BYU Cougars: Player Watch – WR Kody Epps

The Player Watch, highlighting BYU Cougars wide receiver Kody Epps.

• Kody Epps
• Position: Wide Receiver
• BYU Cougars
• 5’11” 187 lbs

Who is Kody Epps?

Kody Epps was a 3⭐️  in the composites and attended Mater Dei in California. Epps had a sensational Senior season, hauling in 93 receptions for 1,735 yards and 28 touchdowns at Mater Dei. He was part of the 2020 recruiting class.

Kody Epps saw action in the shortened COVID-19 season while at BYU. However, he missed the entire 2021 season due to injury and received a medical redshirt. 2022 was officially Epps’ Freshman season, and became an impactful player. He found his way into the rotation and earned 49 targets, hauling in 39 of them for 459 yards and 6 touchdowns. Epps was the first Freshman in BYU history to gain back-to-back 100-yard receiving games. He showed potential as a playmaker and signs that he was recovered from his injury that cost him all of 2021.

The 2023 season held a lot of expectations from Kody Epps. Unfortunately he had a down year, but a lot of it could be due to the quarterback play. However, the usage from 2022 to 2023 is interesting. In 2022, Epps played from the slot 56.9% of the time. That rate rose to 72.5% in 2023. The increased slot usage caused Epps yards after catch to rise to 6.8, with his aDOT going from 7.5 to 8.9 yards.

What we can gather is that BYU wanted to get Epps in the slot to get a free release. This allowed him to be targeted on a lot of short area looks. BYU had to simplify their offense last year, as they didn’t have a field stretching option on that team to create spacing for the offense. Defenses kept everything in front of them. This made BYU march down the field with 10-12 play drives with the hopes that the Cougars wouldn’t be able to string together some plays.

Strengths

Kody Epps has good lateral agility and vision to create with the ball in his hands and in space. Epps can make a player miss and get to the second level. He provides speed with a good short area burst.

46 days until BYU football!😎

Our touchdown countdown to Sam Houston continues with BYU’s 24th TD of the season.

Jaren throws a dot to Kody Epps for a 53 yard touchdown versus Notre Dame. pic.twitter.com/GCzrzS1H3o

— House of BYU (@HouseofBYU) July 18, 2023

Epps burst onto the scene in 2022 and he was able to make plays all over the field as BYU got him in space. The reason Epps benefitted in 2022 is he had Puka Nacua to draw defenders. It forced defenses to respect the deep ball. BYU didn’t have that last year and Epps was affected by that. While Epps doesn’t have the prototypical size to work as a boundary receiver, he should be used outside to threaten a deep ball and make defenses think twice about playing everything short.

Areas of Improvement & Concern

Without a true burner, I would like to see Epps’ game evolve and take more intermediate routes, instead of short area touches. If BYU’s plan is to keep Chase Roberts at the intermediate and Epps at the short area touches, the quarterback needs to be more decisive. Getting the ball out quickly will allow Epps to create in space and find a rhythm on offense. If BYU wants to compete in the Big 12 this season, they need to get the ball into their playmakers hands. Without question, Kody Epps is the most creative athlete they have at the wide receiver position.

Positional Outlook

BYU used Kody Epps as a short area target, and other wide receiver Chase Roberts as a short to intermediate option. What the Cougars are lacking is top end speed to create some stress along the opposing defense.

Epps has been profiled as a slot receiver with BYU. However, I would like to see them use Epps outside and used more vertically. He has enough speed to push vertically and create spacing for other players on the team to operate. To do that, the Cougars will need to find another dependable short area target (which is why they haven’t tried to do that thus far).

BYU has a couple wide receivers returning from missionaries, and if they can contribute right away, it could help the offense overall. The entire team took a step back last year and that was in part due to the quarterback play. That will be a question throughout the offseason, but the wide receivers can help out their quarterback by developing some as a whole unit.

Last season BYU tried short area passing and the run game to move the chains and it really didn’t work. Moving Epps around and having him run a diverse route tree could go a long way in opening up this offense.

Going back to 2022 and watching Epps, BYU used him in space to create and create he did. In 2023, defenses just kept everything in front of them and played for short area touches. I understand why BYU kept Epps short last year and tried to scheme him up, but when you don’t have a speedster to stress defenses, the offense will sputter. If BYU chooses to keep Epps short, they need to run a higher tempo to create chaos. The team needs to move Epps around pre-snap to get him in space and in the open where he can make a defender miss.

Pathway to Success

This will be Kody Epps’ third full year in the system. He will be part of the gameplan with every chance to breakout this season. In 2022, he showed what he could do before a hamstring injury caused him to miss the final four games of the season. In 2023, all of BYU’s playmakers had an off year and quarterback play was not great. Unfortunately, BYU comes into 2024 with more questions at the QB position. However, whoever becomes the starter will have a safety blanket in Epps to get the ball to. If the offense can get into a rhythm and find a tempo, Epps should be the reason for that.

2024 Outlook

I expect Kody Epps to have a breakout season in 2024. Preferably, operating more on intermediate routes and expanding his route tree. I would like to see BYU push Epps to get him going and challenging an opposing corner. We know he can win short, let’s see if he can win elsewhere. After all, Epps is the most athletic playmaker they have.