PROVO, Utah — The preparation for the 2026 BYU football season officially began Tuesday with players and coaches reporting to fall camp at the Student Athlete Building.
The 2026 squad will hold its first practice of camp on Wednesday leading up to the September 5 season opener against Utah Tech at LaVell Edwards Stadium. Single game tickets are on sale now.
After a busy offseason of workouts with strength and conditioning coaches, individual training and player-run-practices and activities, members of the team attended their first official team meetings on Tuesday, received their fall practice gear and had a team activity at Splash Summit.
The team now gets ready to hit the practice field officially for the first time in camp tomorrow.
Head coach Kalani Sitake enters his 11th year leading the program, holding a decade's record of 84-45, including a 23-4 mark over the past two seasons.
The Cougar coaching staff featured some offseason promotions with Kelly Poppinga taking on the role as defensive coordinator for 2026. Defensive tackles coach Sione Po'uha added associate head coaching duties and newcomers include defensive pass game coordinaror and safeties coach DeMario Warren, linebackers coach Chad Kauha'aha'a and cornerbacks coach Lewis Walker.
The offensive staff returns to the same roles in 2026, with Aaron Roderick, Fesi Sitake, TJ Woods, Kevin Gilbride and Harvey Unga all returning on that side of the ball. Justin Ena moves from linebackers coach to a full-time role as the special teams coordinator.
Stay tuned for for post-practice interviews, previews of the offense, defense and special teams, photos and videos of the action in fall. Cougar fans can also learn more about BYU’s unique program, its history and the University with additional content during fall camp, including a look back about the past decade with Coach Sitake, BYU'a game day atmosphere and events, Cougars in the NFL, The Church’s missionary program and more.
Follow BYU Football’s camp coverage on BYUCougars.com, the BYU Cougars App and on BYU Football’s social media channels.