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Bear Bachmeier has a nice ramp to begin his college career at BYU. As the first true freshman starter to begin a season in Provo, he’ll have two winnable games at home and a Big 12 schedule that many believe to be one of the easiest in the league in 2025.
While time will tell if this experiment works, offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick can always go back to experienced and talented McCae Hillstead if needed. But many experts believe Bachmeier has the brains and talent to pull this off as a true freshman.
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An undertold story of fall practice is how all three QBs faced a very good and disruptive defense every session.
Question of the week
Is BYU’s receiving corps capable of playing at a high level this season? What are reasonable expectations?
Jay Drew: A lot of people, most notably BYU receivers coach Fesi Sitake, are high on the Cougars’ receiving corps this season. I will mostly agree with them, with a couple of reservations. Aside from Chase Roberts, there’s no high-producing receiver in the room. That could be a problem, as Roberts almost assuredly draws plenty of double teams.
JoJo Phillips has a lot of talent and a huge upside, but has never really done a lot in actual games. Same goes for Parker Kingston, WR3, although obviously the talented speedster from Roy is an outstanding kick and punt returner.
Getting Tiger Bachmeier out of Stanford was huge for Sitake, and the graduate transfer with two seasons of eligibility remaining has shown well in media viewing portions of practices. Don’t be surprised if Bachmeier becomes BYU’s second-most productive receiver in 2025.
He’s not a receiver, but tight end Carsen Ryan is poised to have a huge season. Keep an eye on him. I also think that Cody Hagen and Tei Nacua will play substantial roles, if they remain healthy. Both seem to be the future of the position at BYU.
Of course, little of this matters if QB1 can’t deliver the ball to these guys. That should always be kept in mind when discussing receiver performance in 2025. Just ask some of those guys from 2017 when nobody seemed capable of getting them the ball after Tanner Mangum got hurt.
Dick Harmon: BYU receivers are going to struggle hard. Check that, I think they will actually be just fine, maybe even very good. Why? Because Fesi Sitake has done a great job recruiting, developing, training and preparing his receiver room over the years. Look at Chase Roberts, see what he did bringing in Keelan Marion and Darius Lassiter. Remember what he did with Neil Pau’u, Dax Milne and Gunner Romney? I liked what Aleva Hifo and Talon Shumway did.
There is some young talent surrounding Roberts that only needs the chance to prove themselves and I think they’ll do fine. I think Cody Hagen and Tiger Bachmeier will join Tei Nacua in opening some eyes and don’t forget how a more mature, bigger and faster Parker Kingston might be.
But the biggest X-factor for the receivers is how Aaron Roderick and Fesi will use Carsen Ryan as a tight end, H-back and detached receiver off the line. I expect he will be used along with Roberts to set up defenses and that will free up some of the younger players. Phillips is talented, Hagen has sprinter speed, and can get deep. Of course, all this depends on the O-line and a new QB. It’s an 11-man offense, and all must step up. What I’m asserting here is that Fesi finds a way.
Cougar tales
With Kalani Sitake taking BYU through its final week of fall camp in preparation for its Aug. 30 opener against Portland State, here is a collection of Deseret News camp coverage and issues surrounding the program:
From the archives
From X-verse
Extra points
Fanalysts
Comments from Deseret News readers:
Shouldn’t matter who starts for the first few games, BYU could just run the ball on every play and win (should win); however getting the young kid some experience playing under the lights, running the huddle, seeing how the D lines up and reacts sure can’t hurt.
— Packers
What would you rather have?
1) An inexperienced QB or experienced proven front line
2) An experienced QB and inexperienced front line
BYU is in good hands.
— Legion_of_Many
Up next
- Aug. 23 | 3 p.m. |women’s volleyball | @ Idaho State
- Aug. 23 |7 p.m. | women’s soccer | UCLA
- Aug. 29 | 12 p.m. | women’s volleyball | FDU
- Aug. 29 | 12 p.m. | women’s volleyball | Central Michigan
- Aug. 29 | 7 p.m. | women’s soccer | Auburn
- Aug. 30 | 6 p.m. | football | Portland State
- Sept. 6 | 8:15 p.m. | football | Stanford
