BYU hopes to send seniors like Kyle Griffitts out with win vs. San Diego State

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PROVO — Kyle Griffitts remembered getting a text message from BYU director of football operations Jon Swift, and reporting to head coach Kalani Sitake's office.

He remembers taking a seat in a chair opposite his coach.

But he doesn't remember much after that: just tears, hugging and a lot of emotions.

This week, Griffitts, a senior tight end and fullback, was finally rewarded with a scholarship from the BYU football program. In most years, such an announcement would've been made in front of the team, after practice or a game, and the 100-plus members of the Cougars would jump and hoot and holler as they smothered Griffitts.

This year, there was none of that, largely because of COVID-19 precautions and social distancing measures designed to keep players and coaches apart as much as possible.

But there was something else.

"It was pretty wet, as in a lot of tears," Griffitts said. "I could go into detail, but I won't. My entire life, I've been the biggest BYU football fan. Being from Florida, we were always wearing BYU gear. I got made fun of all the time, but we were so obsessed with BYU."

Griffitts' entire life built up to playing for BYU (9-1), which saw its bid for an undefeated season end with a loss to Coastal Carolina and is scheduled to play its final regular-season game Saturday at LaVell Edwards Stadium (8 p.m. MT, ESPN2). When the 6-foot-3 senior from Windemere, Florida, runs out of the tunnel with 14 other seniors, there will be plenty of emotions and plenty of memories.

But for Griffits, it will be a happy run — his first run as a scholarship athlete at a school he's grown up loving and where it took him over a year and a torn hamstring to figure out a place for the tight end that assistant coach Steve Clark called "Austin" when they first met.

But it's all been worth it, even if he's known as little more than Matt Bushman's one-time backup.

"The walk-on life here, I would've done it again and again," Griffitts said. "But to earn a scholarship, it's all the better. It really shows that this is all worth it."

Well worth it, as well, his teammates say. Griffitts is more than his one career catch for 29 yards would reveal. He's a leader, and one of the top leaders on a team with plenty of them. Just take a look at the seniors BYU will honor Saturday night:

Zayne Anderson, S, Stansbury Park (Stansbury HS)
Matt Bushman, TE, Tucson, Arizona.
Zac Dawe, DL, Pleasant Grove (Pleasant Grove HS)
Bracken El-Bakri, DL, Salt Lake City (Brighton HS)
Kavika Fonua, LB, Syracuse (Syracuse HS)
Chandon Herring, OL, Gilbert, Arizona
Tristen Hoge, OL, Pocatello, Idaho
Kyle Griffitts, TE, Windemere, Florida
Jared Kapisi, DB, Pukalani, Hawaii
Isaiah Kaufusi, LB, Cottonwood Heights (Brighton HS)
Kieffer Longson, OL, San Ramon, California
Khyiris Tonga, DL, West Valley City (Granger HS)
Jeddy Tuiloma, DL, Topeka, Kansas
Troy Warner, S, San Marcos, California
Chris Wilcox, CB, Fontana, California

Senior night is always different at BYU, when Sitake lines up with the other coaches and welcomes each senior and their parents, wives (and often children, because it is BYU) into LaVell Edwards Stadium one last time.

It's a night full of emotions, of pride, and of one final go as well as one new beginning.

"There's a lot more emotion in it," said Anderson, who was a senior a year ago but returned after a shoulder injury prematurely curtailed his Cougar career. "I've been a younger guy trying to make senior night better. It's a weird time … it's an emotional ride, and I've thought about that, too.

"I've been here for a long time, and it's crazy how fast it's gone. But I think everyone steps it up for the seniors."

BYU tight end Kyle Griffitts (42) and BYU celebrate their win over the USC Trojans in Provo on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2019. (Photo: Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)

For Griffitts, things will be even more different. He could've left football a long time ago — and no one would blame him if he did. But in between picking up extra shifts at Texas Roadhouse to pay for school, he found a way to leave a mark on the program beyond his own weekly stat line.

"He means a ton," BYU quarterback Zach Wilson said of Griffitts. "He's already looked at as another coach in the tight ends group. I've been here through a lot of his process, and I was so excited for him. What a great opportunity, and no one deserves it more than him.

"I know it means a lot, and I know the effort the rest of the season and his time at BYU will be there."

Known for his leadership and a few highlight-reel blocks, Griffitts also has a secret weapon of notoriety on the Cougars' football team: his TikTok account, which he claims is the biggest on the team (and who's to argue with him?).

"My followers are going up, I don't get embarrassed," he said with a laugh, "I have everyone and their mothers coming at me on TikTok and in my DMs. I just don't care."

Sitake has invited Griffitts back for another year, a luxury offered to each college football player in the country for taking on the task of playing during a global pandemic. Many of them won't take the extra season — players like Tonga, Warner, Wilcox and Anderson will give the NFL a try, and even some juniors (like Wilson) may elect to enter the draft, as well.

For Griffitts, he's unlikely to return as a player, but not because he's ready for the NFL. He wants to be a coach — and there's no place he'd rather start his career than at BYU.

"Being in this program has made me want to coach," Griffitts said. "Being around these coaches has made me really want to become a coach."