In this season of thanksgiving I present a short list of college football things for which I am grateful, since I know all of you care about my gratitude list. I am grateful for:

Jake Retzlaff: Jake was much maligned in the offseason. So many people were pi$$ed (don’t know if I’ll get flagged for that) that he beat out Gerry and figured we’ll probably suck this year. Glad he hung in there. Jake has turned out to be a great leader and clearly has the Mojo. Talk about onions in the clutch. Jake has also represented the University well in national interviews - it's been fun to watch those. And thank you for being the best QB in the state of Utah. #imlookingatyoucamrising

Caleb Etienne: Please see above. Fans were heated when he was declared the clear LT1 by coach Woods. Thank you for not bailing when fans bailed on you Caleb! It was great to see him emotional after beating Oklahoma State and proving himself on the field against his old team. Glad he’s playing for us now. The hard work is showing.

A-Rod: He gets a bad rap - some of it deserved, some not. I have seen solid improvements this year and I appreciate it. Let’s keep working to make better calls on third down though… I think many of the plays that he’s been maligned for this year didn’t work because of lack of execution, not bad play calls. Much improved from last year. 34ppg is solid. Kudos.

Isaiah Glasker: I end up with a man-crush on someone every year; here it is for 2024. Love Glasker. Love the emotion, the confidence, the pass rush, the heat-seeking missile against the run, the coverage. I’ve heard how good Glasker has looked every spring for a few years and I’ve been waiting to see it on the field. Well it’s here - and it’s spectacular.

Tommy Prassas: Very solid play from an unknown 3-star guy that Jay Hill loved when others didn’t. Jay quickly offered him a scholarship after seeing him at camp and raved about him even when other big time offers didn’t come. Maybe Jay knows a bit about football. I haven’t heard a crowd erupt during a game the way it did when Tommy got the scoop and score against K-State. So much fun to be there live. Making memories with my kids has never been so fun. Appreciate it. Can’t wait to see what happens as Tommy continues to develop.

Freshmen who play a bit: I love seeing Jay Hill prepare for the future by giving so many freshmen a bit of playing time. Satuala, Prassas, Asiata, Po’uha, Kabeya, Alexander, etc. The future of this defense is bright.

Blake Mangleson: The move to tackle has been solid. The Mangler has been bringing it this year.

Bruce Mitchell: Generally has been much better than anticipated replacing Connor Pay. Nicely done.

Entire Linebacking Corps: They can fly, they’re aggressive, and they hit. Love this group. And they could all be back next year. Has me licking my chops. Plus Esera should be fully healthy next year…

Jakob Robinson: He has developed so impressively at BYU, which means I should also acknowledge Jernaro. When J-Rob transferred from USU I thought he’d just be a solid depth piece. My fault for underestimating him. He’s been very good.

Marque Collins: Love the fire. Big hits, clutch INT at SMU, big hit against Utah, several important pass breakups. He’s been a very solid addition.

Darius Lassiter: So many big plays from Lassiter. I get frustrated with some of the drops, but I’m always confident that he will redeem himself by doing something big before the end of the game. Plus, my 10-year-old would never celebrate after his touchdowns in little league until he saw Darius do his draw-back-the–bow celebration. Now my boy does that when he scores and it’s hilarious. I like that almost as much as I liked the TD against Oklahoma State.

Hans and Greg: I enjoy Hans in the booth so. much. more. than I thought I would. He does a great job of breaking down the technical aspects of the game. Love how Greg seems genuinely as excited as I am to see BYU succeed. They also sound like they really have fun together. We’re fortunate as BYU fans to have such a solid broadcast team.

Jay Hill: He has made BYU defense great again. He has also massively improved the recruiting on that side of the ball. I expect it will only get better from here.

Utah football: Thank you for providing me with the entertainment of seeing your pain as you fall off your High Horse. So many of you have been looking down your noses at us for the last decade-plus and it only took BYU a little over a year of having similar resources (fewer resources really because we don’t even get a full share yet) to reestablish ourselves as the premier program in the state of Utah. Seeing your leadership whine and make themselves look like babies for the entire world to see was also fun. The fact that they had about 50 recruits there to see the meltdown made it even better. Seeing the fans so distraught and miserable has been a lot of fun. Couldn’t happen to a more deserving fanbase.

Kalani Sitake: Kalani seems to be hitting his stride. He’s never been the best X’s and O’s guy, but the team seems to love playing for him and he wants to win. He finally seems to have learned how to surround himself with guys that can help him be successful (LaVell was a master at that) and he has many of them currently in place. The ride over the next few years should be fun. Thank you Coach.

Tom Holmoe: Tom is underappreciated. A tip of the cap to you, sir.