BYU Wide Receiver Jojo Phillips Added Back to the Depth Chart

BYU wide receiver Jojo Phillips against Stanford | BYU Photo

BYU wide receiver Jojo Phillips has been added back to the depth chart. On Monday, BYU released the depth chart for the Texas Tech game and Phillips was listed as a co-starter alongside Cody Hagen. That was the first time Phillips had been listed since week two against Stanford.

BYU head coach Kalani Sitake provided an update on Phillips on Monday.

"Jojo's been practicing with us," Sitake said. "He practiced with us last week. And then he's going to be practicing with us this week. Then we'll evaluate it and see if it's the right thing to do for him for us to play him on Saturday. But he's been practicing...Jojo we feel really good about."

Before the Iowa State game, offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick said he expects Phillips back in the lineup for the Texas Tech game.

"[Jojo] won't play in this game, but I'm expecting him to play against Texas Tech after the bye...Jojo's getting really close. He's practicing and looking really good out here."

Against Stanford, Phillips left the game with an injury and never returned. Phillips posted on social media later that week, announcing that he had a successful surgery and planned to "be back soon."

Behind Chase Roberts, Phillips was BYU's most productive returning wide receiver from a season ago. Phillips had three catches for 30 yards against the Cardinal prior to the injury, and he was one of Bachmeier's favorite targets during Fall Camp. Prior to the injury, we expected Phillips to have a breakout sophomore season.

In Phillips' absense, Cody Hagen was added to the starting lineup. However, it's been Parker Kingston that has taken on the role as the second wide receiver behind Roberts. Kingston has 34 receptions for 516 yards through 8 games, and he has added 78 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground. Kingston has averaged 103 receiving yards per game over the last 4 games.

Phillips will add more length and another deep threat to the BYU offense, and it will come at the perfect time. The one area where Texas Tech's defense has been susceptible at times? The deep passing game. It was multiple deep passes that allowed Arizona State to get out to a lead and beat the Red Raiders in their only loss.

While Phillips has been out of the lineup, BYU has established a downfield passing attack. Phillips' return to the lineup could allow Aaron Roderick to unleash more of the passing attack. Roderick has been slowly unleashing more and more as Bear Bachmeier gets comfortable.