Imagine being over 6-foot-6, possessing some remarkable speed and fast-twitch muscle fiber that allows you to be shifty and explosive as a receiver.
Now imagine your job involves being moved all around in an offensive football formation, from wide out on the field side to wide out on the boundary to playing the slot.
This is what gets Oregon transfer wide receiver Kyler Kasper excited about BYU’s upcoming 2026 football season.
“It’s amazing. You know, we’ve got a week and a half to go and then game week, and I’m ready to go,” said Kasper after the final major practice session of fall camp.
The last time Kasper was measured, he was 6-6 ¼.
“I’m actually over 6-6. I hope I haven’t grown since the last time I was measured. I’m good where I’m at,” he said.
Kasper’s height and reach give him a unique catch radius as a football receiver.
If you are a 6-foot-1 or even a 6-foot-2 cornerback covering Kasper and a pass turns out to be a jump ball? Well, good luck.
But Kasper at 6-foot-6 isn’t the whole story.
Cougars wide receivers coach Fesi Sitake told reporters this fall his receiver room has the most skilled depth of any group he’s had at BYU.
The Cougars can put out a pair of Power Four-experienced tight ends who are both 6-foot-4 in Walker Lyons (USC transfer) and Roger Saleapaga II (Oregon transfer) in what they call two-tight end 12 personnel.
Then, the offense could insert 6-foot-4 receiver Reggie Frischknecht as the slot receiver or put Kasper on the other side of the formation with 6-foot-5 receiver Jojo Phillips, or split out either Lyons or Saleapaga and put Kasper in the slot and split out Frischknecht and Phillips.
Or they could put Lyons or Saleapaga in the slot, or put one with his hands in the turf for protection or a pass route and move the other tight end into the backfield for max protection or as a lead blocker for reigning Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year LJ Martin.
If you are a defensive coordinator seeing all this, or a defender on the field who sees BYU’s offense shift into any of these formations, well, it’s a shell game. Kind of a quandary. Where is the mismatch? Whose got the 6-foot-6 ¼ guy?
Kasper said he doesn’t care if the corner, safety or linebacker covering him is 5-foot-9, 6 feet, 6-foot-1 or 6-foot-6. He just wants to play and show what he can do.
The tall receiver corps? Unusual? Kind of crazy? Has Kasper ever been around teammates who are supposed to catch who are that tall?
“No, not me. I have not,” he said. “Not at Oregon. We were definitely not this tall. I have not been on or even seen a team this big.”
Kasper said he’s been on board and has been plugged in slowly to BYU’s offense since he arrived from Eugene nursing a foot injury after going in the transfer portal.
“Obviously, we did a good job of slowly working me back into it, coming in. I mean, I was healthy, but just being smart about the whole process,” Kasper said.
“Since I’ve been going forward, we’ve been taking advantage of using me across the whole field. It’s been good. I’ve been loving it.”
Kasper said when he came to BYU he wasn’t told he’d just being playing the X receiver spot.
“They were like, ‘We want to see you play. We want to see what you can do. We want to see if you can move,’ and I’ve been able to do all that and show them everything I can do.”
To date, Kasper said he’s been moved around, “doing what I came in to do so far.”
As far as the entire offense, from the O-line to the running backs, tight ends and other receivers, Kasper said he stands impressed and somewhat surprised.
“It’s good. I think we’re a lot better than, honestly, I thought we were going to be, and in spring ball, we were kind of getting everyone in and out, just making sure that everyone learned the playbook,” he said.
“But now that we are actually able to kind of dial in on how we’re going to run it in games and feature certain people and dial in the offense, it’s been real impressive to me. I did not know we were going to be able to go and do the things that we’ve been doing.”
Kasper said quarterback Bear Bachmeier is looking great.
“I mean, he’s already progressed so much since even spring ball when it comes to reading the defense and just feeling comfortable throwing us the ball and just his timing with us,” Kasper said. “Everything has gotten way better. It’s been impressive.”
Kasper said that, with Bachmeier, it is not “night and day” better as a quarterback, but it’s pretty close since he’s entered the program from Oregon.
“He looks way better. He’s more in shape generally and looks ready to go for the season after having to just jump in and go last year.”
Kasper said BYU’s defense is the real deal, so any success the offense is having is going up against defenders who are good.
“I think overall in fall camp, we’ve got the upper hand on them, but they have come in some days and shut us down,” Kasper said.
“We’ve got a good interior, we have good backers and we’ve got a real solid defense so I’m excited to see them go up against a different team and be able to go full out.”
The Cougars open the season Sept. 5 at home against Utah Tech.
It will be interesting to see these BYU men on stilts catch balls.
