BYU Rounds Out Defensive Staff with Justin Ena as Linebackers Coach

Justin Ena was the defensive line coach at San Diego State last season

BYU put the finishing touches on its defensive staff by hiring Justin Ena on Monday. Ena, who played linebacker at BYU from 1997-2001, was most recently the defensive line coach at San Diego State for the 2022 season. Now that the defensive staff is full, BYU has announced the specific assignments of the defensive staff.

Jay Hill will serve as defensive coordinator and safeties coach, Sione Po’uha will coach defensive tackles, Kelly Poppinga will coach defensive ends, Justin Ena will coach the linebackers, and Jernaro Gilford will remain as BYU's cornerbacks coach.

Justin Ena's Path to BYU

Ena has been a coach at most schools in the state, but this is his first time on BYU's coaching staff. Ena was a defensive assistant at Southern Utah from 2008-2013. Then he went to Weber State where he worked under Jay Hill in 2014. In 2015, he moved on to Utah where he coached from 2015-2018. In 2019, Ena was hired by Gary Anderson as Utah State's defensive coordinator. After a brief stint at Utah Tech in 2021, he left to San Diego State for the 2022 season.

With Ena on board, BYU now has four coaches on the defensive staff with Power Five experience: Jay Hill, Kelly Poppinga, Sione Po'uha, and Justin Ena. Additionally, Hill, Po'uha, and Ena have coached at the University of Utah. In his introductory press conference, Hill said that the scheme he will run in Provo is the same scheme they ran in Salt Lake when he was a coach at Utah. With three former members of the Utah staff now at BYU, Hill has the the staff members in place to run his scheme.

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