He thinks BYU doesn’t utilize the tight end enough. Last game he was targeted 6 times. I am frankly a bit sick of these kids (that’s what they are) who think they should be the star. Holker is a good player but maybe not as good as he thinks he is.
He has already left the team and will finish the semester and then leave BYU. Since he has only played 3 games he can use this as a redshirt year.
I am hesitant to criticize the offensive coaches because they have done a good job …. Not great job …. This year with the game plans. It appears that the OLine was over hyped but that happens at BYU with the media more than i can count over the years. But it is concerning that Holker is a very good route runner and the offense doesn’t appear to focus primary routes on the TE’s. With our top 2 receivers out of the game you would think that the TE’s would get more balls. They are very good at exploiting the middle seams. But the O line has done a very good job in pass protection this year vs the running game. Usually the TE’s get more balls when the pass rush tends to get in the face of the QB. The Oregon game was fine for TE targets. But the Baylor game wasn’t. I can see the young man’s point. I do think he is a good player.
He is a good player but it seems pre-mature to me for him to be transferring. Often these guys that transfer don’t find a better situation.
He has caught 9 passes in 3 games sharing the TE spot with Rex and often being on the field at the same time. That’s a fair number of receptions for an alternate. Rex is really good when healthy. Maybe Holker thinks he should be the guy. From reading the article and reading between the lines I wonder if his dad is pushing this.
He only caught 1 pass against Baylor but every game is different. He caught 3 against USF. I am not sure I see the problem.
Yes he was targeted 6 times in Oregon…
How many times did he touch the ball in the USF game? “3” Rex had 2
How many times did he touch the ball in the Baylor game “1” Rex had 1.
So the space in three games, the tight ends had a total of 14 catches (Holker had 10 catches and Rex had 4) I can see his point.
In Lavell days, the Tight ends were utilized for the short yard through the middle of the field.
I think that Roderick needs to listen to his players and utilize the Tight ends better. Utah is killing it with their tight ends.
Actually Rex has 5 receptions per ESPN stats and Holker has 9. Maybe Rex is the one who should have a beef. Athletes have egos and if they are good they tend to want to be the guy and if there is competition for playing and sharing the glory it seems to be a trend these days to pick up your ball and go home.
I am commenting on the usage of the TE’s in general in this offense. Not the transferring issue. He is probably upset about targets and he might not be thinking correctly but I do think we are underutilizing the TE’s particularly with our 2 best wideouts being MIA.
Your right, but according to CougarStats: BYU Football Holker has 10.
The point is that they relay on the WR’s too much and the TE’s too little.
Think back to the days of the Glory years, we had famous TE like "Hudson, Lewis, Ituli, Pitta, George, etc… All were a big part of the offense during those seasons… Now the past two years, they are hardly used.
Good point, whatever happened to the 5-10 yards “middle of the field” throws?
I agree about the lack of useage of TE. But, are defenses thinking the same thing with our WR situation as well and defending the TE too?
That pass okay to the TE on the extra point was a poorly thrown pass. It looks like we don’t practice lob passes to TEs. Hmmm.
Regardless, a very selfish thing by Holker since he is being targeted. The player who has a real beef is McChesney. Recruited by Alabama and sits. He should get a chance now that Brooks and Katoa aren’t hitting the right holes, hesitant and little power or speed.
Good riddance Holker. If Utah is doing so well without you, why would they use you?
Okay, for those stats geeks out there and to prove what Thawk was saying:
BYU has played 3 games so far. within the game BYU has thrown 117 passes of which 78 were caught.
Of those passes caught, it breaks down as follows:
Tight Ends caught 14 passes for a 17% of the completed passes
Wide Receivers caught 46 for a 59% of the completed passes
Running Backs caught 16 passes for a 20% of the completed passes.
The other two completion were to Jaren Hall.
So based on these statistics, Tight ends are the “THIRD” option.
I am really thinking he is selfish, but wants the coaches to use the Tight Ends more. I would like to think that he has talked to the coaches about his concerns only to be ignored. So he wants to go to a place that utilizes Tight ends more. Notice he did not say “to get more PT”.
To back that up, look at the statistics I posted.
As for your McChessney comments, I am not sure I would agree with him having a “beef”, but I will admit that I think the coaches made a serious mistake by putting Brooks ahead of him. I am not really impressed with his ability to hit the hole and explode through it like Aligiers and McChessney did last year.
People are blaming the O-line, which to some extent I agree, but they can only hold the hole open for so long, and it is the RB that needs to hit that hole fast and hard.
Kotoa is a different style runner than either other two, more of a outside the box runner.
Such a Christ like way of expressing your opinion…
I hadn’t looked up the stats. But good job. That proves my point.
Sometimes you just have to be honest. His attitude is a disease for BYU. As I would say to cancer leaving, good riddance! As a member of the Church, good luck. The love of money has infiltrated some of the players. He could go play for Low level team and still not get the stats he wants. Like Rodney Jenkins at Northern Arizona.
You might want to check your stats. On BYU Sports Nation, they gave 19 receptions out of 78 passes to the TE. That’s 25% of the completions. Hall also spreads the ball around trying to make everyone happy. I hope he learns from this that his job isn’t to make everyone happy. It’s to complete passes and win games. Next man up and I don’t see BYU doing worse without Holker. So, if his family is pushing him to leave and get more time, there’s the door. Don’t let the door hit him in the butt.
Times have changed. Get over it. Y’all sound like a bunch of old men complaining and wishing for “the good ol’ days” Just look at the positives today. I say good luck to Mr Holker. I appreciate you being on the team and especially dedicating 2 years of your life by serving a mission when so many are choosing not to.
Agree on McChesney tho. Why not try him? He’s always done well. I think coachs thought Brooks was close to Algier. No fault of his but he isn’t. Let’s try a different style.
Your “I think that Roderick needs to listen to his players and utilize the Tight ends better. Utah is killing it with their tight ends.” is the salient statement of this discussion - where you just want to say “Exactly!!”
Utah’s tight ends are probably better than BYU’s tight ends and where did we get to the point that coaches are supposed to coach based on what players think?
I wonder how much Nick Saban listens to players recommendations?
I don’t know what Roderick’s philosophy is as to how much to target the tight ends. I also know that a lot successful teams don’t throw much to the tight ends. There are many different ways to have an explosive offense and you tailor it to suit the talent. Lavell’s
teams usually used the tight end a lot but there were a few years they didn’t so much. It can depend on the QB, the opposing defense, the talent of the tight ends, and so forth. Holker seems to be a classic tweeter, not big for a tight end and not fast enough to be top tier wideout.
If the tight ends have caught 14 passes in 3 games that is a lot less than some years and more than in a few other years.That is still better than 4 times per game and maybe that is enough given the talents of the wideouts on this team. In any event you don’t let a player dictate your game plan.
I watched Sports the other night on the News.
they had Whittingham on and he said something that kind of stuck out. His comment was something like “Over the years I have learned to listen to my players opinions, it has helped resolve many issues with the team”.
Something like that anyways. A good coach will listen to what his players feel and think about.
As an example: The Miracle Bowl in 1980 would never have happened if Coach Edwards did not listen to his QB Jim McMahon. Lavell wanted to punt it on the 4th down, Jim said “in his special way” that they should go for it… The rest is the “miracle”.
Having watched both, I believe BYU Tight Ends (Holker and Rex) are a step above the Ute Tight ends ( Kuithe, Kincaid).
The difference in my opinion is how they are utilized.