BYRON TANNER, A 1996 graduate and standout athlete at Montezuma-Cortez High School, will be suited up when the Cougars of Brigham Young University play football against Louisville in the Liberty Bowl Game on New Year’s Eve, Dec. 31. Tanner walked on during the Spring of 2000 and will be with the team at the game.

Byron Tanner of Cortez will be celebrating New Year’s Eve in Memphis, Tenn.

The former Montezuma-Cortez High School standout athlete will be with the Brigham Young University football team as the Cougars play Louisville on Dec. 31 in the Liberty Bowl.

Tanner won two varsity letters in football, baseball and wrestling. He was chosen All-Southwest League as a senior in football. He is a 1996 graduate of MCHS.

Tanner is not listed on BYU’s two-deep sheet. He will be suited up for the game but no word on wether or not he will actually get to play.

He currently stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 216 pounds and plays linebacker for the Cougars. He attended BYU as a freshman in 1996-97. He then went on a two-year mission for the LDS to Tampa, Fla. In Spring, 2000, he decided to walk-on (without an athletic scholarship) on the BYU football team. The Cougars won the 2001 Mountain West Conference championship and finished the regular season with a 12-1 record. BYU was undefeated going into its last game of the season but was upset by Hawaii which knocked the Cougars out of any consideration for the Bowl Championship Series.

"Even a small-town boy can achieve through positive attitude, hard work, and perserverance," his mother, Vonnie Tanner, said.

Tanner was born and raised in Cortez. He is the son of Duane and Vonnie Tanner of Cortez.

Any hopes that Luke Staley had of playing in the Liberty Bowl on New Year's Eve is over.

Brigham Young announced that Staley, the winner of the Doak Walker Award as the best running back in the country, will undergo surgery Tuesday to repair damaged ligaments in his left ankle. Because of the surgery, he will be unable to play against Louisville.

Staley broke his left leg late in a 41-38 come-from-behind victory at Mississippi State and missed last week's 72-45 loss to Hawaii that ended the Cougars' quest of an undefeated season.

Staley had hoped to return in time for the Liberty Bowl. But while X-rays showed that a fractured fibula was healing well, the ligament damage needed to be repaired to help stabilize the ankle joint.

He rushed for a school-record 1,582 yards, averaging 8.1 per carry. The 6-1, 218-pound junior led the nation in scoring, averaging 14.2 points per game.