Freshman Sol-Jay Maiava-Peters will start at quarterback for BYU over Cade Fennegan and Nick Billoups in the New Mexico Bowl against the SMU Mustangs, coach Kalani Sitake said during the KSL pregame radio show.
It will be the first career start for Maiava-Peters, a redshirt freshman out of Hawaii.
Sitake explained why Maiava-Peters got the nod over Fennegan, a transfer from Boise State who started the week as the standalone backup QB behind Jaren Hall, who is missing the game due to an ankle injury.
“It’s a little bit difficult for Cade, because he suffered an ankle injury a few weeks ago ... I think he’s much better now than he has been, but that kind of factored into the competition,” Sitake said during the show, according to Greg Wrubell, the voice of BYU football.
Jacob Conover, who served as Hall’s backup throughout the regular season and is the only quarterback to throw a pass this season, entered the transfer portal after the regular-season finale and has already committed to Arizona State.
Sitake also suggested that the Cougars could play all three quarterbacks during the game. BYU is relatively healthy at running back — outside of senior Lopini Katoa, who will miss the game — and is expected to rely on its run game against SMU.
“We’ll see how it goes from there. We’re ready to play all three (QBs) if we need to ... we’ll just kind of wait and see how the game goes, and also see how our run game goes,” Sitake said, per Wrubell.
Sitake also said during the show that star wide receiver Puka Nacua will not be available.
Maiava-Peters prepped at Kahuku High and joined the BYU program in 2020. He was rated a three-star recruit and the No. 32 dual-threat quarterback nationally in the 2020 recruiting class.
He played in three games during the 2020 season but has never thrown a pass in college.