don\u2019t get a lot of attention and accolades.<\/p>\n

Gentry, who played for Michigan for three seasons from 2022-24 \u2014 he played in only three games in 2022 and redshirted \u2014 has brought knowledge of the Joe Moore Award to Provo, after having transferred from Ann Arbor to Provo<\/a> prior to the 2025 season.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal as an offensive line unit is to compete to be one of the best units in the nation,\u201d Gentry said last week as the Cougars started to wrap up a series of 15 spring football practices. \u201cWe are not trying to just be good. We want to be great. We want to be the best. We want to compete for that Joe Moore Award.\u201d<\/p>\n

Washington was the 2023 winner, followed by Army in 2024 and Iowa in 2025. The only Big 12 team to win the award was Oklahoma, in 2018. The Sooners are now in the SEC. Gentry said BYU offensive line coach and running game coordinator TJ Woods<\/a> \u201cdemands greatness\u201d and has set the bar high in 2026 after the Cougars \u201cdid some great things in the trenches\u201d last year.<\/p>\n

Woods received the award for assistant coach of the year at the annual Y-Awards on Monday night<\/a> at the Marriott Center, as voted on by BYU\u2019s student-athletes. That\u2019s quite an honor for a coach that few BYU fans know about.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not trying to just be good. We want to be great. We want to be the best. We want to compete for that Joe Moore Award.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0BYU offensive lineman Andrew Gentry<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really feel like we have the talent and the guys to (win it),\u201d Gentry said. And obviously, coach Woods, with how he coaches us, he\u2019s going to make sure that we\u2019re in the best positions every week. I really think we have the potential to be a phenomenal offensive line this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reasons for Gentry\u2019s optimism are twofold. He\u2019s one of five redshirt seniors on the offensive line depth chart in 2026, along with Sonny Makasini, Trevin Ostler, Kyle Sfarcioc and Bruce Mitchell.<\/p>\n

Gentry was honorable mention Big 12 offensive newcomer of the year last December, while Mitchell was first team All-Big 12<\/a> and honorable mention Big 12 offensive lineman of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur emphasis as an offensive line this year is to not beat ourselves, not make mistakes within the system, and make sure we are blocking the correct guys,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cWe have a lot of talent. We are pretty deep on the offensive line, I believe, and guys are only going to get better. \u2026 The only team that can beat us is us.\u201d<\/p>\n

A second reason for Gentry\u2019s optimism is that Woods and the other offensive coaches brought in three experienced offensive linemen<\/a> from the transfer portal who will immediately compete for playing time.<\/p>\n

Redshirt sophomore Paki Finau (Washington), redshirt junior JR Sia (Utah State) and sophomore Zak Yamauchi (Stanford) will replace guys such as left tackle Isaiah Jatta, left guard Weylin Lapuaho and right guard Austin Leausa.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose guys are going to be big pieces on this offensive line this year,\u201d Mitchell said after the first practice of spring camp. \u201cWe lost some key starters last year. Everybody is still fighting for a spot at this point. They\u2019ve already been up in the film room, learning the offense.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are right on track to see some major playing time this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitchell and Gentry said another longtime member of the unit to keep an eye on is Ostler, a 6-foot-4, 320-pounder from Bountiful High \u2014 the same school that produced Brady Christensen, a BYU All-American who now plays for the Carolina Panthers. Ostler even played a little bit of tight end at the end of last season.<\/p>\n

\"\"BYU head coach Kalani Sitake, second right, greets offensive linemen Kaden Chidester (79) and Andrew Gentry (75) during game, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, in Provo, Utah. | AP <\/p>\n

Redshirt junior Kaden Chidester, redshirt sophomores Joe Brown and Trevor Pay, redshirt freshmen Andrew Williams and Ethan Thomason, and true freshman Bott Mulitalo, a four-star pickup out of Lone Peak High, could also make the two-deep.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur O line is going to be good,\u201d said offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick. \u201cWe have a solid group, a solid mix of returning guys, veteran players, and some new guys who are really going to help us. \u2026 All those new guys are going to play, yeah.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was some talk that Gentry would move from right tackle to left tackle to replace Jatta at that all-important spot, but last week Roderick said that Finau \u2014 who played in 16 games over two seasons at Washington \u2014 is the first-team left tackle right now and looking good there.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tried to recruit him in high school (Oak Hills HS, Hesperia, California),\u201d Roderick said. \u201cWe loved him in high school. We feel really great about having him now. He\u2019s doing a nice job. \u2026 He\u2019s been taking most of the reps with the ones (at left tackle) and has played very well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Makasini has been out with an undisclosed injury, but for the most part, every expected contributor in the group has been participating in spring camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a bunch of guys who could fit in with what we\u2019re trying to do,\u201d said head coach Kalani Sitake. \u201cI think TJ can get anywhere from eight to 10 guys rotating in and out if we need to. … There are a lot of great additions. The guys that we brought in from the portal have done a great job providing competition and depth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BYUBYU offensive and defensive lines wait for the snap during the opening day of fall camp, July 30, 2025, in Provo, Utah. | Aaron Cornia\/BYU Photo Offensive linemen on BYU\u2019s 2026 spring roster51 Sonny Makasini, redshirt senior74 Trevin Ostler, redshirt senior63 Bruce Mitchell, redshirt senior75 Andrew Gentry, redshirt senior (Michigan)64 Kyle Sfarcioc, redshirt senior (Southern Utah)79 Kaden Chidester, redshirt junior62 Junior Sia, redshirt junior (Utah State)58 Paki Finau, redshirt sophomore (Washington)72 Joe Brown, redshirt sophomore67 Trevor Pay, redshirt sophomore56 Zak Yamauchi, sophomore (Stanford)66 Brigham Alexander, redshirt freshman76 Jeff Lewis, redshirt freshman78 Ethan Thomason, redshirt freshman68 Andrew Williams, redshirt freshman59 Siosiua Latu-Finau, redshirt freshman53 Strantz Mangisi, redshirt freshman73 Caden McKee, redshirt freshman52 Bott Mulitalo, freshman57 Talitu\u2019i Pututau, freshman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When BYU senior Andrew Gentry was a freshman on the Michigan football team in 2022, the Wolverines\u2019 offensive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":850745,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,49,48,3309],"class_list":{"0":"post-850744","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-news-feed-local"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116339027062419543","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=850744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/850745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=850744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=850744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=850744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}