Nevada safety Nephi Sewell to transfer to BYU

BYU football got some big news Sunday night as Nevada safety Nephi Sewell announced that he will transfer to BYU. Sewell announced his decision via his social media accounts.

Oregon was considered a possible destination for Sewell so he could team up with his younger brother, Penei Sewell, but Nephi ultimately decided to come close to home. His family currently lives in Orem after moving from St. George.

Unless he gets a waiver from the NCAA, Nephi will have to sit out and redshirt the 2019 season; he will be a redshirt junior when he returns in 2020. With Dayan Ghanwoloku, Austin Lee and Troy Warner all graduating after the 2019 season, Nephi will have a great chance to immediately step in and become a starting safety in 2020.

As a two-year starter in Nevada’s defensive backfield, many considered Nephi one of the top players on the Wolfpack defense. Sewell racked up 111 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss, two interceptions and 2 fumble recoveries in his two seasons in Reno. Nephi often came up in the biggest moments, as some of the best games in his career came versus teams such as Washington State, Boise State and Vanderbilt.

One other storyline to watch is how this will affect the youngest Sewell boy, Noah. Noah Sewell is a 2020 4-star LB recruit at Orem High School who is currently the number-one rated recruit in the state of Utah. Noah has offers from pretty much everywhere, including Alabama, LSU, USC, Stanford, Washington, Florida State — pretty much every big name college football program. Getting Nephi to BYU means Noah will have a chance to team up with his brother for two seasons beginning in 2020.

You can watch highlights from Nephi below.