No. 11 BYU is starting to look like it has something rare at tight end: two players who can change a game at the same time.
That’s not been the Cougars’ usual setup. BYU has produced plenty of standout tight ends over the years - Gordon Hudson, Chris Smith, Dennis Pitta, Clay Brown, Matt Bushman, Isaac Rex and Carsen Ryan among them - but finding two top-tier options in the same room has been a different story. The last time the Cougars were truly stacked there was back when Pitta and Andrew George teamed up from 2007-09 and piled up more than 3,700 receiving yards and 32 touchdowns.
This group is still early in its story, with only six quarters of evidence so far, but Walker Lyons and Roger Saleapaga II have already made a case that they could be one of the best tandem acts BYU has ever had at the position. Lyons has five catches for 44 yards.
Saleapaga has three grabs for 28 yards. And just as important, coaches have pointed to the way both have handled the dirty work in the run game.
BYU leaned heavily on 12 personnel - one running back, two tight ends - in its 63-7 win over Utah Tech, using Lyons and Saleapaga to maximize what each does best. Neither tight end played in the second half of that blowout, but the pairing was still central to how the Cougars want to operate.
“I think it’s a lot of fun to play alongside Roger because we just make each other better,” Lyons said on Tuesday. “Actually, it is just fun to be part of this entire offense. There’s a lot we can do with (12 personnel) so it’s exciting.”
Saleapaga echoed that theme before the Utah Tech game, saying the two are still figuring out how to fit together while pushing toward the same goal.
“Obviously, it’s college football, and I feel like me and Walker have the same goal, and that’s just to win,” Saleapaga said. “We truly believe that with team success comes individual success. So it’s been fun playing alongside Walker.”
Both are listed at 6-foot-4, with Lyons at 245 pounds and Saleapaga at 235, and both have given BYU a different kind of presence at the spot. That depth is part of the appeal, too.
Lyons and Saleapaga have both talked up the rest of the room, including Noah Moeaki, Keayen Nead and Will Zundel. Coaches and players are also high on redshirt freshman Jacob Nye, though he has been out with an injury.
When fall camp hit its second week, offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick didn’t hide how he viewed the position group.
“This is the best tight end group we’ve had since I’ve been here, as a group, and Roger and Walker are two of our best players,” Roderick said. “They will play in the game together a lot. They are a big part of what we are doing.”
That assessment comes with some weight. Roderick arrived at BYU in 2018, when Dallin Holker and Matt Bushman were in the room and just before Isaac Rex went on to become the school’s all-time leader in touchdown catches by a tight end.
Holker later transferred to Colorado State and led all tight ends nationally with 64 receptions in 2023, earning second-team All-America honors. Now he’ll be on the other sideline when the Rams host BYU on Saturday at Canvas Stadium in Fort Collins, with kickoff set for 5:30 p.m.
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Lyons’ path to Provo has carried some extra weight of its own. He spent two seasons at USC, playing in 23 games and catching 20 passes for 223 yards and two touchdowns in 2025.
As a freshman, after returning from a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Norway, he played in 11 games and made three starts. A former four-star recruit from Folsom High in Northern California, Lyons was rated the No. 2 tight end in the country by ESPN, No. 4 by Rivals.com and No. 9 by 247Sports.
He turned down BYU, Utah, Georgia and others in 2023 before signing with USC, so finally running out at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Cougar colors carried a particular meaning. Lyons, whose father Tim played defensive back for BYU in 1996 and 1997, said the moment felt “surreal.”
“It was a moment I had always envisioned at some point in my life. It was cool just to be able to have that and to feel that,” he said, adding that the feeling reminded him of his first run through the tunnel at the Coliseum before his first USC home game.
“They’re both super iconic venues. They’re both fun, but the energy at LES is pretty electric,” he said.
For Lyons, the early part of the season has been about doing the work that doesn’t always show up in the numbers.
“I feel like I’ve been good at just doing my job, doing what has been asked of me, whether that’s run blocking, pass blocking, running a route,” he said. “Whatever it is, I feel like I have executed pretty well.”
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