Veteran Utah State Transfer AJ Vongphachanh Commits to BYU

Vongphachanh led the Aggies with over 100 tackles last season

BYU continues to stockpile talent from the transfer portal in preparation for the 2023 season. On Friday, veteran Utah State linebacker/edge transfer AJ Vongphachanh committed to BYU. Vongphachanh led the Aggies last season with 101 tackles including 10.5 tackles for loss and 2 sacks. In his four years at Utah State, Vongphachanh racked up over 220 career tackles, 21 tackles for loss and 7 sacks. He has one season of eligibility remaining.

Vongphachanh was recruited heavily by a number of Power Five programs. He picked BYU over fellow finalists South Carolina, Minnesota, and Washington State. 

Vongphachanh, a native of Washington, was coached at Utah State by now BYU linebackers coach Justin Ena. He comes to BYU as a graduate transfer.

Vongphachanh has the talent and experience to immediately elevate BYU's defense and compete for a starting job. He joins a BYU linebacker room that was in need of more depth. With Vongphachanh in the fold, the BYU linebackers are more prepared to take on BYU's first Big 12 schedule that includes 10 Power Five opponents.

Vongphachanh will be part of a new-look BYU defense in 2023. The scheme will be new and entirely different from what BYU has run in the past few seasons. It will be aggressive and it will aim to confuse opposing quarterbacks with various coverages and blitzes. The BYU defense will also feature a lot of new personnel. With Vongphachanh in the fold, BYU could start as many as four transfers on defense.

Vongphachanh is the 13th transfer to commit to BYU since the end of the 2022 season. And BYU isn't done adding players from the transfer portal - the Cougars will remain active in the upcoming April transfer window.

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