BYU really needs tight ends taking on bigger roles

Aaron Roderick may have something up his sleeve with BYU’s offense this coming season.

He needs to. The offense struggled as much as the defense in BYU’s first year in the Big 12.

Roderick knows BYU needs all hands on deck this season if the Cougars are to avoid the basement in the league standings. Aside from finding a steady, productive and protected quarterback and run game, he needs to deploy the tight end group at another level.

BYU has historically been able to recruit and develop tight ends. This year the Cougars will feature two four-star recruits in Jackson Bowers and Ryner Swanson, but converted senior wide receiver Keanu Hill is expected to make a big splash.

Of all the challenges BYU’s offense faces this season, the tight end position has to be part of the solution.

Roderick also brought in a former teammate of head coach Kalani Sitake, veteran NFL coach Kevin Gilbride, to coach the tight ends.

In the past few weeks, Gilbride, who has been out of college recruiting for more than a decade, received commitments from three three-star tight ends in the class of 2025, including Oregon’s Jackson Doman, Blake Bryce from Newberry Park, California, and Tucker Kelleher from Georgia.

Could someone say it is an emphasis?

It’s Gilbride’s job to get Roderick some help from the tight end room in 2024 and beyond.

After BYU’s second annual media day golf tournament at Cedar Hills on Monday, I asked Gilbride what his goals are for the tight ends this fall.

“The ability for us to play with multiple tight ends on the field and still be versatile with the pass and run game,” said Gilbride. “It is top of the list.”

Two? Three? A combo of both and even a tight end in the slot or fullback position? It’s all on the table.

Gilbride admits it isn’t new at BYU. Remember in 1996 when BYU deployed Itula Mili and Chad Lewis as part of a 14-win season and WAC championship? Back in the Max Hall era the deployment of Andrew George and Dennis Pitta was also huge.

“It’s not necessarily new with what’s been done at BYU in the past, but the tight ends we have in the program right now are versatile and can do multiple things. The more depth they develop, the better we’ll be at confusing what the defense can key on because multiple guys can be used uniformly throughout our formations.”

If a tight end is viewed on film as primarily just a blocker or when he’s on the field a defense believes he’ll be a downfield receiver on a pass route, those are keys for a defense. Making players multifaceted makes it harder to guess what’s going on with schemes.

Gilbride likes what he’s inherited from former coach Steve Clark.

“They are talented, No. 1, and good kids, No. 2,” he said.

They have a good growth mindset, they are all about business.

“They aren’t backing away from things they aren’t good at, but throwing themselves in the fire. They fail and they get back up, they fail again and get back up and learn along the way. That’s the growth mindset I preach in the room and they’ve had that and sustained that. If you get that for a long period of time, they improve and get better and that’s what I like in these guys.”

Has Gilbride’s NFL background turned some heads in the group?

“I don’t know if it’s my NFL background or not, but they have a growth mindset to improve and are willing to put themselves and their bodies in position to make it that way.”

Sitake said he’s been watching Gilbride and his NFL coaching career for a while. Since they were teammates at BYU in the late ‘90s’, he had a special interest in what he was doing and kept in touch, sometimes calling him.

Sitake said on Monday there is a lot behind the curtain that reporters at spring practice did not see.

“You guys didn’t see anything in the spring, but if you talk to the guys they’ll tell you he made a significant and big difference with the knowledge he brings to that room,” said Sitake.

“We saw tight ends in spring make plays we never knew they could do before. It’s a good group of young men and Gilbride has done a great job and it’s a matter of putting it together with the rest of the offense and making it work.”

Sitake said he is excited about a deep and talented wide receiver corps and expects that group to be productive for Roderick.

“But it all happens if you have a quarterback who can make the plays and an offensive line that can give him enough time to make those throws. We have to have all of it come together and that’s our challenge this year.”

Gilbride said Sitake is making his return to the college game easy for him.

“I think it would be more challenging to come back to college football if it was at a different place. Here, the culture Kalani has established and promoted spreads throughout the entire organization, and makes it an easy transition from that standpoint. The additional jobs you have in college make it a challenge, but I’ve enjoyed it because of the guys I’m working with and the guys I get to coach.”

Tight ends in 2024?

Can’t hurt.