BYU could lose its top 2 wide receivers after the season? Chase Roberts explains

31 Oct 2024, 23:05 by Sean Walker, KSL.com · KSL.com

Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes

PROVO — There's no lack of successes from the BYU football season: From a top-10 national ranking for the first time in four years to Big 12 title contention with only four games remaining, to a potential College Football Playoff berth.

But all good things must come to an end, eventually, even for No. 9 BYU (8-0, 5-0 Big 12).

One of BYU's top wide receivers confirmed on the latest episode of the school collective's Royal Blue podcast that he was "leaning more towards leaving" for the NFL draft at the end of the season.

Asked if "this was it" on the podcast, Chase Roberts confirmed that 2024 will — in the highest likelihood, at least — be his final season of college football.

"I'm finishing up school, and it's time to move on," Roberts said in an episode recorded after the Cougars' Sept. 28 game against Baylor that dropped Wednesday night. "I think it would take, maybe, an injury — hopefully not — or something to bring me back and bring up that stock for the NFL.

"But the plan is right now to finish the season strong, and then leave."

The Cougars were already set to lose leading receiver Darius Lassiter, whose 504 yards and four touchdowns leads all BYU receivers in 2024. The Eastern Michigan transfer had to sit out the first game of the season in order to earn back a year of eligibility lost due to playing in one game in junior college, so 2024 was always going to be Lassiter's final campaign.

Roberts has a year remaining that he could use to return to BYU after graduating in December. But after the redshirt junior from American Fork has piled up 397 receiving yards and four touchdowns in eight games, the NFL draft buzz around the 6-foot-4, 210-pound wide out has never been higher.

In three seasons of playing time, Roberts has totaled 1,427 yards and 12 touchdowns on 95 receptions in 31 games, including 22 starts. He's averaging 62.1 yards per game in the first eight games of 2024. He was also the highest-graded receiver nationally by Pro Football Focus after the Week 3 win over Wyoming, when Roberts graded out at 91.5 with six catches for 129 yards in a 34-14 win over the Pokes.

Robert's also older than most NFL prospects, having spent two years as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Calgary, Alberta, after high school in 2019-21.

That the information trickled out during BYU's second bye week is, perhaps, the most surprising piece of the news. The Cougars limited media access during the bye week ahead of next weekend's rivalry game against Utah, with only head coach Kalani Sitake made available during a 27-minute interview session Monday after the Cougars' 37-24 win over UCF.

Roberts' future probably wasn't much of a mystery, based on how the season has been going for BYU — and especially not if the Cougars can finish out the campaign with a double-digit win total, a Big 12 championship, or even CFP berth.

It's just now "officially official," as they say — or as close as it may be with four games remaining.

With both teams on a bye week, BYU and Utah (4-4, 1-4 Big 12) will kick off next Saturday at Rice-Eccles Stadium (8:15 p.m. MST, ESPN) in what will likely be Roberts' final rivalry game.

BYU could lose its top 2 wide receivers after the season? Chase Roberts explains

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