The BYU Offensive Line Pipeline is Stocked with Talent

On Saturday evening, four-star offensive lineman Jax Tanner committed to BYU over finalists Michigan, Tennessee, Oregon, and Boise State. Tanner picked BYU over 28 other schools that offered him a scholarship.

Tanner joins a BYU offensive line pipeline that is stocked with high-level talent.

Current Freshmen Offensive Linemen at BYU

There were five freshmen offensive lineman on BYU's 2025 roster. Four out of the five held competing Power Four offers coming out of high school:

1. Ethan Thomason
2. Andrew Williams
3. Joe Brown
4. Ikinasio Tupou

Ethan Thomason was the most coveted recruit of the group. Thomason recently returned from his mission and he might need a year to shake the mission rust, but once he is back in shape, he has multi-year starter potential. He picked the Cougars over competing offers from Stanford, Utah, Arizona State, Colorado, Nebraska, Tennessee, Texas Tech, Kansas State, Iowa State and Michigan State among others.

Andrew Williams is a true freshman that enrolled in January and participated in Spring camp. As a recruit, Williams was flying relatively under the radar until he started attending Summer camps. He attended Kansas' camp and picked up an offer from the Jayhawks. Then he attended the Kansas State and Iowa State camps, earning offers from both of those schools. He attended BYU's camp as well and impressed TJ Woods enough to earn a scholarship offer. Every coach that got to see him in person was impressed. In Spring camp, Williams impressed again. During one media observation, projected starter Isaiah Jatta did not participate in team portion. It was Williams that got the first-team reps in his absence. Like Thomason, Williams has multi-year starter potential at tackle.

Joe Brown flipped his commitment from Virginia to BYU when Bronco Mendenhall stepped down at Virginia. Aaron Roderick quipped that Brown went to the Gold's Gym mission because he was in such good shape when he returned home. Brown was turning heads before Fall camp until a knee injury ended his 2024 season.

Ikinasio Tupou picked BYU over competing offers from Washington, Utah, Arizona State, Cal, Tennessee, and Washington State among others.

Future Offensive Linemen at BYU

BYU has picked up commitments from a handful of coveted offensive line recruits over the last few months. In the 2025 class, BYU signed Austin Pay and Siosiua Vete. Pay picked BYU over finalists Oregon, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and NC State. Vete flipped his commitment from Stanford to BYU. He also picked up competing offers from ASU, Baylor, Cal, and Washington State among others.

Then, BYU flipped four-star Oregon signee Alai Kalaniuvalu. Kalaniuvalu held competing offers from 28 schools including the biggest names in the sport like Michigan, USC, Alabama, Auburn, Florida, ASU, Miami, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, and Washington among others. Kalaniuvalu was a top five interior offensive lineman in the 2025 class by 247Sports.

In the 2026 class, BYU picked up four-star offensive tackle Bott Mulitalo. Mulitalo, a converted defensive tackle, picked BYU over competing offers from Oregon, Arizona, Utah, Auburn, Michigan State, Tennessee, Texas Tech, USC, and Iowa State among others.

Kalaniuvalu and Mulitalo are two of the 15 highest-rated recruits BYU has picked up since the turn of the century.

Last but certainly not least, reigning Gatorade Idaho Player of the Year Jax Tanner picked BYU over finalists Oregon, Michigan, Tennessee, and Boise State. Tanner is already a four-star recruit according to Rivals and ESPN. He will be a consensus four-star recruit by signing day. As a junior, Tanner tallied 115 pancake blocks while allowing no sacks. It's not common for an offensive lineman to win the Gatorade Player of the Year award, but that's exactly what Tanner did.

The most dependable way to long-term, sustained success on offense is a dominant offensive line. BYU is recruiting at a level that it could have the most dominant offensive line in the Big 12 in the future.