BYU Football Top 100: No. 10 Gordon Hudson, Game Changer

The college football season begins for BYU Football in only 10 more days!

We are ten days away from the start of BYU Football! I can't believe we actually made it to this point! Yesterday, Taysom Hill absolutely dominated in an NFL preseason game by going 11/15 for 191 total yards and two touchdowns. While he wasn't wearing the blue and white, it still had the same kind of feeling as watching BYU Football.

Today as we hit the final ten best players to ever play for BYU Football I want to remind everyone that this is MY OPINION and based off of the research that I conducted back in May/June of this year. There is going to be some debate and disagreement among fans from here on out, but we'll see how it ends up.

Today's player was the best tight end to ever play for the Cougars.

No. 10 Gordon Hudson - Tight End - 1981-1983

In the 1980's the tight end was used as a blocker and a blocker. Occasionally they would also be used as a blocker. In other words, they weren't really ever used in the passing game. Lavell Edwards changed all of that with Hudson.

When he ended his career, he was the NCAA record holder in career receiving yards for a tight end and it forever changed the game of college football by adding another dimension and threat to the passing game.

Rankings

Impact A+

Gordon Hudson forever changed the position of the tight end. As mentioned before, tight ends were primarily blockers since the inception of college football before Hudson was used as a catching tight end. It also helped that from 1981-1983 the Cougars were one of the more watched teams in college football so he was able to make the position work while being on national television. The 2,484 record has since been broken many MANY times, even by quite a few former Cougars.

Statistics B+

Even in today's game Hudson would be ranked as one of the Top 5 tight ends in the nation. He was very efficient and dangerous as a player often picking up additional yards after contact/catch. For his career he had 2,484 receiving yards, 22 touchdown catches and had three catches for 50 or more yards. The only reason his grade isn't higher is because he left a year early and when compared to other BYU tight ends he doesn't quite match the numbers.

Memorable Moments A

Imagine watching college football in the early 1980's and watching game after game after game of the same thing. Running up the middle, toss play, pass to one of two receivers, etc... Now imagine turning on the TV and seeing a blocker run from the line of scrimmage into a route and catch the ball and be off to the races for a 64 yard touchdown. Or the "blocker" out in a receiver position ready to run a route. That is what Gordon Hudson did to forever change the game. And while he did it he had a few memorable catches.

The most recognized one is a game against Utah when he went off for 259 yards on 13 catches and had two touchdowns. Those kind of stats for a tight end were unheard of and forever changed how we watch the game of football.