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Stop for a little keeping up with Cougar's gonna try
to get on the line with a former Bway Great
tight End Desacs and BWAU Football, BAU Springball and what
it takes to be a great tight end in BAU
football history. It's gonna be brought to you by Odion Men'swear.
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coupon code. So what does it take to be a
great tight end to BWAU football history. We'll try to
get to Byron Rex on the line, number ninety five
to six foot two, tondred and forty pounds out a
two hundred forty pounds out of bell Flower, California. Came
to Brigham balled out. He was a great basketball player
as well in high school and earned letters in track,
was All Conference two years in football and basketball, All
City and football and basketball. Senior year Athlete of the
Year at Bellflower High School. In his BYU football career,
eighty six receiving receptions excuse excuse me. He played in
twenty four games, started I believe twenty two of those,
and then he had I think one two hundred and
twenty three receiving yards seven touchdowns. Became kind of an
iconic figure in the early nineties receiving passes from Ty
Depmer and others along the way. So really good football
player that knows a thing or two about ball, and
he's created some great BYU football players that have come
through the program. Isaac the Elk Rex one of the
best tight ends at BAU football history, as well as
Preston Rex, who has been a safety defensive back and
has now converted over to running back. Let's welcome in
the former BA great number ninety five on the football field,
but number one in our hearts. Today we got Byron
Rex on the line. Byron, how that are you, buddy? Ben?
Speaker 3: I'm doing great?
Speaker 2: How are you doing doing fantastic?
Speaker 3: Man?
Speaker 2: It's it's springball, man. Forget March madness. I'm all about
Camp Killani twenty twenty six.
Speaker 3: No, for sure, it's never not football season. Even in
during March manage, they get about four days out of
the year. The rest is ours for football, So.
Speaker 2: No doubt about it. You were a hooper though growing Byron, Like,
was it tough for you to kind of transition from
you know, I know you had a love for hoops.
Like when did you know you were a football guy
rather than a basketball guy?
Speaker 3: Well, you're every tight end and Dennis Pitt and I
play basketball a couple times a week together. Every tight
end is just a frustrated basketball player. I'm just telling
you right now, all of it. I played. Matt Bushman
was supposed to play with us last night, but Matt
could have make it down. But Matt plays with us obviously.
Dennis and I play together a lot, but we're just
all frustrated basketball players. You happen to play football, and
so the crossover is amazing. The cross training of a
sport is perfect. So if you want to play receiver, well,
really any position, but if you want to play receiver,
a tight end definitely played basketball. Chase Roberts will tell
you the same thing. Great Hooper as well. So we
played with a lot of the guys and they're all
good basketball players.
Speaker 2: So who's the best former BAYU football player at basketball
that you've played with?
Speaker 3: Myself first, and then Fuka would probably be second. Yes,
so we played together. Zach's really good, Isaac can play.
Dennis obviously can play, so people can't play. Don't let
him tell you anything different. Is Dylan and Austin Colley
are not basketball players, Okay, really good, very clear, really
athletes jump out of gym. No, Austin fancies himself with Hooper,
but not as good as he thinks he actually is,
which which is what makes him great. You think he's
better than he actually is.
Speaker 2: Really, I thought Austin was was decent. But yeah, but
Dennis is a good player. Dennis is a good basketball play.
He's got some silky smooth action to him.
Speaker 3: He's very good. Yeah, he's very good. And he always
he's guarding all the ex college basketball guys when we play.
He's like, I'm not Garden. We play with a guy
named Jak who we play a lot. I think he
played it, I know Staate or somewhere, but really good. Young.
He's still young, like just finish playing like two or
three years ago. I make Dennis guard him every time
we play, because Dennis the only one can handle him.
So Dennis is a really really good player. But don't
tell him I told you that, and I'll send you
video to prove that I'm better than him. I got it.
I got it on tape.
Speaker 2: Well, I remember how good Isaac was in his heyday two.
You're not getting an He loved Isaac and he was
a good hooper.
Speaker 3: No, Isaac's different because I thought if Isaac was going
to play and we raised him to play basketball just
in case, you know, if it wasn't a football thing,
he could shoot it better than any of the guys
that I'm telling you. Now. His ankle has not done
him any favors, But Isaac's the best three point shooter.
I'm talking little guys, big guys anything. Zach's okay, but
Isaac can shoot it like nobody's business. So he's the
best shooter. And at six five sixty six, you know,
if he were to concentrate on the sport, had I
known he've been that tall, we might have spent more
time doing it. But football was an easier route for us.
