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PROVO — BYU wide receivers coach Fesi Sitake has already argued that he has the deepest group of his position since he arrived on Cougar Boulevard six years ago.
But one player kept flashing all sorts of potential every day during the most recent spring practices, so much so that Sitake would sometimes find himself literally turning his head at the newcomer.
He wasn't a full member of the roster last year, but if anyone forgot the name "Jojo Phillips," they were quickly reminded of it through March of the 6-foot-5 redshirt freshman from Lancaster, California, who was a rising basketball star before switching to football full time at Sierra Canyon High.
"Even though he could have gone in more," Sitake said of Phillips, who caught a 5-yard touchdown pass against Iowa State during his three-game redshirt season, "I think it was important to develop and have him learn the playbook."
Attempts to identify a "breakout star" during spring practices, when every team is undefeated and storylines are often internal, are rarely fruitful.
But if anyone fits the billing, it's Phillips, who joins a wide receiver group that is as deep as any Sitake has ever had — and about to get deeper — but may be overshadowed by a quarterback competition between Jake Retzlaff and Baylor/USF transfer Gerry Bohanon that will extend through the summer.
The Cougars, who ended the season on a five-game losing skid en route to a 5-7 record in their inaugural Big 12 campaign, were also loaded at wide receiver. After Kody Epps returned to Provo following a brief flirtation with the transfer portal, BYU added UConn transfer Keelan Marion and Eastern Michigan's Darius Lassiter to bolster their depth — and both became starters for at least one game in 2023.
Both are back in 2024, joining former American Fork star Chase Roberts, Roy speedster and former quarterback Parker Kingston, and Epps, while all expect to play a significant role in the rotation.
Add in returning missionaries Dominique McKenzie, who spent time in spring camp, and Cody Hagen, who will return before the summer, and it's no wonder the coaches made a "collaborative decision" to allow Keanu Hill to bulk up and move to tight end.
We haven't even mentioned Tei Nacua, the former Timpview High standout and three-star younger brother of Kai, Isaiah, Samson and Puka to add to an offensive skill position group that Roberts refers to most as "versatile."
"We've got tall guys, speedsters, all different types of receivers," said Roberts, who had 573 yards and five touchdowns on 42 receptions a year ago. "Everyone has a role in this offense, and I think it makes us deep in that sense. Young guys have stepped up; Jojo has really stepped up. We've just got a lot of tools."
Even in that versatility, Phillips stands out — and not just because the former Sierra Canyon basketball standout played with Bronny James in high school before leading Sierra Canyon to a CIF championship in 2022 with 586 receiving yards and five touchdowns.
Phillips even drew a comparison to Puka Nacua, the NFL rookie record-setting receiver for the Los Angeles Rams, by Sitake, noting the way the two hold their routes and don't get pushed off track by an aggressive or overzealous defensive back.
But to do that, the youngster had to put on "the right type of mass," which meant a year in the Cougars' weight-training and nutrition program.
"He plays with such strength," Sitake said of Phillips, who is listed at 190 pounds. "Think about guys like Puka — no one could hold him because he was such a strong route runner. Jojo has elements of that."
Phillips also drew recruiting interest in football from the likes of Oregon, LSU, Michigan State, Colorado and others, and was beginning to attract high-profile hoops interest before focusing on football ahead of his senior year.
Sometimes "Jojo the Hooper" comes out on the gridiron, though, Roberts confirms.
"He's so smooth out there," he said. "You can see in his releases, he looks like he's crossing over. He's just a stud out there, and I think basketball has helped him a lot in his football game, too."
Neither Sitake nor offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick plan on losing any of the Cougars' receivers to the transfer portal when it opens at the close of the spring semester — no one ever does, right? But neither do they plan to actively recruit the position.
The most important recruiting they'll do is re-recruiting their own roster, Sitake added.
"In this day and age, you have to work to retain all of them," he said, adding that "they were all great" after end-of-season exit interviews. "It's so liquid, man; this transfer portal thing is crazy. Even if I don't get word that someone is looking to transfer, you know it's a real thing. Guys are always evaluating if the grass is greener here or there; it's a part of the process, and any legitimate player is going to go through that every year. Our most important recruiting job has to be our own guys now."
Barring a portal excursion, that could leave Sitake with a lot of talent in his receiver room for years to come. That includes Phillips, whose best days are invariably ahead of him.
"He's a lot more confident. He knows the nuances of the position," he said. "He's still obviously got a ton of room to grow. But I think what you're seeing is a foreshadowing of what he can do."
