{"id":844135,"date":"2026-09-11T13:22:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T13:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/844135\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T13:22:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T13:22:12","slug":"byus-cannon-devries-on-the-secret-to-being-a-great-kick-returner-deseret-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/844135\/","title":{"rendered":"BYU\u2019s Cannon DeVries on the secret to being a great kick returner \u2013 Deseret News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although he still gets a good chuckle over the mistake that EA Sports\u2019 \u201cCollege Football 27\u2033 made in July when it depicted him as being of a different race<\/a>, BYU\u2019s Cannon DeVries hopes he will now be known more for his plays on the football field than a botched likeness on a video game.<\/p>\n

Cougars on the air<\/p>\n

Arizona (1-0) at No. 14 BYU (1-0)<\/p>\n

Saturday, 1:30 p.m. MDTAt LaVell Edwards StadiumTV: FoxRadio: 102.7 FM\/1160 AM<\/p>\n

The sophomore defensive back from North Ogden and Weber High made that a possibility<\/a> last Saturday. DeVries returned two punts for a combined 73 yards and a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown in BYU\u2019s 63-7 win<\/a> over Utah Tech.<\/p>\n

The big returns helped him earn Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week honors, but, more importantly, gave him a healthy dose of confidence as he enters his second season in Provo.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, it meant a lot. That is something that I had the goal to reach and to get, so to get it the first week was pretty special for me,\u201d DeVries said after BYU\u2019s practice Wednesday. \u201cAs a young kid, I always believed that I could do special things on the field, so being able to go out and do them was definitely a dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeVries also got the start in the defensive backfield from his nickel position and recorded a tackle. He was just as thrilled that secondary mates Tre Alexander, Evan Johnson and Matthias Leach recorded interceptions in the opener.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a memorable night for a lot of us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It was BYU\u2019s first kickoff return for a touchdown since Talan Alfrey took Houston\u2019s onside kick 58 yards to the end zone in 2024. Head coach Kalani Sitake said he wasn\u2019t surprised. He\u2019s been watching DeVries make big plays on special teams for years.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been doing that since high school. You guys know, you\u2019ve seen the highlights that he\u2019s done,\u201d Sitake said Monday. \u201cHe\u2019s an amazing returner, and he has an amazing IQ when it comes to knowing how to view the whole field in the return game.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou gotta be light on your feet, be ready to make a juke when it is needed, and you gotta be fearless, too. You can\u2019t be scared back there because that\u2019s when bad things happen. Confidence is the key.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0BYU return specialist Cannon DeVries on what makes a good returner<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you either have it, or you don\u2019t, and he has it. So it\u2019s nice that (he\u2019s young). He\u2019s got a lot of years to be doing that too. \u2026 We have a lot of guys that can do it. I don\u2019t think we need just one guy to do it, but he\u2019s probably made a good case for himself to be the kick returner and punt returner.\u201d<\/p>\n

The positions were up for grabs entering the 2026 season after all-Big 12 specialist Parker Kingston was dismissed from the team<\/a> last February. After Saturday\u2019s debut, it appears that DeVries will have it for a long time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just came in very confident. I\u2019ve done punt returns and kick returns my whole life, so I had a lot of faith and trust in myself,\u201d DeVries said. \u201cIt\u2019s always great when coaches and teammates have my back coming in. They knew I could go in and do the job. It wouldn\u2019t have worked without them, without my teammates, being able to block things up the right way. I am just one part of the piece. And so it\u2019s pretty awesome when it all comes together.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeVries said he had \u201chundreds of text messages from friends, family, a bunch of people from my mission and people who have been a part of my life for a long time\u201d on his phone when he logged on after the game, including one from Kingston himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe and Parker are good friends. We grew up in northern Utah together, played basketball and football together, and have always been good buddies,\u201d DeVries said. \u201cSo yeah, he definitely showed some love and support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Running back Preston Rex, who has also been a candidate<\/a> to return kicks, said nobody was surprised when DeVries took it to the house.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you run the Weber High School film, you\u2019ll see that Cannon\u2019s been doing this for a long time,\u201d Rex said. \u201cSo it was really awesome to see him do it in a game. I\u2019m glad he\u2019s getting his opportunity, filling that hole. He\u2019s been doing it in practice, and he\u2019s super shifty, super fast. I wasn\u2019t surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s DeVries\u2019 secret?<\/p>\n

DeVries said he\u2019s always had a knack for making long returns \u2014 he returned five interceptions for touchdowns in high school \u2014 partly because he\u2019s got outstanding speed. He ran a 10.81 in the 100 meters at the 6A state track meet and was a 6A finalist along with former teammate Cody Hagen, former Utah standout Smith Snowden, and the aforementioned Kingston.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it just comes down to confidence, knowing that when the ball\u2019s in the air, you\u2019re going to come away with it, and when it\u2019s in your hands, that you are going to make a play.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou gotta be light on your feet, be ready to make a juke when it is needed, and you gotta be fearless, too,\u201d he continued. \u201cYou can\u2019t be scared back there because that\u2019s when bad things happen. Confidence is the key.\u201d<\/p>\n

As far as being a position player, DeVries was with the cornerbacks last year but has made the switch back to the safeties room, working with Demario Warren and former BYU and NFL standout Daniel Sorensen. Although he\u2019s listed as a nickel on the depth chart with freshman Crew Clark while Jonathan Kabeya remains out with an injury, he works out with the safeties.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mostly do nickel stuff, but in meetings, we\u2019re in the safeties room,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Said new cornerbacks coach Lewis Walker: \u201cCannon has done a tremendous job ever since we got here in the winter. \u2026 The vision that he has and the trust that he has in the guys blocking for him, and in himself, is special.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Everyone found it super hilarious\u2019<\/p>\n

As for the video game goof that \u201cwas a hot topic around the locker room\u201d for a couple of weeks, DeVries said he was never offended or put off by the gaffe.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople from back home, just my friends down here, everyone found it super hilarious,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was a really fun moment, and we have joked about it a lot. It\u2019s a good laugh now, even when you still pull up the picture. I got a good chuckle out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeVries says he still has no idea whom the video game was trying to depict.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust some random guy, I guess,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Thanks to Saturday\u2019s performance, the same can\u2019t be said about him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Although he still gets a good chuckle over the mistake that EA Sports\u2019 \u201cCollege Football 27\u2033 made in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":844136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,3125,99],"class_list":["post-844135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-football","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-news-feed-local","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=844135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/844136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=844135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=844135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=844135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}