So anyway, but yeah, I love the sport of basketball, Love.
Speaker 2: It, love it. Man? Will we you disappointed in the
one and done? Were your expectations a little bit? Or
were you kind of liking that, like pessimistic mode when
they entered the NC Douable Tournament, kind of like setting
yourself up, like you didn't want to be two disappointed.
They're like, oh, they're probably gonna be one and done.
Speaker 3: No, it's great about that is I was so optimistic
the whole season, right, and then one of our guys
gets hurt, and then I was so pessimistic, and then
I like, go into the tournament or the big pal tournament, right,
and we would forget. I'm like, I'm back on forward.
We're going, And of course in my bracket, I take
them in the sweet sixteen on heart alone. And then
as soon as Texas won. I was like, uh, oh,
this big dude is going to give us truck problems,
right because we're not super long. We're very athletic, but
we weren't super long, and I'm like, this guy's going
to give us issues. And I was more worried about
our point guard around the rim being able to finish
with that big inside guard in the rim. So that
was my pessimistic side that kind of came out, and
that kind of played it for and then you know,
AJ kind of got tired, which I get, you know
what I mean, like, how do you not get tired?
You would carrying us? But yeah, you know, as soon
as our leader went down, it was going to be
a real tough road to hope.
Speaker 2: No doubt about it. Byron Rex, former Bucket Getter former
BYU great tight end here on your Utah ESPN Radio
networking of Keeping up with the Cougar segment brought to
you by Odeon Men's Where Odeon Min'swear dot Com. Have
you done the bench press tests yet in your Odeon suit?
Have we seen that the two twenty five bench press
in your Sports Performance elevatesuit yet?
Speaker 3: No? But I'm doing a different thing First of all, Odeon,
thank you very much. They're awesome. I love their suit.
I wore it to an awards dinner for work where
I won a nice trip to Europe, and I got
more compliments on that suit than I've gotten in years.
So I want to like shout out to Odeon and
what they're doing, Like awesome, awesome suit fits like a glove.
But the glove is getting a little bit tighter now
and I'm not sure exactly why it's side and tightening up.
May be from the weight on gaining, but the fact
that it's flexing with my weight gain around the waist
really shows a lot of what Odia could do. If
it can flex like that, it can definitely flex on
my bench press. So love the suits. Gotta get on
the bench press with it. But it's awesome, like awesome suits.
Love it. Man.
Speaker 2: Hey, what's been your opinion on Camp Koalani. What have
you been hearing thus far about how Camp Killani's going
in twenty twenty six spring ball.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've had a few discussions with guys around the program,
a couple of coaches, so I'm optimistic obviously, you know,
with Preston's position, you know, LJ not going right, guts
Preston some more reps, so, you know, I like that
the young guys or people that maybe aren't a familiar
didn't get as many reps with you know, Bear and
some of the other quarterbacks are getting that opportunity. I
don't think we're who we're going to be. I went
to the first scrimmage, which I thought was great. Klawe
kept the ones and twos up, meaning no tackling to
the ground. Not live but you know, guys end up
on the ground because that's football, and guys end up
a little bit banged up. But I thought everyone moved
pretty well. I was looking forward to seeing Saliapaga right
the tight end righter. Lions moved great, you know from
a tight end perspective, and had a good scrimmage. Actually
had a clutch touchdown for him in the scrimmage. And
then I think Bear looks great, right, he's losing some weight.
I saw Baron Preston came down to Orange County I
don't know Midgell January sometime and I was like, oh, okay,
Bear hasn't been doing much here for the last month
or so. With that ankle. You could tell but we
were talking to his mom. She's awesome, and she's like, yeah,
they want him down to two thirty five, and he
looks like he's getting close to where that's where his
weight is. And obviously he could probably touch weight. But
I thought you looked good. The receivers are unproven. I
thought Tay looked especially fiery and good and competitive. The
other guys, I mean, if they looked the part at
sixty six and six five, you know you you you
could be six five or six six, But you got
to play like your six ten, you know what I'm saying, Like,
you got to just go off. You can't play like
your five to ten. So we'll see how that goes.
That's from an offensive perspective. Defense I wasn't paying as
much attention to, although I know coach Pop is going
to get the most out of those guys on defense.
