Consider it a promise delivered, one-third of the way through the 2025 BYU football season.
Offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick, tight ends coach Kevin Gilbride and passing game coordinator Fesi Sitake said the Cougars would throw to their tight ends more this year after that part of the attack went missing last year, and through four games they’ve done just that.
Starting tight end Carsen Ryan has caught 12 passes for 192 yards and two touchdowns, with a long of 28 heading into Game 5 Friday night against West Virginia (8:30 p.m. MDT, ESPN). Backup tight end Noah Moeaki caught a 5-yard touchdown pass against Portland State, then got a congratulatory shoutout over Instagram from his first-grade teacher, Miss Murdock.
“That was nice to see,” said Moeaki, a redshirt freshman returned missionary from American Fork.
For BYU fans, it is also nice to see a position that produced the likes of legends Todd Christensen, Chris Smith, Gordon Hudson, Chad Lewis, Johnny Harline, Dennis Pitta and Isaac Rex reintroduced into the offense.
Facing the loss of Rex to graduation last year, BYU converted big-body receiver Keanu Hill to tight end, but that switch did not produce positive results. Hill caught just 12 passes for 108 yards and a touchdown, with a long of 20.
Senior Mata’ava Ta’ase caught nine passes for 91 yards and three TDs, while freshman Ryner Swanson — now on a church mission — caught 10 passes for 91 yards. That was it.
“It is no secret — we would like to throw the ball to the tight end more” in 2025, Roderick said on Signing Day in February.
So far, so good.
“There’s always room for improvement, but we’ve been happy with how the newer guys within our program have played,” Gilbride said after Ryan was targeted by freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier six times against East Carolina and came down with four catches for 63 yards and a touchdown. “We can get better, but they’ve executed at a high level, especially Carsen.”
The UCLA and University of Utah transfer has proven to be a nice security blanket for Bachmeier, who has been outstanding in leading the Cougars to a 4-0 record and No. 23 national ranking. Gilbride, hired in 2024 to replace popular tight ends coach Steve Clark after the Cougars struggled offensively in 2023, their first season in the Big 12, said Ryan has flourished despite opponents knowing he is going to be a big part of the offense this year.
“Very much so, certainly,” Gilbride said. “Carsen is good in everything. He’s a very good front side of zone blocker. He’s good on the back side. He’s good gap-scheme blocking. You can get him on the perimeter and he blocks well.
“Then in the passing game, he’s fast enough to be a vertical threat,” Gilbride continued. “He goes up and gets the ball because he’s got great hands. He runs very crisp routes and knows how to create separation from man defenders and knows the areas to attack in zones. He’s the complete package.”
Fesi Sitake said Ryan, who had 10 catches for 113 yards and a TD last year with the Utes, has that “it factor” that seemed to be missing from the BYU offense last year.
“He’s an all-around tight end. We’ve heard sound bites from (Roderick) about that, and I echo all of it. He can block. He’s physical. He’s a really good route runner. … There are some things you can’t coach that you have to react to. Carsen’s got a great feel of that, and I am excited for all the things he’s going to continue to do for us.”
Redshirt senior Ethan Erickson and junior Keayen Nead are also on the four-player tight end depth chart with Ryan and Moeaki. Nead has generally been on the field when BYU has gone to its 12 personnel packages, but Gilbride isn’t ready to call the transfer from Weber State BYU’s TE2.
Gilbride said the 6-foot-5, 265-pound Nead has an outstanding build for a tight end and is big, strong and physical, but needs to work on his technique.
The product of Sugar City, Idaho, has been flagged for holding twice — the one that negated a touchdown against Stanford was not a good call, Gilbride said — and committed one false start.
“That is 100% an area that he needs to improve,” Gilbride said. “And he knows that. He’s working on that.”
Gilbride said Erickson is “talented, tough and smart,” but just hasn’t been able to stay healthy over the course of his career at BYU.
“When he is in the game, he helps our team win, as we saw last year when he played the majority of the 12 personnel reps until he got hurt,” Gilbride said. “It is an unsung (role), kind of doing the dirty work of what we were asking him to do specifically. It is unrecognized, but it helped us win.”
Another unsung tight end who contributes in practices and special teams is walk-on Anthony Olsen, a redshirt junior from Olympus High in Salt Lake City, Gilbride said.
“Using the tight end is definitely much more a part of the game plan than it was last season,” Gilbride said. “But just like with anything else, the defense dictates who’s going to catch the football, even when we’re trying to get it into the hands of Chase Roberts or LJ Martin.
“That’s happened a few times. But other than that, I feel like we are actively trying to include the tight ends in the offensive production in the pass game, which helps your offense, because when you’re versatile, when you’re multiple, you’re good.”
