But from Eric Kjar’s hire at Weber State just before the calendar turned to 2026, and through spring and fall camps, there was at least some uneasiness about what the Wildcats had.

Fast-forward 10 games into the 2026 season, and it’s a different story.

Pro Football Network grades positional performances all across college football, and PFN’s chief analyst Cam Mellor often posts on X about the top players at each position.

Just a sampling: after each of the final two games of October, Mellor posted that WSU’s Leon Crutcher was the fifth-best right guard in FCS based on his season-long grades.

ISAAC FISHER, Special to the Standard-Examiner

Through early October, Brody Cutrer was rated the No. 2 left guard in FCS. Cutrer is now Weber State’s center, where he recently rated as the 12th-best in FCS.

It’s a weekly occurrence. Coming out of last week’s bye, Mellor posted that Weber State’s offensive line is the 17th best in FCS overall.

Those ratings shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. You can’t be 15th in the country in average yards per game without a good offensive line, and you can’t get on the doorstep of a possible playoff berth without it either.

The story of going from “we’ll see” to moving the football, sometimes at will, has a lot to do with high expectations from Kjar and new position coach Isaac Asiata, and an anchor of two experienced players to lead the way.

“Just trusting the process that Kjar has set up, and Coach Asiata, make sure we’re always behind them every step of the way because we know they’re behind us,” fourth-year left tackle Luke Sampson said. “Just that mutual trust and respect is huge for us to have confidence in ourselves and in the scheme to have success.”

ROBERT CASEY, Weber State Athletics

Sampson’s one of the few returners on this team after the head coaching change, but there’s no way he was leaving after WSU hired Kjar, his former high school coach.

“I love Ogden, I love the community, and I know who Coach Kjar is,” Sampson said. “I know what his culture is like, and that was something I was totally behind it and wanted to help bring it to Weber State.”

Sampson was key, and so was a newcomer. Kjar pulled another former player of his, Cutrer, out of Iowa after Cutrer played two seasons at NAIA program Morningside. An undersized mauler, Cutrer quickly took on a leadership role along with Sampson, his former high school teammate.

“I needed a refresher on quite a few things, but we got the group together and, going over plays, since me and Luke played in this offense before, we were able to get up in front, get on the whiteboard and draw it up, understand the calls we need to make,” Cutrer said. “Luke and I together were able to help get this offense up and going.”

Senior offensive lineman Jacob Edmonds was another anchor. After Cutrer spent all of spring and fall camp learning how to play center for the first time in his career, WSU moved Edmonds to the middle over injury concerns. So Cutrer started at left guard.

Photo supplied, Weber State Athletics

WSU added senior Jay Wade from the transfer portal out of East Tennessee State, and he won the right tackle job. He’s started there all 10 games.

Then Edmonds was sidelined, and Cutrer took over at center. Freshman Teancum Moea’i took over at left guard, and it’s been fairly seamless.

“Brody puts in a lot of work. That’s something we really appreciate, especially going from guard to center. Brody is very smart when it comes to football … so we trust Brody like no other,” Sampson said. “We love Brody and know he works hard, so we didn’t take any step back with that change.”

Coaching has been critical, of course. Some uncertainty stemmed from what then seemed like a surprising decision from Kjar to not retain veteran Brent Myers as offensive line coach. Myers moved on to Montana, where he’s unsurprisingly helped the Griz create the No. 2 yard-gaining offense in the country.

But Weber State still won, too, handing the reins to former NFL player Isaac Asiata in his first time having control of an offensive line. He assisted Jim Harding at Utah, his alma mater, for several years before joining Kjar’s ranks in Ogden.

Photo supplied, Weber State Athletics

“I love his demeanor and how much he demands of us. It’s like Coach Kjar, too. High expectations is really big for me. I’ve known Asiata for a long time; as a kid I went to one of the Utah camps and I’ve known about that guy, him being a dog, going to the NFL and balling out,” Sampson said. “The guy knows the system, he’s been through college, NFL, he’s seen a lot of stuff. So when that change was made, I was excited about the opportunity to grow even more.

“Myers taught me a lot, he was great. But being able to have another coach has been huge for me and my understanding of football, just having another side to it. He’s done a great job getting us in the right spots.”

Cutrer echoed that.

“When Coach Asiata got here in January, one of the first things he said was, ‘If you guys buy into my system and how I want to coach you, we’re going to see a lot of success,'” Cutrer said. “I feel like the entire O-line room, we’re all-in on what he wants to do.

“Demanding is probably the best word for it. He demands the best from us because he gives us the best from him. He puts everything he can into the O-line room.”

Asiata credited the players for taking a complicated scheme head-on, putting in the hours to study it, asking questions and taking ownership of it.

“They have a really high care factor. They want to do good, they want to play hard and give everything they’ve got. Very proud of these guys — especially with a new coach,” Asiata said. “When you get a new position coach, it can be hard to trust that guy, especially the guys who came back. So I’m grateful that my guys have trusted me, bought into my coaching style and philosophy, and living up to the standard I have for the group.”

To Asiata, he’s just reflecting the same high standard Kjar demands of his football team.

“Coach Kjar is big on culture and what he expects and wants as a team. He’s a winner. Everything he does is a million miles an hour and all-out. He wants to win games, point blank, period. He demands a standard to do that, and we’ve got to meet that standard,” Asiata said. “The proof’s kind of in the pudding. We’re doing a lot of good things this year with such a young team. To do what we’re doing so far, it’s all because of him.

“He’s doing a great job of what he demands, and proud of our players for battling every week. It’s a winning culture, for sure.”