- Parker Kingston shined in BYU's 38-24 win over West Virginia Friday night.
- He recorded a career-high 111 receiving yards and a 1-yard touchdown run.
- BYU improved to 5-0, with Kingston and Chase Roberts leading the offense.
PROVO — By his own admission, Parker Kingston didn't feel like his regular self in BYU's first four games of the 2025 season.
The redshirt junior from Roy High was injured on the first day of training camp, and didn't take a rep until the first game week. He played in all four games, but only caught 14 passes for 106 yards without a touchdown while briefly losing his spot as lead punt returner to Stanford transfer Tiger Bachmeier.
"Obviously, I was frustrated," Kingston admitted of his undisclosed injury. "I didn't feel like myself lthose first two weeks, and having that bye after that second week (against Stanford) was huge for me. I felt like more of myself against ECU; and in the Colorado game, I felt like I was back to full stride again."
Kingston was back to his old self — and then some — Friday night in the 23rd-ranked Cougars' 38-24 win over West Virginia, collecting four passes for a career-high 111 receiving yards.
His 1-yard touchdown run in the first quarter made him the first player in the program's modern era to score on a rushing, receiving, passing and punt return touchdown.
He added a career-long 54-yard reception on the third drive of the game that made him the first Cougar with a rushing and receiving score in the same game since Puka Nacua against Arkansas in 2022.
"It was hard for me to get my confidence in those first two games," he said. "I finally felt like I was back to my normal self again this week."
He wasn't alone, either. The former Roy High quarterback was one of two wide receivers to top the century mark, as Chase Roberts also caught four passes for a career-best 161 receiving yards, part of freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier's season-high 351 passing yards.
"(Offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick) opened the offense up to Bear and let Bear make the plays," Kingston said. "We've always known we could throw the ball around, and it was good to get it out on film, to let teams know that they can't stack the box on us and that we have weapons on the outside, too."
With the open offense came risks, too — and Bachmeier threw into plenty of them, including his first career interception to star linebacker Chase Wilson in the second quarter. The former four-star recruit added another turnover when his ill-advised backward pass with 2:07 left in the half was recovered by the Mountaineers.
Both teams, the first-year starter responded like the veteran of a team that started 5-0 for the fourth time in six years. BYU (5-0, 2-0 Big 12) has now had nine 5-0 starts in program history, including four under head coach Kalani Sitake dating back to 2020.
"He said, 'my bad,' brushed it to the side and kept slinging it," Kingston recalled of Bachmeier, who was not made available to the media after the game concluded around midnight.
"He pushed it to the side, and just kept playing like his normal self," he added, "which was awesome to see — especially as a freshman."
But back to Kingston, who was back to his old self off-the-field Friday night, too. The 5-foot-11 speedster was cracking jokes in the postgame media room, his dry humor coming through once again as he thought back on Roberts' 85-yard catch-and-run that was the longest pass play at BYU since Steve Sarkisian's 87-yarder to Dustin Johnson in 1996.
Parker Kingston said as soon as Chase Roberts was caught at the 4 after an 85-yard catch, he found his roommate and said, "I wish I had your speed."
— Sean Walker (@ActuallyDSW) October 4, 2025
"You've got to unhook the trailer," PK responded 😂 pic.twitter.com/8pa8uNviai
Were it not for four more yards, Roberts would've scored. Probably should have, Kingston joked with his roommate.
"He came off the field and said, 'I wish I had your speed.' I'm like, 'I know; you've got to unhook the trailer,'" Kingston recalled. "He probably got tired. But he should've instead of stiff-arming just kept running, and he probably would've scored."
Roberts, for his part, laughed it off. It helped that LJ Martin punched it in on the next play, a 4-yard touchdown that was one of two on the day for the junior tailback.
"I knew he would say something," Roberts said. "It's expected.
"It felt great to get those deep balls with Bear," he added. "We've been waiting for a couple of games to get those, and we manifested it. On the first play, we knew it would happen, connected, and kept rolling. I think it's only going to get better from here."
BYU is back on the road next week, traveling to Tucson to face Arizona on Saturday, Oct. 11. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. MDT on ESPN2.
