By MaKayla Wheeler

The Brigham Young University-Idaho intramural football league is back! When COVID started, this was one of the things that got cancelled, but now, three years later, it’s finally back.

This is a competitive tackle football league that takes place right here in Rexburg. This league started when the university transitioned from Ricks College to BYU-I. BYU-I is actually one of the few universities in the nation (Notre Dame and some of the service academies are others), that offers a non-intercollegiate intramural league. BYU-I is also one of three schools in the nation that has intramural tackle football.

It takes a lot of planning to go into something of this extent. Jason Arterburn is the coordinator for the league, and we were able to interview him for more information about the league.

A little about Jason: He is from a small town southeast of Seattle. He came to Rexburg to attend school at BYU-I. Jason grew up around sports and he enjoyed football from a young age. He and his friends would play every day after school. He played football in middle school and high school.

When asked about what keeps his interest in football, he said, “In my opinion, it is one of the true team sports. For any play to be successful, all 11 players need to execute their own assignments. A lot of other sports can be dominated by one player. In football, it’s almost impossible for one player to dominate in a game, as multiple people touch the ball on almost every play. With this dynamic, it requires everyone to have chemistry and that is developed on and off the field.”

There will be five teams competing this year. There are about 120 players on the roster for this upcoming season. One thing that makes this an exciting league to watch is that there are players that played football previously at Idaho State University, University of Idaho, Snow College, Dixie State, and more! Some of the players have more than 15 years of football experience.

There will be two games every Friday night, at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., played at the BYU-I stadium. The season starts on May 20 at 6 p.m. The first game is shaping up to be the most heated rivalry game. It is between The Vikings (royal blue) and The Wildcats (gray and navy). It is definitely a game that you don’t want to miss.

There will be five regular season games, followed by playoffs. The community is always welcome to go out and watch the games and support the teams. There will be competitions, raffles, halftime
performances, food vendors, and more!

This league has the talent and support that most other non-Division 1 schools do not have. This league will be offered every year in the springtime, and they hope that it continues to grow bigger and surpass the 120 players that they have this year.