Game log · Week-by-week
2026 season · 3 games
| Wk | Opp | CAR | YDS | AVG | TD | LONG | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 63-7vs Utah Tech | 7 | 54 | 7.7 | 0 | 17 | |
| Wk 2 | W 28-17vs Arizona | 20 | 98 | 4.9 | 0 | 20 | |
| Wk 3 | W 41-23@ Colorado State | 15 | 176 | 11.7 | 3 | 56 | Season-high 176 yds |
| Total | 42 | 328 | 8.1 | 3 | 56 |
#4
LJ Martin
LJ Martin led the Big 12 in rushing and won Offensive Player of the Year. He could have moved on. Instead he's "not done yet" -- back to chase BYU's career rushing record and the program's first real Playoff push.
6′2″ · 225 lb · El Paso, TX
CFB Index 86 · #10 of 326 RBsHigh confidenceNational watch
CFB Index
A single number blending on-field production (an EPA-based value lane) with box-score output for this player's position.
0-100, scaled within each position's own cohort — not directly comparable across positions.
How he plays
Hits the crease and outruns the angle.
Explosive rate: 95th percentile.
The full scouting readThe numbers
328
rushing yards · 2026 · through week 3
3 games into 2026 so far -- Backed by 15 car · 176 yds · 3 TD -- top 1% rushing yards game. -- Best game: 176 rush yds, 3 TD, 9 rec yds, at Colorado State
Swing playSwung BYU from 28% to 57% to win.BYU at Iowa State · 41-27
His career numbers, season by seasonThe story
LJ Martin led the Big 12 in rushing and won Offensive Player of the Year. He could have moved on. Instead he's "not done yet" -- back to chase BYU's career rushing record and the program's first real Playoff push.
- Signed as a 3-star recruit to BYU in 2023.
- Named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year in 2025.
- Named Preseason All-America in 2026.
Aura™ · Him Watch
Hype = tape
+13aura tax
Fans rank this player in the 90th percentile of RBs; the tape says
77th pctl our rushing-value metric (wEPA) RBs · 140 qualified, n=133
— the discourse is fair.Aura — fan perception90th pctl
Production — on-field77th pctl
n=133 mentions · cohort: RBs · 140 qualified · perception = conversation volume, production = our rushing-value metric (wEPA)
Buzz vs Tape
Country hotter than the fans
The wider college football conversation reads him warmer than his own fans do — a gap of 21.4 points in belief.
36.1own fans
57.5national conversation
The BYU Cougars claim the spotlight as Big 12 favorites, with sophomore quarterback Bear Bachmeier and dynamic running back LJ Martin poised to lead one of college football’s most compelling teams into the upcoming season. After…
Also worth knowing:
In Their Words
327 windows · 2026 fan posts
byu×81.3bachmeier×541.5bear×67.1fit×53.2sure×14.9running×7.0rushing×9.2passing×7.9
“[Podcast] CONTROVERSY: BYU’s LJ Martin Honored & Utah IGNORED—Should Big 12 Fans Demand All-American RESPECT? | AP Poll Shenanigans & AD's Courting Controvery From: Locked On Cougars podcast”
reddit/BYUFootball · fan post, verbatim
The story
He led the Big 12 in rushing with 1,305 yards on a conference-high 236 carries, scored 12 times, added 36 catches, and walked off with Offensive Player of the Year -- the workhorse engine of a BYU team with rising ambitions. He returns for his senior season with two prizes in sight: the school's career rushing record (within about 1,347 yards) and a CFP berth, paired with quarterback Bear Bachmeier in a backfield built to contend. The forward stakes are legacy and a ceiling: the most-used back in his conference, chasing a number that would etch him into BYU history and a season that could put the Cougars in the Playoff for the first time. For Martin, 2026 is the year the productive grinder goes for something permanent.
His career
Nobody recruited him. He earned the honors anyway.
Martin is a high-volume, reliable lead back rather than a flashy one. Our play-by-play has him solidly above-average -- a 67th-percentile yards-per-carry on the heaviest workload in his conference -- with the efficiency profile of a grinder (mid-pack success rate and EPA per carry) who wins by accumulation and durability more than explosion. He's a dependable receiver too (36 catches), the every-down sort a Playoff hopeful can lean on for 25 touches without blinking. The game is steadiness: he doesn't come off the field, he doesn't fumble away games, and over four quarters the yards pile up. For a team chasing its first Playoff, that kind of bell-cow reliability is its own form of star power.
