After Seeing BYU Up Close, Adam Breneman Believes BYU is Best in the Big 12

CBS analyst Adam Breneman was on the call for BYU's win over Colorado State as the Cougars dismantled the Rams. Breneman came away very impressed with BYU. After seeing the Cougars up close, he believes they are the best team in the Big 12.

"I'll tell you, this is the best team in the Big 12," Breneman said on his podcast. "They look like a playoff team. It's the most talent Kelani Satake has had as head coach at BYU."

Breneman was an All-American tight end at UMass. In fact, Breneman was on the 2017 UMass team that beat BYU in LaVell Edwards Stadium. He had four catches for 30 yards in that game. Before he got into broadcasting, he was a coach. Breneman was the tight ends coach at Arizona State from 2021-2022. He coached against BYU in 2021 when BYU took down the Sun Devils, led by quarterback Jayden Daniels.

Breneman came away very impressed with BYU's talent.

"A few of my takeaways. First of all, there is some serious talent on this roster. The one that sticks out the most is LJ Martin, the running back. This guy could play running back at about every school in the country. He's an NFL running back, big, he's athletic. He can break tackles, he's got great pad level, the contact balance. He's really good...Another star: Legend Glasker. The guy's a true freshman. It's hard to believe with how poised he plays, how, how he understands the whole offense, and this guy's so young. The two things that stick out to me though about him is he's got great ball skills, had a one-handed catch, tracking the ball in the air. A lot of, a lot of smaller slot receivers don't have great ball skills. Glasker has unreal ball skills."

I Saw BYU In Person... Here’s Why They’re The Best Team In The Big 12 ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/gpb9ZeIZ5w
— Adam Breneman (@AdamBreneman81) September 22, 2026

'There's really no weakness on this roster'

Breneman came away impressed with the overall size across the roster. "There is so much size on this team, and that was intentional from Kelani Satake, their head coach...I was with Brian Kelly calling the game over the weekend, and Coach Kelly was looking at their offensive line and said, this reminds me of my offensive line at Notre Dame and LSU. This is a great offensive line with size, and it all starts with size, and I really love and respect the intentionality Kelani Satake has built the program with when it comes to length, size, height. What it does really, it makes the field smaller...the size piece is huge and will pay dividends throughout a really tough Big 12 schedule and then into the college football playoffs. There's really no weakness on this roster. "

Every week, Breneman puts out his own top 25 rankings. He put BYU at no. 8 this week, just ahead of BYU's no. 9 ranking in the AP poll.

My Top 25 Breneman Poll after Week 3. pic.twitter.com/OAetAf73Hm
— Adam Breneman (@AdamBreneman81) September 23, 2026

Breneman knows a thing or two about tight ends and he came away impressed with Walker Lyons as well. "Lyons at tight end is a phenomenal player, good feel in the passing game. He can get open against zone. Roger Saleapaga, who didn't play [against Colorado State], but transferred in I believe, from Oregon, yeah, Oregon to BYU. He's a great tight end."

Last but not least Breneman was impressed by Bear Bachmeier's arm talent, and he emphasized that Bachmeier is not just a big quarterback that can run.

"One of the most important pieces is they got a guy in Bear Bachmeier at quarterback who's a difference maker," Breneman said. "The guy. He can make something happen when nothing is there. He's a great runner of the football, and his size, he's so hard to bring down...and Bachmeier can throw the darn ball now. The thing that's improved the most with Bart Bachmeier, from what I saw last year, is his deep ball accuracy. He threw like two deep balls all year last year as the starter at BYU. This year, he's hit multiple deep shots. He had a great throw to Legend Glasser in this game. He can sit in the pocket. This guy is not just a running fullback playing quarterback. He's a pocket passer, man. He can throw the football down the field. He's got arm talent. You can't deny it. I said it in the open, you can't deny the arm talent. He can throw the ball, man. Everyone's talking about him being 240 and him running the ball. That's great, and he can do it, but he can also throw the football."

We have talked about Bear Bachmeier's arm strenth here at BYU On SI. He is consistently making deep throws downfield that he struggled to make last season.

'That's a lazy take'

Last but not least, Breneman addressed the narrative that BYU is just a team of older players. Breneman called that a "lazy take."

"It's a lazy take. It's a lazy, lazy take, cause it's not true. If you just look at the roster for BYU, their quarterback Bear Bockmeyer is 20 years old. They're starting a true freshman and legend Glasker, who I'm assuming is 18 years old. They got young players up and down this roster. They got freshmen playing on defense...The average age on this team is, I wrote it down. 20.8 years old. That's the average age of a player at BYU. The take about BYU being this 26-year-old team that's a bunch of grown men is outdated, it's lazy, it's not accurate. This is a team that has an advantage because they're tougher. They've recruited well, they have length and size, and they have not negotiated with length or size. It's been intentional, and they got great talent. That it's as pure as it is, man."

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