“The Cut” has become a weekly production for BYU football fans to get excited about, as the school-made video recaps the Cougars’ victories.

With a little bit more than two minutes remaining in the most recent episode — highlights of BYU’s dramatic win over Oklahoma State last week — Cougar players are shown celebrating after Darius Lassiter’s go-ahead touchdown with 10 seconds left in the game.

After showing several players yelling into the camera with joy, another player is shown expressing a different kind of emotion. At the 15:42 mark of the video, starting left tackle Caleb Etienne is shown crying. Fellow lineman Sam Dawe, standing next to Etienne, says, “When they didn’t believe in you, we believed in you, baby.”

The moment was a culmination of emotions for Etienne over the last 18 months. In April of 2023 he entered the transfer portal after being a starter at Oklahoma State, with OSU head coach Mike Gundy telling reporters that Etienne was leaving because he lost his starting spot to another player.

Etienne transferred to BYU with high hopes and expectations, but he struggled last season amid positional instability and many fans had written him off.

When he was named the Cougars’ starting left tackle this season — responsible for protecting quarterback Jake Retzlaff’s blind side — many fans were downright unhappy.

But the 6-foot-8, 320-pound Etienne has been marvelous this season, having only allowed one sack.

On Tuesday, Etienne was the player guest as BYU head coach Kalani Sitake held his weekly show with Cougars play-by-play voice Greg Wrubell.

“It ended with me crying,” Etienne said of the emotional win over his former school. “It was crazy. Jake threw the pass to Darius and that was the moment of the game right there.”

Said Sitake of the player who’s known around the team as “Tree”: “When Tree speaks, people listen. Probably because he’s huge and big, but he’s got a great heart and I’ve been so proud of him…this guy’s gonna get drafted (by an NFL team). The scouts are all over him, and for him to be so humble and to always work and to help along with (fellow offensive linemen Connor Pay and Brayden Keim), the seniors running that (offensive) line, I think he’s done a great job.

“I love having him around. I just wish he could get another year. That’d be really good for me.”