Tears in the End Zone: Jonny Harline’s Heartbreak as BYU’s Tight End Legacy Hangs by a Thread the air was heavy in Provo, Utah, as the sun dipped behind the Wasatch Mountains, casting a dramatic silhouette over LaVell Edwards Stadium. It was the kind of night football dreams—or nightmares—are made of. And for Jonny Harline, former BYU legend turned tight end coach, it was heartbreak revisited.Once hailed as the hero who made that game-winning catch in the 2006 “Beck to Harline” miracle, Jonny Harline now stood on the sideline, a man no longer in pads but cloaked in pressure. The Cougars were down by four, twenty-two seconds on the clock, fourth-and-goal. The play call? Tight end drag—his signature play. Fitting, poetic even.Harline’s protégé, sophomore tight end Colby Thorne, had all the tools—size, speed, hands like glue. Jonny had spent two seasons molding him, whispering secrets of the tight end craft like an old Jedi passing down the Force. Tonight was supposed to be the moment Colby took the torch and lit up the legacy Harline helped build.The snap came. The quarterback rolled right. Colby slipped his coverage, broke into the end zone. The throw was perfect. A rainbow of redemption arced across the turf, spiraling in slow motion. And then… the drop.Silence fell like a curtain. The stadium gasped, then groaned. Harline’s hands clutched his headset as if trying to squeeze out an alternate ending. On the field, Colby stared at the turf, disbelief etched across his face. Harline, meanwhile, was reliving his past glory in reverse—a highlight tape spooling backward into something far more painful.Later in the locker room, the air was thick with the weight of “what could’ve been.” Jonny approached Colby, not with anger, but with the kind of disappointment that slices deeper than rage.“You had it, kid,” Jonny said quietly. “You had our history in your hands.”Colby could barely meet his eyes. “I’m sorry, Coach. I choked.”Harline shook his head slowly. “You didn’t choke. You dropped the legacy. That’s worse.”But the truth was more complicated than a single drop. Harline wasn’t just mourning a loss; he was watching the slow erosion of a BYU tradition built on tight ends who delivered in the clutch. From Chad Lewis to Dennis Pitta to Harline himself, the position was sacred ground. And now, the shrine had a crack in its foundation.BYU fans