Written by our staff.
202310 games
- Signed with BYU3-star out of Canutillo
202513 games
- Big 12 Offensive Player of the Yearwinner
- All-Big 12first
20263 games
- Preseason All-AmericaSecond Team
Career arc
HS
Recruit
★★★
CFB
College
BYU
NFL
NFL Draft
—
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
🥇
ALL-AMERICA
All-America honors (2026)
1 mentions across the selector pool
🥈
ALL-BIG 12 · 1ST TEAM
All-Big 12 1st team (2025)
Badges
- Honors Badge
- Program Benchmark
Coaching lineage · 2023–2026
1 coach2023–2026
Played his entire career under Kalani Sitake.
Career stats
Game log
Game by game
LJ Martin's 2026 production
Point color shows the opponent's defensive strength that week (red = weaker defense, blue = stronger) — dashed line is this player's own season average.
Signature game
SIGNATURE GAME · Week 2 · 2026
W 28–17
vs Arizona
98 rush yds (20 car)
With B. Bachmeier — 217 yds · 3 TD · 0 INT · QBR 90.7 · 37 rush yds (6 car) · 1 TD · F. Shurtz — 46 yards per punt · 5 punts · 1 inside the 20
Signature plays
Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|
The plays that mattered most
- Week 3 · Colorado State · 2&1 · Q1 · EPA +3.86(14:22) Shotgun #4 L.Martin rush middle for 56 yards gain to the CSU00 TOUCHDOWN, clock 14:11, 1ST DOWN #97 M.Dunn kick attempt good (H: #19 F.Shurtz, LS: #88 T.Smith)
- Week 3 · Colorado State · 2&1 · Q2 · EPA +2.48(02:14) #4 L.Martin rush right for 49 yards gain to the CSU20 (#13 E.Mc-Cantos), out of bounds, 1ST DOWN
- Week 3 · Colorado State · 1&8 · Q1 · EPA +2.32(00:55) Shotgun #4 L.Martin rush middle for 8 yards gain to the CSU00 TOUCHDOWN, clock 00:51 #97 M.Dunn kick attempt good (H: #19 F.Shurtz, LS: #88 T.Smith)
- Week 2 · Arizona · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +1.80(02:02) Shotgun #4 L.Martin rush middle for 20 yards gain to the BYU45 (#6 T.Brown; #15 M.Hartzog), 1ST DOWN
- Week 2 · Arizona · 3&7 · Q4 · EPA +1.75(01:13) Shotgun #4 L.Martin rush left for 16 yards gain to the ARIZ03 (#6 T.Brown), out of bounds, 1ST DOWN
- Week 3 · Colorado State · 1&10 · Q1 · EPA +1.38(15:00) Shotgun #4 L.Martin rush middle for 9 yards gain to the BYU44 (#2 O.Diomande; #6 E.Brown)
- Week 2 · Arizona · 1&10 · Q3 · EPA +1.37(13:49) Shotgun #4 L.Martin rush left for 9 yards gain to the BYU47 (#35 Q.Olson)
- Week 3 · Colorado State · 1&2 · Q1 · EPA +1.21(09:45) Shotgun #4 L.Martin rush middle for 2 yards gain to the CSU00 TOUCHDOWN, clock 09:42 #97 M.Dunn kick attempt good (H: #19 F.Shurtz, LS: #88 T.Smith)
- Week 3 · Colorado State · 1&10 · Q3 · EPA +1.18(13:24) #47 B.Bachmeier pass complete short left to #4 L.Martin caught at BYU46, for 9 yards to the CSU44 (#28 M.Pretto)
- Week 3 · Colorado State · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +1.17(02:56) #4 L.Martin rush left for 9 yards gain to the BYU31 (#13 E.Mc-Cantos)
2026 snapshot
Since week 2: +176 rushing yards, +3 rushing TD, +1 catch.
Season context · Team result + system
4 seasons under Kalani Sitake — 31-11 over that span.
