PROVO — Though he originally arrived at BYU in 2012, senior Dylan Collie finally made his debut as a Cougar last Saturday in a 28-23 victory at Arizona.
As he came out of the locker room at Arizona Stadium, he was surprised to see a visitor, his older brother Austin — who ranks No. 2 all-time in receiving yards in school history and was standing on the Cougar sideline during the game.
“It meant a lot, man. I think of all the times that I thought about that growing up, the chance to be with my brothers. I didn’t know he was going to be there,” Dylan said. “To be able to be in that uniform and to wear that number and to have that name on the back and to have him there, it’s 25 years of something that I’ve always wanted. It was hands down one of the coolest moments of my entire football career to have him down there.”
It’s a circus catch but it was just third down and you have to come up with it. That’s what our coaches expect of us. – Dylan Collie
This week, when the Cougars host Cal, Dylan Collie will make his home debut. Collie redshirted at BYU in 2012 before serving a mission and playing three seasons at Hawaii before transferring back to BYU.
“To be with this team and to go up against Cal and knowing we’re back at home with the opportunity to go 2-0, I don’t think I couldn’t have dreamed of anything better,” he said. “To be able to have that home feeling and to know that as soon as we walk through that tunnel and hear the band, there are few places that feel like home more than what LaVell Edwards Stadium is to me and to this team. It’s going to be incredible.”
Against Arizona, Collie came up big in the third quarter when he made an acrobatic, 22-yard catch on third-and-12, setting up a BYU touchdown on the next play. It was his first official reception as a Cougar.
“It’s a circus catch but it was just third down and you have to come up with it,” he said. “That’s what our coaches expect of us.”
MORE TO COME: Asked how much of the offense BYU showed in the season-opener, offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes said it has plenty more to unleash on opponents.
“We’re an offense that maintains the same core concepts and we run them a lot of different ways,” he said. “But we certainly have a lot of the playbook left. We probably called a little more than half the calls that we had on the call sheet for this game. We’ve got a whole lot more. It will change from week to week.”
SHELTON’S IMPACT: Senior cornerback Michael Shelton played a big role defensively for the Cougars last Saturday.
The 5-foot-8, 175-pound native of Raleigh, North Carolina, recorded two pass breakups, a blocked field goal and a 37-yard punt return.
“He did a phenomenal job. I’m really excited about the way he played,” said defensive coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki. “He played like a leader, I thought he played hard and did a really good job.”