I'm super excited for the tweaks that he'll make to
the defense. So all in all, I'm super optimistic on
what we got.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what what do you think Preston brings to the
running back room and his skill set because b yu
obviously looking for you know, depth there. He got playing
time last year and looked good in those uh in
those moments, looks pretty scatty quick. He had some injury
issues last year that kind of derailed. I think he
was running with the ones and the two's in fall camp,
then he had the injury, worked his way back into
the lineup, et cetera. But what type of skill set
does he bring? What he's fully healthy, would you.
Speaker 3: Say, yeah, good question, man. Best stability is availability, for instance,
heard that a million times. So we got to stay
healthy there. That's probably one thing that he has to
work on. He certainly is a change of pace guy.
I think Lj's patients, like I have an appreciation for
the game. I hadn't had an appreciation for the actual
running back position that I got last year, right, and
watching LJ his patience is phenomenal. Actually, it's beautiful thing
to watch. He has a good burst, but his patience
and knowing when to burst makes him even faster than
he probably really is, you know, just lining up on
a forty. So Preston's certainly got to work on that.
He did like he could catch the ball, you know,
like a receiver. In fact, that goes without question. He
had a couple of good catches this week, and you know,
he give you all that stuff. So I think he
brings a change of pace to the backfield. He has
to be able to block a backer, right, if you're
going to be in there and we're going pass pro like,
you got to stand up to a backer, and I
thought he did a really good job of that last year.
For someone that's two hundred pounds, right, you know, it's
much easier when you're two twenty five or some of
the other guys. So there are definitely things to work on,
and he's in no way satisfied with either what happened
last year or his role, so he wants to expand
that a little bit. But I think working on his
patience as a runner, making sure he's solid in the
past pro game, knowing his assignments. I think consistency was
the biggest issue, and that stands the reason he's never
lined back lined up in the backfield, you know, ever
in his whole life except for to come out in motion.
So being consistent because he had flashes, no doubt. Utah
Arizona played a ton against Iowa State and then here
comes Texas Tech, you know, the best defense in the country,
and then exposed some of the things that he wasn't
as consistent as you need to be with, but he's
working on it. I think he's going to be Okay.
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, He's got great talent, great football IQ, great ability.
I can't wait to watch him continue to compete in
that running back room. We've been talking a lot about
twelve personnel today and even during camp. Koalani with Rogers,
salle Apago, Walker, Lions, Keia needs in the mix to
really good inline blocking tight end with some skill sets there.
There's a few other guys that are making their way
through the depth chart, et cetera. But what would you say, like,
are are some of the qualities of like a great
tight end and are we going to see a lot
more twelve personnel this season?
Speaker 3: I think with the inexperience a wide receiver at this moment,
I think initially you might see a lot of it,
you know what I mean? And even though Saliapaga and
Lions haven't been in our program, they're gonna have to
pick it up quick. And that'll be the hardest part,
right because Aaron's not going to put up with not
knowing your assignment that that part doesn't fly. I don't
you know. I don't care how talented you are, You've
got to know what you're doing up there. So if
they can get that part down, that might be our
best personnel, especially with LJ coming back of our offensive
line jell just the way it should. But I mean,
versatility is the name of the game, and I think
Walker and Roger can do like everything, you know, So
you got to be able to block somebody, obviously, got
to be able to you know, get downfield, stretch the
field a little bit, patrol the middle, obviously, catch everything.
So there's a lot that goes into playing at sid end.
And if you think about it, they got to know
all the offensive line assignments and this is why I
talk about the mental part of it. And they have
to know all the wide receiver assignments from a passing game, right,
So sometimes if you're an offensive lineman and like, hey
is runner pass? You know? And I'm not gonna simple
by it that easy, but you know what I'm You
know what I mean. But if you're actually, you know,
a tight end, you have to know both the past
game and the run game, and that part is usually
the hardest adjustment. But I'm sure Aaron and coach you
will get those guys straight. But I love twelve personnel,
the versatility over the years and Dallen and Isaac and
you know it's gonna be Matt and Isaac there for
a minute ntil Matt went down and I go way
back to you know when Chad Lewis and he two
Emilia were doing it at the highest of highest levels.
You know, So there's some talent there. I hope they
can take advantage of it, which I'm sure they will.
Speaker 2: Who's your favorite dynamic twelve personnel duo? And be what
your football historying that tight end row? You can't pick yourself, Okay,
you know you can't do that. But outside of yourself,
I know you're you're number one, But outside of yourself,
who is it and why?
