PROVO — As recently as last fall, Charlie Peterson didn't seem like a candidate to become a starting quarterback at BYU.
For much of his career, he wondered if he would ever see the light of day on the Cougar depth chart. He seemed to be the forgotten man.
As a redshirt freshman in 1998, after having recently returned from an LDS mission, Peterson noticed it was getting awfully crowded on the BYU quarterback elevator.
Kevin Feterik was named the starter and he was backed up by Drew Miller. Plus, there was Brandon Doman, Kevin Gilbride and Mike Phelps. Then high school star Matt Berry announced his intentions to attend BYU. Bret Engemann was finishing up his mission and set to return.
There didn't seem to be much of a future in Provo for Peterson, but he decided to stick it out.
In the meantime, Phelps left the team. Miller and Gilbride decided to transfer to other programs. Feterik completed his eligibility. Berry chose to serve a mission.
With spring drills under way this week, there are three quarterbacks remaining — Peterson, Engemann and Doman.
Now that he's survived the war of attrition, Peterson feels coaches are finally giving him the opportunity to prove himself.
"Patience is a virtue, I guess," he said. "I just keep plugging along." For Peterson, who grew up a devout BYU fan, this is a dream come true.
"Honestly, it's been a trial," said the 6-foot-2 junior. "I've gone through that negative phase where everything was down and I thought it might be better to leave because things weren't working out. But deep down in my heart I know I can play here. I made a commitment to BYU and I'm a BYU guy. This is where I can best use my talents. I'm not a quitter. That's not who I am. I'm going to put everything I can into this."
Peterson seems to be thriving under new offensive coordinator Lance Reynolds and quarterbacks coach Robbie Bosco. He didn't feel he was receiving a fair chance under Chow, who left in February to coach at North Carolina State.
"That was a hard situation. It was touchy. Coach Chow made the call that I wasn't going to be that guy. That was his decision," Peterson said. "He told me, Hey, your chance is going to come. We don't want you to go anywhere.' It kept prolonging. I guess he was right, though. My chance is finally here."
Reynolds likes what he sees from Peterson. "He's an accurate passer and a competitive guy," he said. "He can really move around in the pocket and gives us a good dimension that way."
Coaches have said this spring that they may not name a starter until next fall. Peterson says he's not worried about that.
"I'm confident. I've worked this long, I've put this much effort into it, I feel like when the grit hits the grind, I can perform," Peterson said. "I hope my teammates see that. The only thing I can do is play the best I can. I just want to win and make plays. Hopefully my actions will do the talking."