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Of the 13 players who have caught passes for the BYU Cougars this season, the most unlikely are obviously defensive end Corbin Kaufusi and offensive lineman Ului Lapuaho. Both grabs came against Utah — Kaufusi's from Mitchell Juergens on a fake field goal play and Lapuaho's from Taysom Hill, indirectly, after it was batted in the air by a Utah defender.
Perhaps the most scrutinized receiver has been freshman Aleva Hifo, who has caught six passes for 33 yards. Twice Hifo has been involved in plays that led to interceptions, against Utah in the first play of the game and against West Virginia last week in what turned out to be BYU's last play of the game.
Doesn't seem fair, but that's football.
"Trust me, that play rewinded in my head, probably like nonstop over the weekend," Hifo said Tuesday. "I couldn't get over it. The plane ride back just killed me. Like Ty [Detmer] told me, it is a freshman mistake, just get over it. It is about how you are going to do next week. Iit definitely did have an effect on my mind over the weekend. But I just have to get over it. Can't change it."
Coaches in preseason training camp raved about Hifo, junior college transfer Jonah Trinnaman and Beau Tanner, a freshman from Gilbert, Ariz. Hifo has seen plenty of time, Trinnaman has been hit and miss in the lineup (11 catches, 88 yards), and Tanner has not been the target of a pass yet.
How has Hifo emerged?
"He's got tons of speed," Kalani Sitake said. "You saw it on that return, I think. You can see there's a difference. He is elusive and he is a playmaker. We have to invest in his ability to get open, especially when we are going against a lot of man coverage type of teams. So, he gives us that. We have a lot of great receivers anyways. But if they are not big like Nick [Kurtz] and Moroni [Laulu-Pututau], and give you a big target, they have to be shifty and move like Aleva and [Mitchell[ Juergens can, and Beau Tanner. We have some guys we can work with, so I think more than anything, he is becoming more trustworthy. It is hard when a true freshman steps on the field.
I think Ty and Taysom and the guys are starting to see that he is emerging as a guy that can be counted on."
Hill said Monday that he wouldn't hesitate to throw to HIfo again, even though two of those throws were eventually picked off.
"I love all those guys," Hill said. "There is not one time where I see a guy coming off the sideline and I go, I can't read that side, or I can't read that route. Our scheme is good, and the guys that are running it are good. It doesn't matter who is in there. When we execute and play at a high level, then we are hard to stop."
Mitchell Juergens, who as 14 catches for 112 yards and a TD, said he knew HIfo was going to be good the first time he saw the freshman play.
"He's a playmaker. He's fast, he's quick, he's got great hands, and he's got a nose for the game," Juergens said. "He's a good player and he's stepped up and really made an impact on the offense. He's a weapon that you want on an offense, and it is just good to have him making plays. He's fast, and that is something we like as an offense is having those fast guys and getting them open in space. So he's doing really well."
Here's Hifo's description of the ill-fated final pass:
"We had four verts [vertical routes] with a single high safety, and Taysom kinda looked over and picked a side, and he picked my side because on the drive before I got open and he just overthrew me. But this time the DB had good coverage and just made a good play on the ball."
Hifo said he "kinda beat myself up" after the play until Detmer told him to move on this week.
A product of Heritage High in Menifee, Calif., Hifo was less-hyped than Trinnaman coming into the season, but he believed he could make an impact.
"All coaches are going to tell you that you have a chance to play when you come in here," he said. "It is up to you. I didn't think I would be able to get this much playing time this early, but I kinda knew I could compete with some of the guys who were here, and it ended up happening. If I can just keep earning our quarterbacks' trust, the opportunities will keep coming to me. … I came in the summer. It was a little nerve-wracking. Some of these guys like Kurtz, Colby [Pearson] and the Juergens brothers are really good guys to compete with. But they are people you can learn from, and if you can get on the field, you do, and you have to make plays."
There are times, though, when the teenager has to pinch himself to make sure its real.
"Actually, one of the other starters is my roommate, Chris Wilcox, and every time we come back to the dorms we are always like, 'this is crazy. this is what we dreamed of.' We always fantasized about it, but we can't let that kind of mentality enter in. We have to be veterans on the field, even though we are freshmen. We can't have a freshman name on our back. We gotta play like we've been there before."