No. 30 Dennis Pitta – Tight End – 2004, 2007-2009
Dennis Pitta was the third really good tight end to play during BYU’s great seasons from 2004-2009 alongside Jonny Harline and Andrew George. Although he never had the game winning touchdown catch against Utah like the other two had, he was just as good, if not better statistically than both.
Pitta also can be a bit forgotten sometimes for being as good as he was because of the stars that played alongside him. As mentioned before, he had Andrew George his sophomore and junior year as well as Max Hall, Austin Collie and Harvey Unga. When there is that much talent on a team, it means that the individual impact that one single player can have is minimized, which is a good problem to have.
Rankings
Impact A-
Tight ends are unique in that they can really open up an offensive playbook and be a nightmare for opposing defenses. A lot of times it forces a defense to change their whole scheme because of the fear of an extra guy running around trying to get open. Pitta was really good at making defenses look bad and finding the open space on the field.
Statistics A-
Pitta is being treated more as a receiver than a tight end in this statistic because he was primarily used as a receiver. During his career he played in all but one game and pulled down 221 receptions for 2901 yards and 21 touchdowns. He averaged 13.13 yards per reception which is good, but not great for a tight end. If there was one weakness for Pitta it was his speed. His longest reception only went for 46 yards, which again is perfectly fine, but his 4.6/4.7 speed wasn’t able to outrun the corners and safeties.
To this day Pitta is second all time in receptions and first by tight ends. He also holds many
Memorable Moments B+
As mentioned above, Pitta played alongside some really good players which made his memorable moments limited because he wasn’t given as many chances as if he was the only good player. Also, BYU Football was really good while he played which limited the amount of game winning touchdowns or crucial fourth down conversions that were picked up. He did have one game against Colorado State where he had 12 catches, two touchdowns and 175 receiving yards in a game that the Cougars won by three.