When two of the BYU Cougars’ top big-play threats in 2024, Darius Lassiter and Keelan Marion, moved on from the football program earlier this year, it was assumed that that important part of the offense would be virtually nonexistent in 2025.
Fears that BYU would fail to produce chunk plays outside of the occasional burst by star running back LJ Martin were only exacerbated when BYU decided against bringing in another proven ball carrier from the transfer portal and replaced the dynamic Lassiter-Marion duo with a possession receiver from Stanford, Tiger Bachmeier, and a promising but unproven athlete from Snow College, Reggie Frischknecht.
Bachmeier, the brother of freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier, has shown flashes here and there in limited playing time, while Frischknecht sustained a hamstring injury in fall camp and has yet to see the field.
Despite all that, however, Aaron Roderick’s offense has been a pleasant surprise in the explosive plays department. That was especially true in the 38-24 win over West Virginia, as Bear passed for a career-high 351 yards, including completions of 47, 54 and 85 yards in the first half alone.
Before that game, No. 18 BYU’s longest pass play in 2025 was 41 yards.
“It was the most explosive game that we have had in a while,” Roderick said. “Tons of big plays. We kind of unleashed our passing game more than we had in quite a while.”
In the second half, after Parker Kingston and Chase Roberts recorded catches of 20-plus yards, Martin added a 32-yard run to finish with 90 and almost recorded his fourth 100-plus rushing game in five starts.
“Yeah, it felt good (to air it out),” Bear said. “We had a lot of explosive plays. We gotta keep it going.”
Credit Bear Bachmeier, Roberts, Kingston, Martin and speedster Cody Hagen for making folks forget about Jake Retzlaff, new Miami playmaker Marion and Lassiter, in that regard. BYU is tied for fifth in the country in most scrimmage plays of 40 yards or more, with 11.
Thanks to Martin and Hagen, BYU is tied for second nationally in most rushing plays of 40 yards or more, with six.
“Earlier in the season, we didn’t need to (open up the offense),” Roderick said. “This last game, they were pretty determined not to let LJ get involved, so we had to throw the ball down the field a little more. I thought our execution was really good.”
From the opening play, pretty much.
Bear and Roberts connected for 47 yards on BYU’s first offensive play from scrimmage. BYU hasn’t been hesitant about throwing deep early in the Roderick era.
“We have always kinda been that way. We are a team that is going to run the ball, and play-action pass is our bread and butter,” Roderick said. “But there is no sense in waiting. We are always going to be aggressive.”
Two other offensive weapons, receiver JoJo Phillips and running back Sione Moa, were injured early in the season, allowing Hagen and Tiger Bachmeier a bit more playing time. Roderick said Tuesday that Phillips and Moa “will both be out for a little while (longer),” but did not elaborate.
If nothing else, the WVU game also showed that Bear can let it rip when he is asked to fling it downfield. More of the same will be needed Saturday if No. 18 BYU expects to take down Arizona (6 p.m. MDT, ESPN2) in Tucson. The Wildcats (4-1) have yet to allow a passing touchdown this season, and conditions are expected to be rainy and difficult for passing attacks.
“Yeah, he is a really good passer, and he showed it in the game,” Roderick said of the true freshman from Southern California. “In the four games prior to that, we really didn’t need to throw it that much. Each game we have thrown it a little bit more, and kinda opened things up a little bit more. But yeah, he is a very capable passer.”
YAC is becoming a thing at BYU
Bear’s 85-yard pass to Roberts in the first half — Roberts did most of the work, with 98 of his 161 receiving yards Friday coming on yards after the catch — was the longest BYU pass play since Tanner Mangum and Mitchell Juergens connected for 84 against Boise State in 2015.
Roberts has 20 catches for 395 yards, which ranks the senior 41st in the country in receiving yards. He has four catches for 40 or more yards, tied for fifth-most in the country, and 177 YAC, with three touchdowns.
He was clocked at 21.2 miles-per-hour on the 85-yard play — “I felt like I was moving pretty fast” — but was denied a touchdown by a shoestring tackle. He told Kingston on the sidelines that he wished he had Kingston’s speed, to which the junior receiver responded: “Yeah, you gotta unhook the trailer.”
Kingston also had 70 yards after the catch Friday, of his career-high 111 receiving yards.
“Chase, Parker, those guys make people miss. They are strong, and they break tackles,” Roderick said. “Cody Hagen as well. And we know JoJo is capable of that. We are hoping to get that back at some point, too. That is a huge part of our offense, yes.”
‘Shifty as heck’ PK is hitting his stride
Kingston missed fall camp with an injury and had only caught 10 or so passes from Bear in workouts before the season started, according to Roderick. Naturally, the Roy High product got off to a slow start, with a couple of fumbles on punt returns and a few dropped passes.
But since the Colorado game, when he had five catches for 38 yards and two carries for 25 yards, he’s been on a tear.
“They opened the offense up to Bear and let Bear make the plays,” Kingston said after the WVU game. “We are letting teams know that they can’t stack the box against us and that we have weapons on the outside, too.”
Bear provided a funny sound bite when he was asked about Kingston’s emergence in the offense.
“Yeah, it has been great,” Bear said. “He is a great receiver and he is shifty as H-E-double hockey stick, and he’s just a great player.”
Asked if he would have used the real word if he was still back at Stanford and not buttoned-down BYU, Bear glanced at the bundle of microphones in front of him Tuesday and smiled.
“Uh, no, I mean, I guess, heck,” he said, drawing laughter. “I will say heck.”
