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| BYU LB Fred Warner celebrates one of the many big plays he has made during his Cougar career (Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News) |
This Saturday is Senior Day for the BYU Cougars football team. Twenty seniors will play their final home game at LaVell Edwards Stadium. Foremost among this group is Fred Warner. Besides being a team captain, Warner has been the one player all season who consistently turned in a quality performance. On Monday, while speaking with the media, Warner reflected on his four years in Provo.
"It's been a long journey and it's been a good one," Warner said. "There have been some highs and some lows, but you can't enjoy the good times unless you face some adversity."
For Warner, the journey began in 2014. He came to BYU from Mission Hills High School in California. He was one of the prized recruits in the 2014 recruiting class. He was a consensus top 30 linebacker coming out of high school, and Rivals.com had him rated number 15.
Through hard work and his natural physical gifts, Warner earned playing time in 10 games as a freshman. His highs as a freshman came during some lows for the team. BYU lost starting quarterback Taysom Hill in the fifth game of the season. That triggered a four-game losing streak to Utah State, UCF, Nevada, and Boise State. Warner made five tackles, including one tackle for loss, in the Utah State game. He followed that game with a season-high six tackles at UCF. In the Boise State game, he added four more tackles, and created the first turnover of his career--an interception that he returned 20 yards for a touchdown.
BYU was able to right the ship, and finish the 2014 regular season with four wins, but Warner would miss half of those wins and the bowl game. He sustained a broken wrist and broken back.
Warner recovered from those setbacks and had a breakout season as a sophomore. He finished third on the team in tackles with 67. His 11.5 tackles for loss were a team high; the next closest player had 6.5. He was becoming the Cougars' leading playmaker on defense demonstrated by his team-high four fumble recoveries and two interceptions.
For the second year in a row, the high's outweighed the lows for Warner in 2016 as he, again, played in all 13 games. He finished his junior campaign as the team's leading tackler. He registered a career-high 14 take downs in the game against West Virginia. Warner did his part to help the Cougar defense finish the season ranked second in the nation in forced turnovers by intercepting three passes and forcing two fumbles. His interception against Boise State will go down in history as one of the single greatest plays in BYU history.
With two games to go in his senior season, and despite getting dinged up three games ago, Warner is still leading the team in tackles. He is one tackle for loss away from having double-digits in this category for the third straight year. However, at 3-8, the lows have far outweighed the highs this season.
"You never think that we'll have the season that we've had this year but we did," Warner pointed out.
Besides an overabundance of losses, Warner also saw his younger brother Troy suffer a season ending injury during the East Carolina game.
Fred Warner is part of the first BYU football team in over a decade to not finish its season with a bowl game. He was also part of another unexpected event that hadn't happened in over a decade.
Warner noted, "You never think you're going to have a coaching change and we did."
Following his sophomore season, Head Coach Bronco Mendenhall left BYU to take the same position at the University of Virginia. It was the first time in 11 years the program had to work through such a major transition. Mendenhall took with him all of his assistant coaches on the defensive side of the ball.
With the end of his days in blue clearly in sight, Warner feels he has made the most of it.
"We're coming out every week and we're still playing hard," he explained. "I wouldn't take it back for anything."
The Editor appreciates all feedback. He can be reached via email at bluecougarfootball@gmail.com
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