Health restored, speed is back in Parker Kingston’s court

The moment BYU junior Parker Kingston caught a center screen pass at midfield and darted 54 yards to the end zone last Friday against West Virginia, the speedster knew he was finally back in the fast lane — at last.

“It was awesome. I mean, to finally get a touchdown this year and turn around and see all the guys celebrating, that was fun,” Kingston told “BYU Sports Nation GameDay.” “There’s nothing like scoring in LaVell Edwards Stadium. It’s literally the best place to score. It’s always nice scoring right in front of the ROC (student section).”

A healthy hamstring is to Kingston what a booster is to a rocket. Without them, nobody is going anywhere. Kingston’s injury on the first day of fall camp, curtailed his preseason prep and when it was time for liftoff, he was far from being launch-pad ready.

“I was out literally all of fall camp. I came back the first week,” he said. “I didn’t feel like myself for the first two and a half weeks of the season. I mean, you saw it, I had some mistakes early with punt returns and I just wasn’t me.”

As a result, Kingston’s struggles, including a fumble against Stanford, cost him his job. For a punt returner, hailed by Phil Steele as a preseason All-American, getting benched was both a gut-punch and an honest reality check.

“It’s a business that we play in and, if the coaches felt like they needed to put someone else out back there that they trusted more, then I was all for that,” he said. “I’m for the team — whatever’s best for the team.”

For a football player who is a conservative 5-foot-11 and a liberal 185 pounds, speed is not only the key to Kingston’s stardom, but also to his survival. A defense can’t hit what it can’t catch. Since the Stanford game, Kingston’s mobility has produced 234 total yards and two touchdowns. He has also worked back into the rotation on punt returns.

“I’m grateful that I’ve been able to get more returns back,” he said. “Hopefully I can take one back soon.”

With his 1-yard touchdown run in the first quarter against West Virginia, the former Roy High quarterback/receiver/returner became the first player in modern BYU history to have a touchdown run, reception, pass and punt return. One of his three touchdown passes is also part of program history.

Kingston’s 26-yard toss to Isaac Rex against Iowa State in 2023 was the grab Rex needed to pass Hall of Famer Gordon Hudson for the most touchdowns by a tight end in program history. Producing a full-circle moment, the first of Hudson’s 22 touchdown passes came from Jim McMahon — another former Roy quarterback.

“It’s pretty sweet to be named right next to those guys,” Kingston said. “This is what I do. I love football and I love making plays.”

No. 18 BYU puts its unbeaten record (5-0, 2-0) on the line Saturday at Arizona (6 p.m. MDT, ESPN2) before taking on Utah, No. 22 Iowa State and No. 9 Texas Tech. Having a revived and reinvigorated Kingston back on the launch pad ready to blast off couldn’t have come at a better time.

“I feel like my first game was ECU, honestly. Those first two weeks I didn’t really play much and was coming back from injury,” he said. “The fact that we are already (so deep) into the season is crazy. It’s flown by, but I feel like we’re just getting started.”

Dave McCann is a sportswriter and columnist for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com.