{"id":817816,"date":"2026-03-17T21:14:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T21:14:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/817816\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T21:14:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T21:14:34","slug":"young-receivers-impressing-during-spring-football-camp-deseret-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/817816\/","title":{"rendered":"Young receivers impressing during spring football camp \u2013 Deseret News"},"content":{"rendered":"

After two of their top three pass-catchers from the 2025 football season, Chase Roberts and Carsen Ryan, exhausted their eligibility and headed off for a shot in the NFL, the BYU Cougars quickly signed Oregon\u2019s Kyler Kasper<\/a> and USC\u2019s Walker Lyons<\/a> out of the transfer portal.<\/p>\n

It appeared that the Cougars were ready to give returning quarterback Bear Bachmeier all the weapons he would need to replicate his standout performance in 2025.<\/p>\n

Then BYU\u2019s top receiver last year, Parker Kingston, was charged with felony rape last month and subsequently kicked off the team and out of school<\/a> as he awaits trial in Utah\u2019s 5th District Court.<\/p>\n

Will the Cougars try to replace the dynamic receiver and punt returner in 2026?<\/p>\n

That does not appear likely, receivers coach and passing game coordinator Fesi Sitake told the Deseret News earlier this month after the Cougars had held four spring practices.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cNope, no plans to do that,\u201d Sitake said. \u201cBetween the depth that we have from last year, Kyler Kasper, and the freshmen we brought in, we should be fine.\u201d <\/p>\n

The most experienced returning guys are JoJo Phillips (14 catches, 161 yards), Cody Hagen (12 catches, 97 yards)<\/a> and Bear\u2019s brother, Tiger Bachmeier (seven catches, 69 yards). Reggie Frischknecht, who had one catch for seven yards, and Tei Nacua, who appeared in five games last year<\/a> but did not record a catch, are also on the spring camp roster.<\/p>\n

The freshmen whom Sitake referenced that are already enrolled and going through spring workouts are returned missionary Jett Nelson, Lehi all-stater Legend Glasker and Terrance Saryon, a speedster from Portland.<\/p>\n

\u201cBetween the depth that we have from last year, Kyler Kasper, and the freshmen we brought in, we should be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0BYU receivers coach Fesi Sitake<\/p>\n

\u201cI know they are freshmen, but there are some ready-made guys who I think, if they stay on their trajectory, can fill in any type of void we have,\u201d Sitake said. \u201cSo I am excited for the depth we have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phillips, a redshirt junior who missed six games last year due to injury, has yet to meet expectations through three injury-riddled seasons at BYU. However, the former three-star recruit from California\u2019s Sierra Canyon High had a breakout game, of sorts, in the Cougars\u2019 win over Georgia Tech in the Pop-Tarts Bowl with four grabs for 53 yards.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoJo is kind of the leader of the group right now,\u201d Sitake said. \u201c\u2026 When he came back he kind of had a two-game funk he had to get over. Then the bowl game came and he was great. He kind of showcased who he is. So we feel very confident that as long as JoJo stays healthy, he is going to do what we thought he was on track to do last year if the injury hadn\u2019t happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sitake said Phillips, who had 10 catches for 211 yards and two touchdowns in 2024, has also \u201cpicked up the rifle\u201d in the absence of Roberts and Kingston and is mentoring all the young guys in the receivers room.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I am ready (to shine) now,\u201d Phillips said last week. \u201cI am going into Year 4 now, which is crazy. It went by really fast. I learned a lot from Chase, learned a lot from Darius (Lassiter) and Keelan (Marion) and just all the older guys who came through here, and I feel like I am ready to break out, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phillips said the performance in the 25-21 win over Georgia Tech helped him gain his confidence back.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not gonna lie, my confidence was kind of going down a little bit with me coming back, dropping balls and just not playing well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Conversely, Hagen did not look great in the bowl game, and muffed a kickoff that enabled Tech to score an easy touchdown.<\/p>\n

\u201cCody\u2019s confidence is still high,\u201d Sitake said. \u201cHe was able to shake that off, even within the game. But it has made him hungry. He\u2019s a super competitive guy, and he\u2019s gonna be better because of that. He\u2019s rolling a lot with the ones right now, and he\u2019s playing with a lot of confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sitake said Tei Nacua, the brother of Los Angeles Rams star receiver Puka Nacua<\/a>, is doing \u201cawesome\u201d in camp as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s turning a really big corner right now, not just in football, but in every way,\u201d Sitake said of the 6-foot-2 redshirt sophomore from Provo\u2019s Timpview High. \u201cSo if he stays doing what he\u2019s doing, he will play a lot for us this fall.\u201d<\/p>\n

The aforementioned Glasker, who is the cousin of BYU standout linebacker Isaiah Glasker, is also turning some heads in camp. The 6-1, 175-pounder who was a three-star prospect at Lehi High last fall, has already made some phenomenal catches, Sitake said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLegend absolutely has a chance to play this fall,\u201d Sitake said. \u201cHe\u2019s on a great track right now. I would say up to this point he has had the best spring of anybody in my room. I\u2019m just really excited for him. He knows what things he needs to do to keep inching his way up to play a lot of meaningful reps for us this fall.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"BYU wide receiver Tei Nacua (0) greets fans as he and the rest of the Cougars make their entrance during the Cougar Walk before a game against the UCF Knights held at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After two of their top three pass-catchers from the 2025 football season, Chase Roberts and Carsen Ryan, exhausted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":817817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[7,3309],"class_list":{"0":"post-817816","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-news-feed-local"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116246589198995493","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=817816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/817817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=817816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=817816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}