What’s BYU’s quarterback situation entering signing day?

Despite missing the bowl game with a foot injury and whispers that he’s not totally healthy, BYU starting quarterback Jaren Hall is “full-go” and “doing it all” and ready to participate in spring camp later this month, Cougars offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick told the Deseret News on Monday.

Video of Hall running on a treadmill posted on Twitter Monday seemed to prove Roderick’s assessment correct.

So USC transfer Jaxson Dart got away to Ole Miss, backup QB Baylor Romney is still in the transfer portal — with an open invitation from Roderick to return to BYU if he wants — and an untested QB such as Jacob Conover, Cade Fennegan, Sol-Jay Maiava-Peters or Nick Billoups is another Hall injury away from taking the reins.

Does that mean the Cougars are in the market for another quarterback on national signing day — after not signing one in December when the early signing period began a few months ago?

Not necessarily, Roderick said.

“Our (philosophy) is we are always open to adding a difference-maker, at any position,” he said, alluding to landing Washington transfer receiver Puka Nacua last spring. “Puka was that guy. He was really good for us. But (as of now), no quarterbacks have emerged (as signing day prospects).”

Having signed 19 high school prospects back on Dec. 15 (most of those signees will go on church missions before enrolling), the Cougars will sign only a handful of recruits to national letters of intent on Wednesday, Roderick said.

Monday, BYU got a commitment from Dom Henry, a receiver from Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida (Nease High), who reportedly had scholarship offers from Air Force and Army. Henry caught 81 passes for 1,590 yards and 13 touchdowns last fall.

“We are going to sign at least one more player that I am aware of on offense,” said Roderick, likely referring to Henry. “And I think the defense is going to sign a few as well.”

Schools can sign up to 25 players a year, but Roderick said BYU coaches probably won’t ink that many because they like to keep a couple spots free for players in the transfer portal, especially after spring camps end in March and April.

In other words, it will be a pretty quiet day — at BYU and throughout the country.

As of Tuesday afternoon, BYU had only one other known offer out to a prospect on offense — Snow College offensive lineman Lisala Tai. The 6-foot-7, 310-pound Tai, from Hawthorne, California, was part of BYU’s 2016 signing class, but things didn’t work out and he ended up in Ephraim for awhile.

The Cougars had several offers out to defensive players and/or versatile, two-way athletes, according to Casey Lundquist of Cougs Daily on the Sports Illustrated network.

Among those are California defensive backs Zion Allen (Manteca), Carlton Johnson (Riverside CC) and Roman Rashada (Diablo Valley CC), Oklahoma defensive back Korbyn Green (Owasso) and California athletes Evan Johnson (Pebble Beach) and Nathaniel Gillis (Spring Valley).

Defensive end Carson Tujague of Crozet, Virginia, son of former BYU and current Virginia offensive line coach Garett Tujague, also reportedly has an offer from the Cougars.

BYU doesn’t announce preferred walk-ons who have committed, but according to their social media accounts, Lone Peak OL Trevor Pay, Springville DB Cole Clement, Arizona OL Brigham Alexander (Queen Creek) and Arizona athlete Charles “Chika” Ebunoha (Tucson) are apparently bound for Provo.

On Jan. 5, BYU head coach Kalani Sitake announced a pair of Pac-12 running backs have joined the program as graduate transfers — Cal tailback Christopher Brooks and Stanford fullback Houston Heimuli.

That same day, BYU announced that Oregon transfer offensive lineman Kingsley Suamataia and five other previously signed recruits had enrolled for winter semester. That group includes Weber High’s Aisea Moa (an early enrollee) and four players back from church missions: Logan Fano, Brooks Maile, Bruce Mitchell and Isaiah Glasker.

More on the QB situation

Roderick said that Hall not playing in the 31-28 loss to UAB in the Independence Bowl did not come as a surprise. He said Hall suffered a lower leg injury in the 35-31 win over USC on Nov. 27 and didn’t practice during bowl prep until the Cougars got to Shreveport, Louisiana.

Then, he practiced “just a little bit, but it wasn’t coming together as quickly as we thought it would,” so the decision was made to start Romney, who had taken the lion’s share of the reps in practices.

“Baylor is a good player. He is always ready to play anyway, but I knew there was a good chance Baylor was going to start that game, and then as we got closer to it we were open to Jaren sort of making a last-minute start,” Roderick said. “But he didn’t feel like he was quite ready, our medical people didn’t feel like he was quite ready, and so we just decided it was best for his future just to be smart and hold him out.

“And we had confidence in Baylor, so that is what we did.”

Roderick said Hall is healthy again.

“He is full-go. He’s fine. It is all good. He just wasn’t quite ready for that game. But it wasn’t anything like a long-term injury. He is back doing everything with our team — in the weight room, running, throwing, doing it all.”

Romney played well, completing 15 of 23 passes for 195 yards in miserable weather conditions. But the El Paso, Texas, native who has been in the program since 2018 but has two years of eligibility remaining, if he wants them, entered the transfer portal in late December.

As of Tuesday morning, Romney had not made public his future plans, and Cougars coaches had not given up on the prospects of the married quarterback returning.

“I have told Baylor from the start that the door was open (to come back),” Roderick said. “He wanted to go in the portal and explore his options, and I supported him on that. And I told him I would try to find him a place to go, if he needed it, but he didn’t really need it. He had a lot of teams interested in him.

“We still want him back if he wants to come back.”