How Carsen Ryan is bringing tight end, all-natural mustache back in style with BYU

PROVO (KSL.com) — Carsen Ryan isn’t just BYU’s leader in receiving touchdowns through three games of the 2025 season, the senior also stands out in one crucial area, according to his coaches and teammates.

The former UCLA and Utah tight end almost certainly has the best mustache on the team.

The most impressive thing of the pass catcher with flow’s upper lip hair, though? It’s all natural.

“I use a conditioner (on it) when I shower sometimes, but I don’t use any beard oil,” he explained. “I trim it every couple of weeks to make sure it doesn’t get too long. … There’s no secret to it. I’ve just been blessed to have a nice mustache.”

Of course, Ryan is more than a ‘stache. He’s currently the No. 6-rated tight end in college football this season, with an 86.4 grade by Pro Football Focus. That’s the highest rating for a tight end on a team west of Texas.

The 6-foot-4, 250-pound team captain has been an every-down type of tight end since BYU coach Kalani Sitake first started recruiting him — first at Timpview before finishing his prep career at American Fork.

But Ryan told him no — not once, but twice — in accepting scholarships from a Pac-12 school that would later join the Big Ten and another Pac-12 school prior to its entrance in the Big 12.

Ryan played in all 12 games in his lone season at UCLA, starting five. In his lone season at Utah he caught 10 passes for 113 yards that included a 2-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal at Utah State.

But his usage declined from there, at least until he erupted for four catches for 78 yards in a 49-24 loss at Colorado in the antepenultimate game of the season.

Perhaps that helps explain Ryan’s decision to transfer (again) — and why the third time proved to be the charm for Sitake and BYU.

“He can do so many things,” Sitake said of Ryan, calling him a “complete tight end.” “He’s versatile, he can block, he can catch, he’s big, he’s a great leader and he’s bought into whatever we ask him to do.

“I don’t think anybody works harder than he does in practice; he sweats more than anyone I know, and that usually means he’s working really hard. And then he has an amazing mustache game. When you combine all those things, it just makes sense that you should be a great tight end at BYU.”

It’s translated into the main thing Ryan wanted out of his transfer: playing time, and plenty of it.

“Something they’ve really allowed me to do in this offense is just be on the field all the time,” Ryan said Monday after the Cougars improved to 3-0 for the fifth time in six seasons. “Being an every-down tight end is my goal, to be a really physical blocker but also get out and make some plays in the pass game like I’ve been doing.

“It’s something I want to continue to do, too,” he added.

He’s also showing he can be a reliable target for Bear Bachmeier, the former four-star prospect and Stanford early enrollee who transferred to BYU in the summer and won the starting quarterback job during training camp.

With an orbit play-action pass and a leaked wheel route, Bachmeier found Ryan for a crucial 20-yard touchdown with 6:33 left in the third quarter to give the Cougars a 20-3 lead en route to a 33-13 road win over East Carolina.

Through three games, Ryan has caught nine passes for 146 yards and two scores. He ranks second on the team in receptions and receiving yards (trailing on Chase Roberts).

For Ryan, being available for the true freshman starter is just as important as his ability to play every down — just as he plans to be Saturday night in the Cougars’ 14th all-time meeting against Colorado (8:15 p.m. MDT, ESPN).

“One thing I’ve really focused on since Bear came here is just to be consistent, to get up when I can, do my job and let him know that I’m there,” Ryan said. “The ball might not always come to me or the defense might not always make me a viable option in the play.

“But I just try to consistently be there and do my job, so that Bear knows if he needs me that I’m going to be there.”