Manti's Reggie Frischknecht took a circuitous rout to his dream school, but the 6-foot-4 receiver is loving his first season at BYU
Back in 2018, Bingham High receiver Dax Milne bet on himself and won, turning down scholarship offers at several smaller schools such as Weber State and Southern Utah to walk on at BYU.
Milne, of course, became a star for the Cougars, earned a scholarship in 2019, and got so good that he played a couple of seasons in the NFL for the Washington Commanders.
New BYU receiver Reggie Frischknecht has never met Milne, but his journey to Provo is somewhat similar. The 6-foot-4, 200-pound Frischknecht starred for Manti High in 2023, but his only solid offer out of high school, aside from some Division II schools, was from nearby Snow College. After a standout year in Ephraim in which he led the nation with 14 touchdown catches, Frischknecht signed with Weber State and enrolled at the Ogden school last winter.
“BYU is a place I wanted to be my whole life. I didn’t have any idea if they would be interested or not. I blindly did it and prayed for the best, and this is where I ended up.”
BYU receiver Reggie Frischknecht
However, after going through spring ball with the Wildcats, he got the itch to see what he could do at the Power Four level, and entered the transfer portal “just hoping to get picked up anywhere” to prove to himself that he had the talent to shine at that level.
When a few former BYU receivers — Keelan Marion and Darius Lassiter — moved on to Miami and a shot in the NFL, respectively, the Cougars reached out, which is just what Frischknecht wanted to have happen.
“I loved it up there at Weber State, but I just felt like I belonged at a bigger school,” he said after a BYU practice last week. “So I took my chances, and luckily I ended up here.”
Frischknecht said a couple of schools contacted him when he was in the portal, but when BYU receivers coach and passing game coordinator Fesi Sitake called, it was a day he will never forget.
“BYU is a place I wanted to be my whole life,” he said. “I didn’t have any idea if they would be interested or not. I blindly did it and prayed for the best, and this is where I ended up. It is a dream come true.”
Sitake, who was also involved in getting Milne to BYU, said coaches knew a little bit about Frischknecht when he played for Manti, and watched him closely at Snow College, where former Cougar Zac Erekson is the head coach. But BYU didn’t have a scholarship available for a receiver last December, and it had to pass on what Sitake and others said could be a hidden gem in Frischknecht.
The Cougars have also landed former Stanford receiver Tiger Bachmeier from the transfer portal, adding depth to an already solid receiving corps.
“Reggie is someone who’s just a ball of potential. He’s got a really, really high ceiling. He’s one of the fastest and most explosive guys that I think we have, not just in my room, but on this team,” Sitake said. “He’s a little raw. He grew up in a rural area. … So he hasn’t been able to just have like stability and consistency with receiver play. He’s had some good mentors around him, so once he polishes up and gets a feel for the playbook, he’s going to be good.”
Frischknecht is tall enough to be a tight end, the position he played in high school, but the player and Sitake both said he’s speedy enough to play receiver.
“Man, he’s gonna be playing a lot of plays for us this year,” Sitake said. “Both Tiger and Reggie bring valuable and quality depth to my room.”
Frischknecht’s father played at Snow College and Washington State for two years apiece and had a brief preseason stint with the Green Bay Packers. So there’s plenty of athleticism in the family. His grandfather attended BYU and has also been a big influence in his life.
“It is good to have four quality guys fighting for those two or three spots in the rotation. It’s a good problem to have. Thankfully, we still have some more time to figure it out.”
BYU receivers coach Fesi Sitake
“I actually came to a few BYU games last season when I was at Snow, drove up here after our games and watched BYU football,” he said. “I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for BYU football.”
Sitake said that Chase Roberts, JoJo Phillips and Parker Kingston are the top three receivers on BYU’s depth chart entering preseason training camp. He said Cody Hagen, Bachmeier, Frischknecht and sophomore Tei Nacua are fighting for spots four through six.
“It is good to have four quality guys fighting for those two or three spots in the rotation,” Sitake said. “It’s a good problem to have. Thankfully, we still have some more time to figure it out.”
Frischknecht said he hopes to maintain his current weight, perhaps add 10 or 15 pounds of muscle, in order to remain a receiver.
“I’m not trying to get very much bigger than what I am, honestly,” he said.
But at least now he’s in a place where he always wanted to be.
Category: General Sports
