The BYU Cougars will kick off the 2025 season in 88 days against Portland State. As we continue counting down the days until kickoff, today we will profile the player who wears No. 88 - freshman tight end Tucker Kelleher.
Tucker Kelleher’s background
Hailing from Alpharetta, Georgia, Tucker Kelleher is entering his true freshman season. He was a 3-star prospect at 247 Sports (85 rating) coming out of high school. His list of competing offers isn’t as impressive as many others in BYU’s class of 2025 with the Cougars being his only Power Four offer. He had a host of offers from Group of Five schools like Marshall, Coastal Carolina, Army, and Navy.
At 6-foot-6 and 225 pounds, Kelleher is likely going to need to pack on some weight in order to match the strength and physicality of Big 12 defenders, especially as a blocker. He suffered an injury last year that limited his high school senior season, so he’s a bit of a wild card coming into his first year in Provo.
Kelleher’s potential impact in 2025
In order to see the field this year, the freshman is going to have to turn some heads in the coming months. While there has been some major turnover in BYU’s tight end room since last year with Keanu Hill and Mata’ava Ta’ase having exhausted their eligibility and Ryner Swanson leaving for a mission, there are other veterans ready to fill the void.
Carsen Ryan transferred in from Utah and will likely be an every-down tight end. Ethan Erickson is a redshirt senior who knows the system and has appeared in 25 career games. Noah Moeaki is a 245-pound redshirt freshman returned missionary who will push for playing time. Throw in a few additional new tight end transfers, and Kelleher has his work cut out for him to see the field.
It’s likely that 2025 becomes a redshirt season for Tucker Kelleher, giving him a year to pack on some bulk and learn BYU’s system with an eye to the future.