How BYU’s starting free safety, a walk-on, is living his childhood dream

Although he was still a youngster back then, BYU safety Tanner Wall can still remember Nov. 25, 2006.
That was the day John Beck threw the famous “answered prayer” to Jonny Harline on the final play of the rivalry game to give BYU a 33-31 victory over Utah at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
“We were at my grandpa’s house watching the game and when Harline caught that pass we just dogpiled on the couch with my dad and my uncles and my grandpa,” Wall said last week. “So that was an awesome moment.”
So when it came time for Wall to pick a college after a standout football and baseball career at Yorktown High in Arlington, Virginia, there was really not much of a question where Wall would go, even if BYU was only offering preferred walk-on status.
“I was more motivated to go to BYU than anywhere else,” he said. “I’ve always been a BYU guy through and through.”
Wall, who is now a redshirt junior in his fourth year in the program, had a football scholarship offer from William & Mary University, a full-ride academic scholarship at Virginia, and was given the chance to be a preferred walk-on at Virginia, where former BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall was the head guy. He was also recruited by Ivy League schools Columbia, Harvard, Princeton and Yale.
After a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Brazil from 2018 to 2020, he walked on for coach Kalani Sitake and accepted an academic scholarship that he used to earn a degree in finance, with an emphasis on real estate. Now he’s working on his MBA in BYU’s prestigious Marriott School of Business.
“All because I made a really good decision (six) years ago,” he said.
Wall said both sides of his family have been rooted on the East Coast forever, but last summer his parents — Ryan and Sher — moved out to Utah after their youngest child went off to college. He’s proud that one side of his family secured the land for the first Latter-day Saint chapel in Arlington, Virginia, and the other side was responsible for building it.
“So there’s a lot of history there with my family,” he said.
There’s also history supporting BYU; his uncle J.R. Thulin was an offensive lineman at BYU in 2002-03, and his aunt Brook Thulin played soccer for the Cougars those same years, and in 2005.
“We were such big BYU fans when I was growing up that if BYU played anywhere East of the Mississippi River, we were going to find a way to go, whether we flew or drove,” Wall said, noting memorable games at Wisconsin and against West Virginia at FedEx Field in the Washington, D.C., area.
Even though he is still technically a walk-on, Wall is a co-captain, as voted upon by his teammates. He is also a co-chair on BYU’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and serves as a BYU Pathways mentor, helping students learn English and develop professionally online.
He claims to be one of the better golfers on the team, along with receivers Chase Roberts, Parker Kingston and Kody Epps.
Last May, he married his wife, Corinne, who graduated last December and has worked full time since graduating from BYU as an executive assistant for a local business leader to support Wall’s football habit.
“Super grateful for her,” he said.
So this guy has it all together. But can he play football?
Wall joined the team as a receiver, after totaling 1,650 all-purpose yards his senior season in high school and making 131 tackles on the other side of the ball. He played scout team receiver in 2021 and 2022 before moving to defensive back in 2023.
“Ultimately, it came down to some good conversations with coach Kalani, who has always believed in me as a football player and kinda encouraged me to make that switch,” Wall said. “And it was pretty natural right when coach (Jay) Hill got here. I am super grateful for those coaches who believed in me and gave me that opportunity to make the switch.”
Last year, he started three games at safety and played in five. He had six tackles against Arkansas and Kansas in back-to-back weeks before an elbow injury ended his season.
Competition in the safeties room to be the two opening-day starters was stiff, with six players in the room who had started games in previous seasons, along with three talented freshmen — Tommy Prassas, Faletau Satuala and Matthias Leach.
Wall said when he was named a starter on the depth chart before the opener against Southern Illinois, his first reaction was “just feeling grateful that my coaches recognize my abilities.” Then he called his parents, and his wife.
“I just felt immensely grateful to God, to my Heavenly Father, to my parents, to my wife, to a lot of people who helped me get here,” he said.
Defensive coordinator Jay Hill said Wall won the job because of his consistency.
“Tanner has been super consistent. He shows up every day. Had a great summer. He has graded out well,” Hill said.
Wall has made 15 tackles from scrimmage, but some of his best work has been on special teams; he snuffed out a fake punt by SIU, and against SMU he pushed a blocker into a bouncing punt, then jumped on it. He probably saved a touchdown against Kansas State when he took the correct angle on quarterback Avery Johnson and pushed the speedster out of bounds.
“I got some good props from my coaches and teammates for that one,” he said. “Some teammates said they didn’t know I was that fast. We had been watching him run against everyone else all week, so we knew he was fast. He is a great player, so I am glad I could show up and make that play.”
Wall said he prides himself on having a high football IQ, which really helps on special teams.
“Making game-changing plays is something all the special teams guys focus on,” he said.
One of the amazing things about this BYU defense is that both starting safeties — Wall and former prep quarterback Crew Wakley — are walk-ons. There might not be another Power Four school in the country that can say that, Hill surmised.
Wall said he’s been able to thrive as a walk-on because of BYU’s NIL deals, particularly with Built Bar and founder Nick Greer, and with the financial help of his parents and others. He said he’s never thought about giving football up, even when he was a lowly scout team receiver trying to get open against and give good looks to teammates he’s now competing for reps with.
“Given the way that NIL functions within our BYU program, Kalani takes care of everyone, and looks out for all of our players. So super grateful to be taken care of in a meaningful way like that,” Wall said. “I don’t see myself as anything less than a scholarship player. And there is no difference in the way we are treated.”
His message to future walk-ons: “Take the bet on yourself. Trust the process, and be willing to do whatever it takes to make your dreams come true and accomplish those goals that you have for yourself.”
As for the transition from receiver to safety, Wall said he’s still learning every day.
“I have learned to trust what I am seeing a lot more from last season to this season,” he said. “I definitely believe in myself as a tackler, and someone who can come down and make the plays that need to be made.
“Also someone who reads the field well and understands where quarterbacks are trying to attack, just based on preparation during the week and understanding schemes.”