BYU Football Offers World-Class Taekwondo Athlete Victor Sanchez Hernandez
Earlier this week, BYU extended a scholarship offer to 2025 defensive end Victor Sanchez Hernandez. Victor is one of the most unique recruits that we've ever covered here at Cougs Daily. As a football prospect, he is a 6'5 defensive end that has picked up scholarship offers from BYU, Washington State, Army, and Air Force over the last month. He is also a world-class Taekwondo athlete. He is a three-time Junior Olympian and he was recently ranked the top junior heavyweight Taekwondo fighter in the world. Outside of football and Taekwondo, he also participates in track. He runs the 100 meter, the 200 meter, the 4x100, and he also throws the discus. We caught up with Victor to discuss his recent offer from BYU, his unique background and more.
Prior to receiving an offer from BYU, he knew relatively little about the BYU football program. "I knew [BYU] is in Utah. I know it's a good school education wise and I know that their stadium is really nice." Victor preps at Kamiak High School in Mukilteo, Washington. He got in touch with BYU's staff a few months ago through linebackers coach Justin Ena. It was BYU defensive line coach Sione Po'uha that extended the scholarship offer.
On what he's looking for as a football recruit, Victor said, "I'm looking for a school that truly believes in me and my talents and my abilities. I wanna find a school that can help me on the sports side of it, help me grow as an individual, and ultimately get a job."
Schools like how athletic Victor is for his size, his high motor and his sideline-to-sideline speed. You can check out his junior film below.
Life outside of football will be important for Victor in his recruitment. He excels in the classroom and he has high career aspirations. He wants to work in AI development and cyber security. "Sports are really important to me, yes," Victor said. "But I feel like I just want to be a good individual and overall good person...I'm trying to stay really humble. My parents are first generation immigrants from Mexico. They've always told me just to be humble, work hard, and keep [my] head down."
Victor's parents moved to the United State from Morelia, Michoacán in Mexico. He speaks both English and Spanish.
Background in Taekwondo
Victor is one of the best junior Taekwondo athletes in the world. He picked up Taekwondo about eight years ago. "I first had to qualify for a bunch of like small tournaments and then from there it escalated to the Grand Prix, the US Open, the Romanian Open, all those tournaments. Going to 10th grade, that's where I started going to a lot of the high-level tournaments like world, which is basically the equivalent of Junior Olympics. From there I accumulated a bunch of points. I'm a two-time Pan Am champion. I've won the US open, the Romanian Open. I've accumulated points which got me to number one in the world."
Victor is still trying to figure out what his future will look like. He could pursue college football or he could pursue the potential opportunity to be an Olympian. Or some combination of both. "I've been talking to my parents a lot about this...I'm really blessed that I'm in this position, but it's also really hard to decide, you know what I mean?"
Given his unique situation, he is going to take his time in his recruitment. Victor hasn't made any specific visit plans, but he's hoping to make the long trip from Washington to Utah to visit BYU. "I really do wanna visit BYU and Washington State. Those are like the two and then Air Force Academy, those are the three."
Victor is just scratching his potential on the football field. His combination of size, athleticism, and balance from Taekwondo could be transformed into a dominant defensive end. He's a candidate to get more offers during the Spring evaluation period.
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