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BYU Position Rankings: BYU's Tight Ends Appear to be as Advertised
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- BYU Position Rankings: BYU's Tight Ends Appear to be as Advertised
BYU tight end Walker Lyons at Spring Camp | BYU Photo
We continue our position previews with a controversial spot on the roster. If you have followed BYU football over the last 5 years, you have either heard or held the opinion that BYU doesn't use their tight ends enough. If Carsen Ryan's incredible 2025 season didn't put that narrative to rest, 2026 will almost assuredly.
Projected depth chart:
1. Walker Lyons
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2. Roger Saleapaga
Strengths: Talent
There is an argument that tight end is the most talented position on the roster for BYU. Both Lyons and Saleapaga were 4-star prospects in their prospective classes. They drew attention from the highest levels of the sport with a combined 55 scholarship offers between them. Both come to BYU from the Big Ten, with all the talent to make a massive splash in an offense revamped to fit their skillset.
As sophomores, Lyons was 5th in targets on a loaded USC pass-catching corps. Saleapaga cracked the rotation in perhaps the best tight end room in the country at Oregon last season, thanks to his abilities as a blocker. Don't let that trick you into believing Saleapaga's coming here to be BYU's 6th offensive linemen. He has shown freakish athleticism and sticky hands such that we are sorely tempted to predict he could end up being BYU's leading receiver by season's end.
Aaron Roderick is on record saying that these two are two of the best football players on the team, and we are inclined to take his word. That and we have eyes and can see that these two have the most NFL upside BYU has had in the tight end room since Dennis Pitta and Andrew George.
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Still need to prove: BYU can consistently operate in the pass game in 12 personnel
We haven't really seen BYU run a ton of two tight end sets in the pass game since Aaron Roderick took over as offensive coordinator. Since 2020, BYU has had 2 tight ends with 20+ targets only once (2021). For BYU's offense to operate at full capacity, Roderick will likely need to find a way to generate double those targets for 2 players that theoretically occupy the same space. Aaron Roderick has done a fantastic job at adapting his offenses over the years to match BYU's best personnel, but this appears to be the final frontier for what can be done in a BYU offense under his control.
Position group ranking: 8 of 10
BYU tight end Walker Lyons at Spring Camp | BYU Photo
The fact that BYU's tight ends rank 8th in our ranking says far more about the talent on the rest of the roster than it does about the tight ends. While Lyons and Saleapaga are supremely talented, they still haven't shown they are capable of handling 40+ targets each, nor has BYU shown they are capable of providing that. Still, BYU will have no choice but to try as these are arguably the two of the more proven pass catchers on the roster.
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If BYU hits on both tight ends, BYU goes from needing 3-4 receivers to emerge to 1-2. I feel far more comfortable with the latter scenario than the former. On paper, having 2 tight ends with NFL upside is the perfect recipe for an offense built to run the ball with a healthy side of intermediate throws off play-action. Fans should salivate at the idea of BYU coming out in 12 personnel with equal possibility of beating opponents on the ground or through the air. But games are not played on paper, and until we see it on the field, all the praise heaped on this tight end room is merely theoretical.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/byu as BYU Position Rankings: BYU's Tight Ends Appear to be as Advertised .
