BYU’s leading ball-carrier in 2018 learned that the Cougars’ coaches were checking the new transfer portal weekly to find guys who could theoretically take the rising sophomore’s place, and he felt a bit disrespected.
Then he met those two graduate transfer running backs — South Carolina’s Ty’Son Williams and Rice’s Emmanuel Esukpa — and he felt much better about it.
“They are both good kids. They both work hard,” Katoa said at Tuesday’s BYU Football Media Day. “My response after meeting them and getting to know them is that they are here to compete and make us all better.