Speaker 3: Well, I mean it's super simple to me. It's he
Tulan Chad. Yeah, and I went all pro Chad was
and he two was a twelve year NFL guy. I mean, yeah,
I have to say much more than that before he
twulas and Chad will say the same thing. Before he
Tuola's injury, he was definitely a top two round pick.
And that's after coming out back from his mission that injury.
I think it was either the comparable the Wax championship
that he had when he blew out his knee was
the like one of the saddest things. And you know,
I watched Isaac in the Coliseum blow out his ankle,
you know what I mean, So I see the sad one,
but he Tula was his way up there. But those
I'm biased. I love both those guys. They both I've played.
You know, they were right behind me. Chad was right
right after I came in, and I think he's one
of the greatest men on earth. And the two is
one of my favorite people of all time, and we
played together went before his mission. So I'm certainly biased,
but I think probably you know, longevity in the game
proves that I'm probably right with those two.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's true like that one. I mean, look,
I was a part of the Harleane Coachs era. They
had their time in the NFL and Andrew George Dennis
Pitta era. That was really good one as well, really,
you know what I mean, Like and so you know
that those were great, But you look at the NFL
productivity and it's hard to argue with the Chad Lewisy
too lamely combo.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and there had been great ones and for a
while there you could go back to the late seventies, right,
and you could talk about the Brown with the miracle
catch right in the Halidy Bowl. Then you're Gordon Hudson
and then you're David Mills, and then you know, you
just go and then you know, I squeeze in there somehow,
and then it's Christmas before me and like you just
go down and it mirrors weirdly and not weirdly, not
going to the elite, but it bears the quarterback success
right along with it. It just like you don't have
to you don't have to go far right back to Harlean,
doesn't take Max to Dennis, Like really that's no surprise,
you know what I mean? A Zach has Isaac leads
the name and touchdowns a year. I mean, what you
know his last year before he goes to the NFL,
and you know it is the second round, Like it's real,
it's a real, like definitive line. When you had a
great tight end, the quarterbacks were always great to v a.
You you can put the chicken before the egg or
however you want to do it. I don't know which
ones which, but they were both. It mirrors each other
all the way in BAU history.
Speaker 2: No, you're spot on. I mean they always coincided and
like you get to ten and eleven, twelve wins in
almost every single one of those seasons when you have
if you have a great quarter an NFL professional quarterback,
and you get an NFL professional tight end, you're you're
right there, you know, getting ten wins. If you got
two tight ends that are that good or they're like
borderline NFL guys with a great quarterback, you're winning eleven games.
You're winning ten games. That's what it looks like as
you go down the list. You mentioned Gordon Hudson obviously,
I mean Todd Christiansen. I know he was kind of
like a fullback type as well, but you know ended
up being a tight end. Chris Smith. You mentioned him
in Tulameae. Matt Bushman. That's maybe a bit of an outlier,
but he was an NFL tight end. But just didn't
you know, he didn't have his senior year. Remember he
got injured in twenty twenty, so it would have been
he would have been Bushman and Isaac that year. That
would have been. That would have been a really good
duo between Isaac and Matt Bushman. I know, Dallan Holker
is a young pup came in and did some good
things though too.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, no, it was that. If you remember they
went to Hawaii and for the Bowl game, I can't
remember who they played, but it was Isaac and Matt.
And you know, at the time, Coach Clark, the t
end coach and Aaron were like, hey, wait, watch that
duo next year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, off you go.
Speaker 3: And you know, I'll never forget. I get a call
on the Tuesday or Wednesday and Isaacson tears and I'm like,
I thought, I thought something happened to Isaac. I'm like, okay,
what happened. He's like, yeah, Matt went down. I'm like what.
And we couldn't believe it. You know, Magic gone down.
So but matts right now, that's played basketball with us.
He's such a good guy and it's good to have
him and his wife down here, and like, you know,
he's a happy dude, and I just I love that guy.
He was he's one of his ex best friends. So
we always appreciate what Matt did for the Rex family.
Speaker 2: Do you kind of consider Neil power as a flex
tight end because I do.
Speaker 3: He's too He's a better receiver than you think. Man,
I hate to like, you.
Speaker 4: Know, I don't know.
Speaker 2: I mean, look, he had one hundred twenty three receive me.
He's six three and a half and two hundred and
twenty pounds. I mean that's not a wide receiver.
Speaker 3: No, but he wasn't playing into twenty though.
