Highlighting the RB room for the BYU Cougars football team in 2024.
BYU Cougars Running Back Depth Chart
LJ Martin
LJ Martin was a 3⭐️ in the composites with an overall rating of 89.06 for On3. He is 6’2” and weighs 205 pounds. Martin was part of 2023 recruiting class for the BYU Cougars. LJ Martin attended Canutillo High and rushed for over 2,100 yards with 23 touchdowns as a Senior.
Coming into Provo, Martin made an impact in fall camp and impressed coaches so much that he was able to earn immediate playing time for the BYU Cougars. Martin would lead the running back room in carries (109), rushing yards (518), and touchdowns (4). Martin showed flashes; and, while there were times of inefficiency, the entire team was inefficient. Martin is the bright spot in that room and should build upon a very good Freshman season. He has three years of eligibility remaining.
Aidan Robbins
Aidan Robbins was a 3⭐️ in the composites with an overall rating of 84.70 for On3. He is 6’3” and weighs 240 pounds. Robbins was part of 2019 recruiting class and initially committed to Louisville, before transferring to UNLV and finally to the BYU Cougars for the 2023 season.
Aidan Robbins was projected by some to be the coup of the portal running backs. Robbins was coming off a good 2022 season for UNLV, rushing for 1,011 yards on 209 carries and 9 touchdowns while adding 23 receptions. As we’ve seen before with Group of 5 running backs moving up to the Power 5 (now the Power 4), is that they can struggle to adjust to the speed of the game. We saw that transpire as Robbins got off to a sluggish start, averaging less than 4 yards per carry in his first five games.
Robbins would miss time due to injury which didn’t help, but he was able to show what he could do towards the end of the season against Oklahoma. In that game, he put together 182 yards on the ground from 22 carries. He followed that up with 16 carries for 74 yards against Oklahoma State the very next week. Robbins is classified as a Senior but I believe he has two years of eligibility remaining with a COVID-19 season in his back pocket.
Nukuluve Helu
Nukuluve Helu was a 3⭐️ in the composites with an overall rating of 79.36 for On3. He is 6’1” and weights 215 pounds. Helu was part of the 2020 recruiting class for the BYU Cougars and has completed a two year mission.
Nukuluve Helu has not seen the field since his last year at Tooele High in 2019, Helu ran for 1,178 yards on 208 carries with 8 touchdowns. He was also a key cog on the defensive side, playing defensive end. Helu will be vying for a depth rotational piece. He has four years of eligibility left.
Hinckley Ropati
Hinckley Ropati was a 3⭐️ in the composites with an overall rating of 80.55 for On3. He is 5”9” and weighs 215 pounds. Ropati was part of 2018 recruiting class. Ropati served a two year mission and enrolled in 2020. He did not see action in 2023 and will be vying for a depth rotational piece. Ropati has two years of eligibility left, including a 2020 COVID-19 season to use.
Enoch Nawahine
Enoch Nawahine was an unranked prospect in the composites. He is 5’10” and weighs 200 pounds. Nawahine was part of the 2018 recruiting class and initially committed to Utah State. Nawahine saw very limited action in 2023 and has three years of eligibility left.
Running Back Battle
LJ Martin and Aidan Robbins should lead the way and be the focal point in this running back room. It’ll be interesting to see if Martin will be named the starter and have a bigger role, or if Robbins was able to show the staff enough at the end of the year that they need to use a two back system. Neither are really threats to take it to the house, but are more stat-compiler type of backs. They’ll get you four yards when they should get you eight, and get you four yards when it should be a net loss. LJ Martin has a better short area burst; and between the two, he also has more juice.
BYU’s running back room is in a bit of transition. They have players who ran out of eligibility and lost others to the portal. The real question is who will win the RB3 spot.
The remaining depth pieces are older prospects, but lack the experience on the field. None of the three had any real experience in 2023. The issue with this the Cougars’ RB room is that they are all the same type of players. Each back is more on the physical side with a lack of explosiveness. I get the idea to plug-and-play players, but that room is lacking a spark plug as a change of pace back. BYU traditionally recruits the same type of back so we all know what to expect in this room.
We also know the coaching staff has supported LJ Martin. It would make it an easy transition for him to take over as the full-time back and possibly have a 65-35 split over Aidan Robbins in their total carries as a duo. Martin wasn’t used too much as a receiver, but he has the ability to be an option for whoever ends up being the signal caller. We could very well have a breakout performer in Provo.
Positional Outlook
The BYU Cougars would be wise to run the ball often and lean on LJ Martin. The True Sophomore should make a jump in his second year in this system. If BYU can get competent play at quarterback, they can keep opposing defenses honest and have success.
Aidan Robbins will be the veteran leader in this room and will add to the run game. He should be viewed as a fill-in back to spell Martin. There is very little depth behind the these two, and an injury to either one could spell trouble for the Cougars.
The Big 12 is known to have optional defensive play and BYU could wear these teams down. They can make it a slow-paced, ugly type of football game. It’s a brand of football they should try and get back to. If they’re able to move the chains, it will then keep that defense off of the field. BYU should try everything they can to limit the exposure of that porous defense.
LJ Martin is the sole piece of this offense that will worry defenses, so it’ll be important that the offensive line holds up in their run block schemes to set up some holes for Martin and he can create and get to the second level.
Andy Pham
Andy is the creator of the Devy Digest. His passion is devy and C2C. Andy's Devy Diguest articles provide insightful, yet thoughtful commentary to give you a leg up on the devy prospects so you know how to approach your devy and C2C drafts. With The Devy Digest podcast, Andy provides episodes of interesting and exciting topics and when he invites guests, you get to be a fly on the wall, listening in on two people having a conversation where they give you a different perspective. Come, join the journey that is Andy's Devy Digest.