The Big 12 coaches just lit a match to the “usual suspects” script.

With the release of the 2025 All-Big 12 awards, it’s clear this league is no longer just about the traditional powers. BYU and Texas Tech muscled their way to center stage, Utah planted its flag in the trenches, Baylor quietly cleaned up in the margins, and Oklahoma State found its next defensive terror. If you wanted a neat, blue-blood-only awards list, you didn’t get it.

The headline name is BYU running back LJ Martin, voted Offensive Player of the Year after a monster season that has him flirting with the program’s all-time elite. Martin enters championship weekend 12th nationally in rushing with 1,229 yards and is on pace to become just the third Cougar in the last 30 years to finish top 10 in the nation in rushing. In a league that’s gone pass-happy for a decade, the coaches just handed the offensive crown to an old-school workhorse.

On the other side of the ball, Texas Tech’s Jacob Rodriguez did something no Red Raider has ever done: he’s the program’s first Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year. The numbers are straight out of a video game – five forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and four interceptions – making him the first FBS player in 20 years to hit those marks in a single season. When you’re a linebacker on the Heisman short list, you’re not just padding stats, you’re warping game plans.

Utah’s arrival in the league was always going to be about toughness, and the coaches validated that in a big way. Quarterback Devon Dampier lived up to his preseason hype, turning a July “Newcomer of the Year” tag into the actual Offensive Newcomer of the Year award while steering the Utes to a 10-win season and earning All-Big 12 Third Team honors. In front of him, tackle Spencer Fano claimed Offensive Lineman of the Year after helping Utah crank out 3,237 rushing yards – the second-most in school history and second nationally – while surrendering just 11 sacks. That’s Big 12-meets-Pac-12 brutality with playoff implications.

If Texas Tech is going to be more than a fun offense and a meme defense, it needs dudes like David Bailey. The senior edge destroyer walked away with not one but two trophies: Defensive Newcomer of the Year and Defensive Lineman of the Year. His 12.5 sacks lead the nation and already rank fourth in Tech history heading into the Edward Jones Big 12 Championship Game. The message from the coaches is loud: Bailey is the guy you have to block in this league and usually can’t.

BYU also snagged the future-is-now narrative with Offensive Freshman of the Year Bear Bachmeier. As the first true freshman quarterback to start in Cougar history, he didn’t just survive; he dragged BYU to an 11–1 record and a spot in the Big 12 title game. Bachmeier is the only FBS player this season with at least 2,500 passing yards, 10 rushing touchdowns and four or fewer interceptions. That’s grown-man efficiency wrapped in freshman eligibility, and it’s exactly why the Cougars suddenly look like a problem in their new conference home.

On defense, Oklahoma State might have uncovered its next edge legend in Wendell Gregory, the Defensive Freshman of the Year. He started all 12 games, stacking 27 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, four sacks and a forced fumble. He also tied the Big 12 freshman record with three sacks in his first college game. That’s not a flash; that’s a foundation piece.

Special teams and smarts got their shine, too. Baylor punter Palmer Williams earned Special Teams Player of the Year by flipping fields all season, averaging 46.93 yards per punt with a 50-plus yard boot in seven of 12 games and just one touchback. It’s not sexy, but in a league where possessions are gold, that leg is a weapon. His teammate, quarterback Sawyer Robertson, was named Scholar-Athlete of the Year, pairing top-five program marks in completions (599), passing yards (7,616) and touchdowns (68) with a 3.72 GPA in Marketing. He’s the third Bear ever to win the award and the first since 2022, proof that Baylor is still living in that brains-and-ball sweet spot.

Then there’s the guy pulling the strings in Provo. Kalani Sitake was voted the Chuck Neinas Big 12 Coach of the Year after taking BYU to an 11–1 record and a berth in the conference championship game. Since the start of 2024, the Cougars are 22–3, the fourth-best mark in FBS over that stretch. For a program that just jumped into the Power Five deep end, that’s not a transition — that’s a takeover.

Taken together, this awards slate reads like a status report on a changing conference. BYU has a star back, a star freshman quarterback and the league’s top coach. Texas Tech suddenly has a Heisman-level linebacker and the nation’s premier sack artist. Utah owns the trenches. Baylor still develops high-end quarterbacks on and off the field. Oklahoma State has another edge menace waiting in the wings.

The blue bloods are still here, still dangerous, still writing their own chapters. But if the coaches’ ballots are any indication, the Big 12’s power map is getting ripped up and redrawn in real time — and a lot of new logos are holding the pen.