BYU tight finish Isaac Rex celebrates his landing in opposition to the Oregon Geese at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore., on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022. Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret Information
BYU tight finish Isaac Rex dives for a landing throughout sport in opposition to the Utah Tech at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022. Spenser Heaps, Deseret Information
When BYU tight finish Isaac Rex takes the sphere Sept. 2 in opposition to Sam Houston, his ankle can be 642 days faraway from its breaking level through the second quarter at USC on Nov. 29, 2021. It can even be as wholesome because it’s been because the second earlier than the fateful play.
“He has the tenacity to get within the ugly trenches whereas being ok to get out within the open subject. The perfect factor about Isaac is his catch radius. He has lengthy arms and actually good palms.” — BYU tight ends coach Steve Clark on Isaac Rex
Trying to catch a cross behind the tip zone, Rex landed awkwardly and shattered his proper ankle. After a number of surgical procedures and rehab, he returned to the sphere final fall and performed in each sport at far lower than 100%.
With BYU’s first official follow as a member of the Large 12 on Tuesday, Rex has saved his vow to be prepared.
“I believe he has improved,” BYU tight ends coach Steve Clark instructed the “Y’s Guys” podcast. “I don’t assume he'll ever be 100%. What individuals don’t find out about final 12 months is through the video games, he would get a shot, so he didn’t really feel a variety of the ache. But it surely was through the week in follow when he was dragging that ankle round. There have been occasions in follow that he may barely stroll, however he was decided to play.”
In a twist of irony, Rex turned BYU’s main goal at tight finish when All-American Matt Bushman, the Cougars’ prime returning receiver from 2019, suffered a season-ending harm on the final day of fall camp earlier than the 2020 kickoff at Navy.
Rex stepped into his new function with quarterback Zach Wilson and the 2 made magic collectively. Rex caught 37 passes for 429 yards and 12 touchdowns — which tied him for essentially the most amongst tight ends within the nation.
In an offense that featured future NFL draft picks Wilson, Tyler Allgeier (RB), Dax Milne (WR), Brady Christensen (OL) and Blake Freeland (OL), along with receivers Neil Pau’u and Gunner Romney, the 6-foot-6 freshman discovered his area of interest and averaged a whopping 23 yards per catch.
“What I see in Isaac is that mixture to do each — he has the tenacity to get within the ugly trenches whereas being ok to get out within the open subject,” Clark stated. “The perfect factor about Isaac is his catch radius. He has lengthy arms and actually good palms.”
With Jaren Corridor at quarterback in 2021 and 2022, Rex noticed his manufacturing lower in half. He averaged 10.6 yards per catch in 2021 (18-191, 3 TD) and 14.5 yards per catch in 2022 (22-320, 6 TD).
August presents a recent begin for the junior — even a reboot. He and switch quarterback Kedon Slovis spent their summer time exercises collectively. Clark would like to see Rex return to his freshman numbers, however he's cautious with regards to expectations.
“I don’t coach them that method. I coach them to get open,” Clark stated. “I don’t need to say he must have a sure variety of catches. That places an excessive amount of stress on him. My job is to teach them to get open and make the catch. That’s all we will do.”
Behind Rex are senior Mason Wake and sophomore Ethan Erickson, gamers with precious sport expertise. Not far behind is very touted Jackson Bowers, a 6-foot-5, 245-pound freshman from Mesa, Arizona.
“I’ve been assembly with Jackson ceaselessly. He's superior. He’s picked up this offense pretty much as good as anyone has,” Clark stated. “I've excessive hopes for him. I don’t need to put any stress on him this 12 months as a result of he's new. However he is aware of he has it and that’s half the battle. It’s an enormous leap to make, even for four- or five-star youngsters.”
Bowers can be watching and studying from Rex as intently as Clark can be watching Rex’s ankle. What the eight-year tight ends coach already sees is a connection between Rex and Slovis. They want one another. It’s uncommon in Cougar lore that BYU has been profitable with no tight finish carrying a lot of the workload.
“(Kedon and Isaac) have nice chemistry. They're locked into one another, however you don’t know till it’s 11 guys on the market and Kedon has a rush coming at him,” Clark stated. “We are going to discover out what sort of chemistry they've when the bullets are flying and hopefully Isaac can turn into a safety blanket for Kedon. That’s form of what tight ends do.”
Gifford Nielsen had Brian Billick. Marc Wilson and Jim McMahon had Clay Brown. Steve Younger had Gordon Hudson. Robbie Bosco had David Mills. Ty Detmer had Chris Smith and Byron Rex. Steve Sarkisian had Chad Lewis and Itula Mili. John Beck had Jonny Harline. Max Corridor had Dennis Pitta. Wilson had Bushman and Rex.
Now Slovis has a wholesome Rex and the hardest schedule in class historical past forward of them each as BYU enters the Large 12. How they go could have quite a bit to say about how effectively the Cougars transfer down the sphere. The quarterback-tight finish relationship is the bedrock to BYU’s illustrious historical past and paramount to the Cougars’ future.
For Rex and his healed-up ankle, the longer term is now.
BYU tight finish Isaac Rex dives for a landing throughout sport in opposition to the Utah Tech at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022.
Spenser Heaps, Deseret Information
Dave McCann is a contributor to the Deseret Information and is the studio host for “BYU Sports activities Nation Sport Day,” “The Submit Sport Present,” “After Additional Assessment,” and play-by-play announcer for BYUtv. He's additionally co-host of “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com.