Justin Kirkland came to BYU last year as a 340-pound veteran with 37 college games behind him. A torn meniscus reduced that transfer season to six appearances and almost no public production record.
He did not spend the extra year trying to become an even bigger nose tackle.
Kirkland told the Daily Herald that he dropped from about 345 pounds to 305 during the offseason. BYU’s current player profile lists him at 310, down 30 pounds from the 340 shown on his 2025 listing. The two current figures differ by five pounds, but they tell the same football story: BYU is bringing back a different version of No. 96.
That matters because the Cougars already had mass inside. What they needed from Kirkland was enough health, movement and technique to turn an experienced name into playable depth.
The lost season changed the assignment
Kirkland’s first BYU season never became a fair test of the transfer.
He arrived after playing 11 games at Utah Tech and 26 at Oklahoma State. The official BYU profile credits him with seven starts for the Cowboys, including the final six games of 2023 at nose tackle. In 2024, he recorded 18 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and one sack.
Then came the meniscus injury. Kirkland told the Herald that BYU chose to let him recover while a veteran defensive-line room moved forward without forcing him back into a crowded rotation.
The local BYU/WMT stat feed now credits him with 43 career games, 18 starts, 83 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss and three sacks. Six of those games came during BYU’s 2025 season. The current public game log exposes only one tackle, recorded in the bowl win over Georgia Tech, and should not be treated as a complete season stat line.
That split is important. Kirkland is experienced, but almost all of the production that built his résumé happened before BYU. His sixth college season is less a victory lap than a delayed evaluation.
Forty pounds changes what BYU can ask him to do
Weight loss is not production. It does not prove that Kirkland will beat a Big 12 guard, hold a double team or stay healthy for 12 games.
It does change the range of jobs BYU can reasonably test.
Defensive-line coach Sione Po’uha told the Herald that Kirkland’s current physique lets him play faster. Po’uha also pointed to a year in the system and a better grasp of the required technique. Those pieces belong together. A lighter body helps only if Kirkland can use it without surrendering the leverage and gap control that got him onto a college field in the first place.
The current public numbers put him in an interesting middle. At BYU’s listed 310 pounds, he remains large enough for interior work. At the 305 he reported after camp practice, he is closer in weight to Keanu Tanuvasa than to the 345-pound version who entered last season.
| Public checkpoint | Listed or reported weight | What it establishes |
|---|---|---|
| BYU 2025 listing | 340 pounds | The size he carried into the injured season |
| Kirkland’s camp account | 305 pounds | His stated 40-pound offseason drop |
| BYU 2026 profile | 310 pounds | The athletic department’s current roster figure |
The five-pound gap between Kirkland’s comment and BYU’s listing is not a controversy. Roster weights and day-to-day body weights rarely come from the same measurement. It is simply a reason to report both rather than choose the tidier number.
BYU can build an interior rotation instead of a rescue plan
Tanuvasa is still the known anchor. His 33 career starts, 16.5 tackles for loss and six sacks give BYU its strongest interior record. Anisi Purcell played through a broken hand last season, according to Po’uha, and remains another veteran option.
Kirkland changes the room by becoming a plausible third answer, not by replacing either player on paper.
That distinction keeps the camp optimism under control. Po’uha also discussed Bodie Schoonover and Viliami Po’uha as hybrid linemen who can move between end and tackle alignments. He said all 11 defensive tackles have made progress. None of that amounts to a released depth chart, a snap count or a declared starting combination.
It does give BYU more ways to keep the interior fresh.
A healthy Kirkland could take early-down work without asking Tanuvasa to absorb every heavy snap. The hybrid tackles could give the front different shapes without BYU pretending every body performs the same job. Younger players such as Kelepi Latu-Finau and Ulavai Fetuli could earn roles instead of receiving them because the older room ran out of options.
That is how depth becomes useful. One player does not have to save the position. Several players can keep the position from needing to be saved.
The opener should answer movement questions, not settle the season
BYU opens against Utah Tech on Sept. 5, the program where Kirkland began his college career. The reunion angle is pleasant. The evaluation angle is better.
Fans should watch whether Kirkland can stay square against the run, redirect when a play moves away from him and still arrive with enough force after shedding 40 pounds. The box score may not explain any of that. Interior tackles can create a clean linebacker fit without receiving the tackle, and one September stat line will not settle whether the new weight works over a Big 12 season.
The football schedule gets less forgiving after the opener. Arizona visits Provo in Week 2, followed by a trip to Colorado State and conference games against TCU and Iowa State. BYU’s line-of-scrimmage test was always going to require more than one sturdy tackle.
Kirkland now gives the Cougars an unusual kind of veteran bet: 43 games of college experience, almost no BYU production and a body that no longer matches last year’s film or roster card.
The 40-pound drop made him a better question. September will decide whether it also made him a better answer.
Sources and further reading
- Daily Herald, Aug. 24: Kirkland returns lighter after an injury-limited season for Kirkland’s reported 345-to-305-pound change, torn meniscus and Sione Po’uha’s current position-room comments.
- BYU Athletics: Justin Kirkland player profile for the current 310-pound listing, previous-school record, 2023-24 Oklahoma State production and 2025 historical listing.
- BYU Sport Nuts: Justin Kirkland player page for the BYU/WMT career stat feed, including 43 games, 18 starts, 83 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss and three sacks.
- BYU Sport Nuts: football hub, 2026 roster, schedule, Keanu Tanuvasa analysis and BYU’s line-of-scrimmage test.