2023BYU5-7HC: Kalani Sitake · Balanced
2024BYU11-2HC: Kalani Sitake · Run-leaning
2025BYU12-2HC: Kalani Sitake · Run-leaning
2026BYU3-0HC: Kalani Sitake · Run-leaning
Where this profile ranks vs the RB cohort
Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles
High confidence
Elite: explosive rate (95th percentile). Strength: epa / carry (94th percentile). Concern: carries (22nd percentile).
Real play-by-play efficiency
Box-score rates (7)
Season trend
Last seasonThis season
EPA / carry
54th → 94th percentile
Success rate
75th → 88th percentile
Explosive rate
44th → 95th percentile
Yards / carry
67th → 94th percentile
TD rate
29th → 82nd percentile
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).
Rushing profile
Rush profile · Shape, efficiency, and ball security
How he gets his yards, and how often it works
42 of 42 carries matched to play-by-play
Success rate
55%42 carriesStuffed
0 or fewer yds7%of carries
3 carries
Grind
1–3 yds38%of carries
16 carries
Chunk
4–9 yds36%of carries
15 carries
Explosive
10+ yds19%of carries
8 carries
7.8 yds/carry on 42 carries · 19% explosive (10+ yds) · 55% success rate.
Splits & context
Splits · Per-game
2026 season · 3 games
Home vs Road
| YDS/g | YPC | TD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home2g | 76.0 | 6.3 | 0.0 |
| Road1g | 176 | 11.7 | 3.0 |
First half vs Second half
| YDS/g | YPC | TD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-73g | 109 | 8.1 | 1.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Kalani Sitake
Pass share
44.4%
95 pass / 119 run
Plays / game
71.3
3 games
Team sack rate
2.9%
68 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning.
Awards
Player standing · 2026
National watch / fringe AA
In the All-America conversation, short of a selector's first team.
Recognition
Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex
2026 outlook
In the mix to repeat All-Big 12
Based on 2025: #1 of 35 Big 12 RBs
How the All-Big 12 estimate is computed
49% estimated, 95% confidence interval 43–54%. Base rate measured from players who finished at a comparable rank in their conference and came back the next season. It is an estimate from a small sample, not a forecast of this player.
Selector Grid · 2026
AP—
FWAA—
AFCA—
WCFF—
SN—
SI—
How he plays
Play style
Martin is a high-volume, reliable lead back rather than a flashy one. Our play-by-play has him solidly above-average -- a 67th-percentile yards-per-carry on the heaviest workload in his conference -- with the efficiency profile of a grinder (mid-pack success rate and EPA per carry) who wins by accumulation and durability more than explosion. He's a dependable receiver too (36 catches), the every-down sort a Playoff hopeful can lean on for 25 touches without blinking. The game is steadiness: he doesn't come off the field, he doesn't fumble away games, and over four quarters the yards pile up. For a team chasing its first Playoff, that kind of bell-cow reliability is its own form of star power.
Our classifier reads him the same way: hits the crease and outruns the angle.
DNA match
Player DNA
Speed Merchant
Cuts upfield fast. Designed to find the crease, not run through the line.
RB
His 2026 production profile sits closest to Tevin Coleman’s 2014 season.
79%match
NFL Rd 3 · Pk 9
Matches Tevin on
Receiving share
Yards / carry
Rush TD rate
Differs from Tevin on
Height (higher)
Through 4 college seasons, his career arc tracks closest to JJ Cowan’s path through Campbell.
JJ Cowan
98%match
#3
Tyrell Campbell
88%
Matches JJ on
Yards per carry
As a senior, his production profile tracks closest to Roschon Johnson's senior season at Texas (2022).
65%match
NFL Rd 4
Matches Roschon on
Recruiting rating
Differs from Roschon on
Yards / carry (higher)
EPA / carry (adj) (higher)
Rush TD rate (higher)
Player DNA
Players who play like LJ Martin
Heisman trajectory
Heisman Trajectory · 2026
Peak #28
Peaked at #28 this season.
The backfield · BYU
- #4LJ Martin1,305 rushing yards · 2025
- #28Jovesa Damuni111 rushing yards · 2025
- #30Sione I Moa92 rushing yards · 2025
- #21Enoch Nawahine82 rushing yards · 2025
- #41Lucky Finau32 rushing yards · 2025
7 more on the roster · BYU team page
Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology