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PROVO — Chase Roberts is back on the case.
The Cougars' leading receiver reversed course on his earlier decision to leave BYU after graduating in December, and will instead "run it back" for one more year in 2025, Roberts announced late Saturday night in a video.
Roberts, a redshirt junior from American Fork, had previously said earlier on a podcast with BYU's Royal Blue Collective that he was likely going to turn pro after the 2024 season, finishing school, and seeing it "time to move on" after the standout had previously served a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Calgary, Alberta.
But his decision began to come into question in the last few weeks, including a regular season that ended with the Cougars losing two of their final three games and playing their way out of Big 12 championship contention with losses to Kansas and Arizona State.
"It's always been a childhood dream to play at BYU," he posted Saturday on social media. "Let's run it back for one more year."
It's always been a childhood dream to play at BYU… lets run it back for one more year! pic.twitter.com/FIQdAficsM
— Chase Roberts (@chase_roberts11) December 22, 2024
The 1,773-yard, 12-touchdown receiver revealed Wednesday that he was "pretty set" on a formal decision, and that he would let his coaches, teammates, fans and the media know before BYU left for San Antonio to play No. 23 Colorado in the Alamo Bowl next Saturday (5:30 p.m. MST, ABC).
That decision came late Saturday night, and it wasn't one he took lightly.
"There are a lot of different factors that I have to take into consideration, the pros and cons," Roberts said earlier. "I've been able to lay those out. This weekend, I was able to look at both, to pray about it, and I'll announce the next couple of days."
Regardless of the decision, Roberts never considered opting out of BYU's bowl game against Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, quarterback Shedeur Sanders or the Buffaloes. That wasn't even a consideration, he told KSL.com.
"You only get college football once," he said. "It's such a special experience with your brothers. The amount of time I've put in and that we've put in, from the offseason to being around each other to gaining that trust and that love, there's no doubt in my mind or any of these players to finish with our brothers."
Still, Roberts' about-face is a significant addition for a BYU offense that was already set to lose fellow star receiver Darius Lassiter. The fifth-year senior who caught 43 passes for 679 yards and tied Roberts with four touchdowns on the season to lead the Cougars will also play in the bowl game, but he'll have to sit out the first half after being ejected for fighting in the regular-season finale against Houston.
Roberts, who caught 51 passes for 843 yards and four touchdowns in one more game than Lassiter, joins wide outs Keelan Marion (340 yards, 1 touchdown), Jojo Phillips (211 yards, 2 scores) and Parker Kingston (172 yards, 1 touchdown), among others, in returning with starting quarterback Jake Retzlaff. The Cougars are also set to add four-star wide receiver LaMason Waller III, a two-time MaxPreps All-American, next season.
