BYU Football will kickoff against the Utah Utes in only 18 more days!
Back when I was writing this Top 100 Countdown for the Lawless Republic, I got sort of anxious at player 81. I had just written about 19 players that I knew very little to nothing about. I decided to do a "sneak peak" at player 18, Jonny Harline.
While I still will briefly feature player 81 at the end of the article, since I am now on a new platform with new readers, I feel it best to revisit Harline and the accomplishments he had.
Player No. 18 Jonny Harline – Tight end – 2003-2006
Jonny Harline to this day holds half of the most memorable moment since the turn of the century and it is undebatable. Sure, the Taysom leap against Texas and Tanner Mangum’s Miracle at Memorial are both plays that will remain on the highlight reels for the next twenty years, but the Beck to Harline play deserves its own spot in the BYU Football hall of fame.
I don’t want to say that a single play is what lands you this high in the Top 20 of the BYU Top 100 players of all time, but it sort of does when it is against Utah as time expires in the endzone. Actually it doesn’t, Harline has the rankings to back it up in other areas as well, but the catch did definitely move him up at least twenty spots.
Rankings
Impact: B+
Harline was a big receiver for BYU Football both in 2005 and 2006, the only years he played significant time, but the Cougars were loaded with talent in the receiving group. In those two seasons, the Cougars had eight receivers catch over 400 yards. Harline’s biggest impact came in 2005 when BYU won a few games by close margins, but in 2006, just about every game was a blowout except the huge game against Utah. The reality is, if you are blowing out teams, it makes your impact go down a bit, even if Harline was the leading receiver.
Statistics: A-
Harline led the Cougars with 935 receiving yards in 2006 along with 12 TD’s which led the nation for tight ends and he was named an All-American that season. That statline is really good, however everything else was just, okay. He was third on the team for yards per catch and he fumbled the ball four times during his career, a bit high when you take in that he only had 115 in field catches (about a 3.5% fumble rate). He only really played for two seasons which hurts his grade a bit, but those two seasons were so good that we can almost give him a pass. For his career he had 1,788 receiving yards, 17 TD's and 14.8 yards per catch.
Memorable Moments A+
Click this LINK! You're welcome!
Harline could have done nothing else his entire career and probably still gotten an A for this grade. Harline also added some big TD catches against New Mexico in 2005 in a close game, had a huge 71 yard catch against the Lobos the next season and had another super nice one handed catch in the endzone against Utah in the same game as the highlight above.
Player 81 Brad Oates - Offensive Tackle - 1973-1975
It couldn't be a true Top 100 if we only featured 99 players and skipped over player 81. Brad Oates was an excellent offensive linemen for Lavell Edwards during his first few seasons with the Cougars.
While there aren't any stats for him, he was a two time All-Wac player, a second team All-American and a two time team captain. He transferred after his freshman season from Duke and was a key factor to the Cougars starting to be become a better team in the mid 1970's.
In 1988 he was inducted into the BYU Hall of Fame, an honor that only 35 former players can currently claim.