Speaker 4: He's like, oh, what are you sure?
Speaker 2: Are you sure?
Speaker 3: I'm pretty sure. Hey, Neil probably fattened up about it.
He's a Laker fan like the rest of us, so
he probably fattened up after the Lakers won the twenty
twenty championship or something like that. But no, I think
he I like like Neil. I love the way Neil
is too smooth for me as a receiver. Like Neil
is underrated as a receiver.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, I get it. But he was the
He was a big bodied wide receiver. He would stock block,
he would crack, he would run a lot of those
tight end style routes from the flex. Yeah.
Speaker 3: But dall, then you gotta put da Holker in the
same sentence, if.
Speaker 4: You know, I agree, That's what I'm saying. That's what
I'm saying, Like, I don't know, man, he's a hybrid.
He's a hybrid wide receiver, tight end. He's a flex
for me, like Johnny Harlean.
Speaker 2: If you're gonna say Johnny Harlean was a tight end,
you gotta say Neil Powell was a tight end.
Speaker 3: That's the way they played him, man, Right, Robert Coach,
And I was not missing around with an in line block,
and He's like, go catch up football out.
Speaker 2: There, he said, Johnny, we're gonna get We're gonna iso
you on the week's side, flexed out one on one
with whoever they put out there against Jen, you're gonna win.
If it's a corner, we're gonna fifty to fifty over
the top. If it's someone like, you know, big or slow,
we're gonna throw a double move in here. And you know,
I mean Johnny Johnny was more of a receiver.
Speaker 3: No, for sure, that part I agree with, right. And
so I'm not ready to move Neil too far in,
And I'm not ready to see Neil Johnny too far out,
you know what i mean. So I'm just like, there
is that kind of spot. But hey, if you're not
lining up against Texas A and M, who was a
top you know, fifteen team in the nation. In the
Holiday Bowl against you know, Quentin Coreott, who was the
first round pick of the Indianapolis Colts. And you're a
freaking tight end, you know, see me for details on that.
In the second quarter, then I got a hard time
calling you a tight end. Now, I'm not saying you're
gonna do a good job, because I certainly did not
do a good job of that. But I could certainly
get in someone's way. Speaking to basketball, I could box
the guy out, if you know what I mean, facebard,
box the guy out. But I wasn't mowing anybody over.
But if you're not lining up with your hand in
the dirt, and at least sometime now, hey, if you're
tied in the NFL, want you want as many two
point stances as you can get because that's where the
money's at. Because you put your hand in during the
NFL and they say, you know money, you know what
I mean? So there on it, you know.
Speaker 2: I'm just said, I mean, I'm looking at your height,
weight and the way you ran routes. You kind of
round me a little bran keathy more Bran keathy than
you were, like a true inline. Now I'm gonna say
you couldn't block. I'm just saying like you had a
little bit of bran keathy to you there running round
you a smooth operator.
Speaker 3: No, I would agree with that. I was certainly a
better pass catcher than I was ever a blocker. But
like Prested, like Prested, like, hey, oh wow, the X
kid's a little undersize as I was at tight end.
But wait, hold on, he's hold his own blocking what's
going on here? So it's the part of being the toughness.
But again, if you're not doing that at least sometime now,
Coach Show will tell you. Right, we ran a lot
of draw trap and I'm scooping the backside, which is
not the hardest block that's ever happen. I'm not, you know,
single in a defensive end, you know in you know,
on power move, so you know, they they set me
up for some success. But I've certainly you got to
be able to get in someone's way and hold your ground.
And again I'm not suggesting I was very good at it,
but I just appreciate a guy who could do both
of those things really well. And that's why he too
La Mea Lee will freak you out. And you know
what the comp to Saliapaga is he too La Meani.
Just so you know from what I've seen on tape
and what I watched him, that's his comp which is
one of the highest comps you can give a tight
end in BAU history because Etula could do it all
in every single way, including single a d N and
you know, a five to seven tech guy and hold
his own at the line of scrimmage and probably move him.
That's how special that dude was.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm excited, man, Byron, appreciate you. Appreciate you hopping
off for a little keeping up with the cougars. Uh well,
chub me again soon. Thanks for talking to some ball
with me today, laying some knowledge on us.
Speaker 3: You're the best. I always love taggling you beat. I'll
see you in a couple of weeks, all right.
Speaker 2: All right, man, see you soon. That's Byron Rex, ladies
and gentlemen, former b YU great tight end. That segment
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