Niki Prongos and Scotty Edwards look ahead to BYU 

On Tuesday, Stanford redshirt junior offensive lineman Niki Prongos and senior safety Scotty Edwards spoke to the media, sharing their thoughts on Saturday’s game at BYU. Below are some takeaways. 

VIDEO: Stanford Football Weekly Press Conference | BYU Week-Niki Prongos and Scotty Edwards

First off, both Prongos and Edwards affirmed that the early bye week after the Week 0 game against Hawaii is a plus. The team is seeing the early bye week as a chance for early growth and reflection. Getting two weeks to prep for BYU is something they are looking to take advantage of. Teams that get two weeks to prepare for a team often do well, so we’ll just have to see how Stanford takes advantage of that extra time. 

As a quick aside, Prongos talked about getting the chance to work with San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy on his line dancing video. Prongos said he got the connection through Stanford and had a great time doing that. He grew up a 49ers fan, so that was a really fun experience for him. Always cool when college kids get experiences like that. 

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What drew Prongos to Stanford from UCLA was the overall culture of the school. He feels like the academic and athletic combination of Stanford was a good fit. And then on top of that, being from Marin County and growing up a 49ers fan made Stanford appealing as well. Just all-around, it clicked. 

Switching gears to Edwards, the main storyline here is Edwards’ connections to BYU. He’s from the state of Utah and grew up a BYU fan. His mom is a professor there, his brother attends the school, and he’s a member of the LDS church. So, he has a lot of memories of going to BYU games as a kid and grew up around the program. If he didn’t end up at Stanford, BYU is almost certainly where he would have played, so that’s going to be an emotional game for him. He’s looking forward to playing in front of friends and family. 

That all said, he and the rest of the team are treating this game like any other week. All about that nameless, faceless opponent. They know it’s going to be a loud and crazy environment. They just need to make sure they stay focused on the task at hand. Being cleaner than they were against Hawaii is a major focus and point of emphasis. 

One thing that Edwards talked about that I asked him about was how to play safety in this era where targeting is called a lot more often. Edwards said he’s never had an issue with it because he’s always focused on the technique and that the coaches do a great job of teaching them how to play. 

Edwards also highlighted the relationship he has with fifth-year safety Mitch Leigber. They’ve played a lot of snaps together and thus have a really close relationship. Safety is a position really predicated on communication and trust, so the fact that they have spent so much time playing together has helped them form a tight bond on and off the field. 

Edwards knows the importance of this game. He said it would be a huge win for them and help confirm that they are on the right path as a program. And then just given his connections to BYU, winning this game would mean a lot to him at a personal level, too. 

Finally, Edwards talked a bit about getting to meet BYU and 49ers legend Steve Young through his time in the LDS church. I know Young lives in the area and is a part of the LDS community in Palo Alto, so I figured odds were good Edwards has crossed paths a bit with Young. He said he has crossed paths with Young and enjoyed getting to spend a bit of time with him. He also said Young has been kind in being helpful to other LDS players that have come through Stanford. I thought that was cool. 

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