Tight Ends
On 6/23/15, Jay Yeomans of the Desert News listed the 25 most all time great
Tight Ends at BYU. From his list, I took the top 20 to save time, paper, and Ink jets. My computer will not let me print the one page regarding the tight end, without printing several pages of blogger comments about the player.
The article left me with some questions:
-
At BYU, over the past 30 years (+/-), do we recruit the best Tight Ends in our
History or do those tight ends become great tight ends because of the coaching
they get and because of the play calling that lets them show off their greatness? -
Taking the last (+/-) 30 years, why is it that all of the greatest tight ends came
from those recruited by Lavel Edwards with16 of them, Gary Crowton during his
brief stay with 3 of them. Bronco only shared time with a couple of these guys
that Gary brought in. (2004 not positive if they were recruited in 2003 by Crowton or
in 2004 that could have been either Crowton or Bronco. -
Do tight ends get recognized for their greatness by the blocking they do or by
the passes they catch and yards they travel and by touch downs they make? -
Were we at our best during the Lavel Edwards Era when we had the best Tight
Ends in our History, catching passes, running with the caught ball, and making
touch downs, or are we better now that we use our tight ends more like an
additional Right Tackle? -
When we had something that worked well for us, ( Catching Tight Ends), why
did we change it for something that does not work as well for us,
( blocking tight ends) ?
6A. Does anyone remember the names:
Dennis Pitta (2004)(Mission 2005-6)
returned 2007-9? He was ranked #2
I’m not sure if he was brought in by Gary Crowton or Bronco.
He had 221 receptions for 2,901 yards and 21 touch downs. He was explosive.
6B. Johnnie Harline (2004-06) He was ranked #5 and was with us during the
same time that Dennis Pitta was with us. Wow, what an exciting time that was
for tight ends. Johnnie had 121 receptions for 1,788 yards and 17 touch
downs.
6C. Itula Mili (1991) (1992 -93 mission) (1994-96) was ranked at # 8 and was of
the Lavel Edwards Era. He had 125 receptions for 1,763 yards and 11
touchdowns.
6D. Chad Lewis (1993-96) was ranked #10 and he was in the Lavel Edwards Era.
He caught 111 passes for 1,376 yards and 10 touch downs.
He was a regular at the Cougar Club meetings before the games started. I got
to meet him and his wife and children many times before he left for the NFL.
He also became a big success in the NFL.
6E Andrew George (2005-09) was ranked # 13 and was brought in at the end of
the Crowton era and start of the Bronco era. I’m not sure which coach gets the
credit for this one. He had many catches and many yards and touchdowns.
I don’t have the exact figures on this one.
6F Doug Jolly was a Lavel Edwards man (1997-2001) ranked # 14. Again I do not
have the figures, but I do remember him having many receptions for many yards
and many touch downs.
6G. Daniel Coats ( 2002-2006) Crowton Era, ranked #15, had many receptions for
many yards and many touchdowns, While I don’t have the figures on him, I do
remember his as an explosive player on the team.
I listed the 7 tight ends that I remember best.
I think that my biggest question is:
Why is it that we have had great receptions with great yardage and great tough downs for almost every era from the 1970’ until 2006, but in the past 9 years, we have not used our tight ends for much more than blocking?
Nobody in the past 9 years have reached this list of greatness among our Tight Ends. That to me, is very sad and seems to be a trend towards our decline falling behind our once peer group of Arizona (WAC/Pac 8/10); and Arizona State (Wac Pac 8/10); TCU (MWC/Big 12); Utah (MWC Pac 10/12); and we are not wondering about Boise State (WAC/MWC/BCS BOWLS/ RANKED TEAM) and we wonder if
Utah State is catching up with us.
Yes, we are improving, but not as much as the teams that we use to be equal with or better.
If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it. If it doesn’t work, change it.