Tough choices: Cougar wide receiver Kody Epps glad he elected to return

Talk with BYU junior wide receiver Kody Epps for a couple of minutes and you’ll find him to be intelligent and insightful with an engaging smile that’s hard to resist. He frequently gets animated as he talks about the Cougars and how much he enjoys being part of the team. But there was a time earlier this year when he wasn’t certain about whether he wanted to be in Provo. Epps entered the transfer portal at the end of April and reportedly got a number of offers. A few days later, however, he decided he didn’t want to leave BYU. “Cougar Nation, my teammates and coaches are who I love and who I want to play for,” Epps said in his social media post announcing his return. “Plus, I have too many teammates’ weddings that I could miss this summer. I’m here to stay!” As he looked back at that time after BYU football’s media golf tournament at the end of June, he recalled just what a difficult time it was. “It was a pretty rough process emotionally but I’m just so happy to get through it,” Epps said. “I’m so happy to make the decision to be where I’m at right now, still here at BYU. I still have the blessing to be embraced by my teammates and by the culture by the university.” He said that while it was a “rocky two days” for both him and his friends, he said he feels like he gained a lot. “I learned something I’m going to use for the rest of my life, which is being able to communicate before things get shaky,” Epps said. “It’s also about being able to take a step back and understand people. “Other people’s perspectives may not align with yours, but you can see their perspective and have empathy for what other people may be feeling. It was definitely something that I’m so blessed to have happen for me.” When Cougar head coach Kalani Sitake was asked about Epps, he responded by saying he has seen a lot of growth from the junior and that he is “really proud of him.” He also spoke more generally about how he handles things when guys are thinking about entering the transfer portal and also emphasized the importance of open discussion. “I think the key is to communicate,” Sitake said “Part of the communication is on the player as we talk about things and discuss what’s important. I think the players have the portal now to work with and that’s just part of football.” He said he’s not worried about how the transfer portal will impact his team because his focus is on having athletes embrace the BYU culture. “I want the guys who want to be here,” Sitake said. “There are a bunch of guys who want to be here. There’s a lot of guys who we turned down who want to be here. The focus has got to be on our team and our culture but, more than anything, on making sure that they fit and that they want to be here.” Epps said players look at transfer portal options in different ways. “I never used it as a mechanism of gain,” Epps said. “Initially, I thought it would be a good decision for me. Then stepping back through prayer, through my family, through coaches, through just me looking through a clear lens and trying to understand everything, I thought, no, this is where I need to be. This is where I want to be.” He recalled talking to one of the coaches who contacted him while he was in the portal and tell him that he wanted to make sure he was transferring for the right reasons. “I didn’t want to call around and talk about NIL and all that type of stuff,” Epps said. “I want people to know that’s not my character and not what I wanted to use it for. I want to be a football player. I want to be a great person off the field. That’s kind of what made my decision.”