How BYU freshman tight end Ryner Swanson is balancing football and preparing for mission to Kenya

BYU’s Ryner Swanson has made a bigger impact in his only year of college football before he serves a two-year church mission to Kenya than he imagined he would, but there’s one play the 6-foot-4, 245-pound tight end wishes he had back.

“Pass catching-wise, I think I have been doing pretty well. That second pass in the Kansas State game, however, I should have hurdled that nerd,” he said of a low tackle by KSU’s Keenan Garber. “Yeah, he got my knees pretty good. I am all good, though.”

Swanson, the former four-star recruit, has slowly emerged as TE2 for the Cougars , especially in passing situations. He’s doing exactly what coaches said he would do when they recruited him out of Laguna Beach, California, beating the likes of Alabama, Oregon, Utah and Washington for his services.

That promise showed itself in spring camp — Swanson enrolled early after catching 50 passes for 717 yards and nine touchdowns his senior season of prep ball — and has been apparent through four games . Swanson’s speed, size, agility and pass-catching ability has made it difficult for coaches to keep him off the field, although the Cougars’ 11-player tight ends room is loaded with talent and skill.

“It has been cool,” Swanson told the Deseret News Wednesday as the No. 22 Cougars continued preparations for Saturday’s Big 12 battle with Baylor (10 a.m. MDT, FS1) at McLane Stadium in Waco, Texas. “I had been out for a lot of fall camp (with a high ankle sprain), so I am feeling just really lucky to be getting the reps I have been getting.”

Swanson estimates he’s been getting four to five reps per game, which he has turned into four catches for 35 yards, with a long of 14. He acknowledged that he needs to become a better blocker to get on the field more.

“Any opportunity I get is great for a true freshman, and I am really grateful,” he said. “But I really gotta work on my blocking technique in practice so that I can go into more games, and hopefully help my team even more as a more well-rounded tight end.”

New BYU tight ends coach Kevin Gilbride said as Swanson’s game develops, particularly in knowing his assignments and blocking for running and passing plays, his time on the field will increase. BYU’s primary tight end is sixth-year senior Keanu Hill , who has made the move from receiver to tight end quite seamlessly, thanks to an innate blocking ability that most pass-catchers don’t have.

Hill has six catches for 65 yards and a touchdown in 2024.

“Ryner is still being used in specific roles,” Gilbride said. “We don’t have him in there just to have him in there. We like where he is at. Because of that, his reps are increasing. What we are asking him to do assignment-wise is increasing. So you will continue to see him in the game for run plays, pass plays, pass protection, all that.”

Gilbride knows tight end talent when he sees it, having coached tight ends in the NFL for the New York Giants (2010-17), Chicago Bears (2018-19) and Carolina Panthers (2021-22). The former BYU quarterback, who transferred to Hawaii in 1999 after a year and a half in the BYU program, coached players such as Victor Cruz and Evan Engram with the Giants.

“Ryner is seeing growth because of his approach, how he digested the offense, and now he knows the offense and now he is continuing to learn how to execute his job. So because of that, we are allowed to put him (in a lot of places),” Gilbride said.

“He has got all the talent in the world. It is just a matter of him getting to know the position and the playbook,” Gilbride continued. “So, because he is involved in getting better in those places, we can ask him to do more and take advantage of his abilities.”

Called to serve and put football on hold

From the moment he committed to BYU the summer of 2023, Swanson has said he would enroll early, play a season of college football, and then depart on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Despite his success in spring camp, when coaches and teammates alike raved about his ability and potential, he has steadfastly stuck to that plan. He submitted his missionary papers (an application to serve, with an endorsement from an ecclesiastical leader) in July and received his call in early September to the Kenya Nairobi Africa Mission.

He will leave when BYU’s season is over.

“I’ve had that desire to serve a mission ever since I could remember,” he said.

He said it hasn’t been easy focusing on football the past few weeks knowing that he would be away from the game for a couple of years, but some good chats with his father, Boad, and with teammates who have served missions such as receiver Chase Roberts have helped him keep the right perspective.

“A few months ago, to a year ago, my dad would always catch me thinking about the next thing. Like, I would say, ‘I am so excited for the football season’ or ‘I am so excited for the mission’ or ‘I am so excited to have a family of my own,’” Swanson said.

“My dad just told me that you gotta live every day like it is your last, but in a good way. Like, keep the commandments, but have fun,” he said. “I want to appreciate every day and stay in the moment. So obviously I am thinking about my mission.

“I am trying to be worthy and serve a mission and be a better disciple of Jesus Christ every day. That hasn’t changed,” he continued. “But right now, I am just really focusing on football and how to help out the team and get myself better.”

Welcome to college football moment

It didn’t take long for Swanson to get his “welcome to college football moment,” and it was delivered by another true freshman, no less.

On the first full-contact practice last spring, Swanson caught a screen pass, made a few “funky moves,” and then was plastered by freshman defensive end Ephraim Asiata.

“He just popped me,” Swanson said. “I got a concussion first day of full pads. … In high school, you could do some stuff and get away with it, but you gotta be really careful in college, because these guys are going to come at you, and it is going to be gnarly.”

As far as this fall, Swanson is getting accustomed to not being the primary target, as he was in high school. He credits veterans such as Hill, Ethan Erickson and Mata’ata Ta’ase with helping him make the proper adjustments and keep the proper perspective.

“There are 11 tight ends right now, and for a few of them, this is their last year, and … they would like to (play more),” Swanson said. “So I am so happy that Ethan Erickson is one of the starters now. I heard he didn’t get a lot of playing time last year, and the years before that. I don’t understand why, because he is a fantastic football player. Really good blocker, great hands, great route runner.”

Off the field, the welcome to college moment came a few weeks ago, and it had nothing to do with his mission call.

Swanson took five classes in winter semester, and did OK, he said. He’s got four this semester, most notably an Introduction to Accounting class that is also proving to be quite gnarly.

“Accounting is really hard, my hardest thing right now,” he said. “My life right now is about balancing football — watching film and all that — and trying to get accounting figured out. It is a lot.”