Editor’s note: This story originally published May 28 and has been updated with the news of Jake Retzlaff’s expected transfer from the program.
A little over a month ago, BYU football was hit with an absolute bombshell.
A civil lawsuit filed in Salt Lake City’s 3rd District Court on May 21 accused Cougars starting quarterback Jake Retzlaff of sexual assaulting a Salt Lake County woman on Thanksgiving Eve in 2023.
On Sunday, news broke that Retzlaff is facing a seven-game suspension and will transfer to another major college football program.
After Retzlaff, it is basically a two-man race between redshirt sophomore McCae Hillstead, a Utah State transfer, and redshirt junior Treyson Bourguet, a transfer from Western Michigan, in BYU’s quarterbacks room.
Both quarterbacks joined the program in 2024 and were backups last season behind Retzlaff and QB2 Gerry Bohanon, who has exhausted his college eligibility.
Two more quarterbacks will join the program shortly — Bountiful High’s Emerson Geilman and Bear Bachmeier of Murrieta Valley (California) High — but it is highly unlikely that a true freshman would be handed the reins over guys who logged playing time in the 2023 season. Bachmeier did participate in Stanford’s 2025 spring practices before entering the transfer portal and signing with BYU on May 7.
In an interview on March 28, when BYU’s spring practices were wrapping up, offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick said there was “very little” separation between Hillstead and Bourguet through 15 practices/scrimmages.
He declined to name a QB2 coming out of spring camp.
“They are both improving. Both of them are better players now than they were last season. And I think we could win a game with either one of them. I don’t know which one of them that would be yet,” Roderick said.
“It has been close,” he added. “They have both had more good days than bad, and I think they are both good players.”
Roderick said it “would have been great” if a clearcut backup had emerged, but it just didn’t happen.
“We will take it into fall camp if we have to,” he said.
Retzlaff’s situation may cause that timetable to be expedited.
In an interview on March 15, here’s what Roderick said about the QB2 battle.
“There have been days where I thought maybe there was separation, and then the next day the other guy will make a few good plays to keep it close,” Roderick said. “… My process in the past with choosing starting quarterbacks is to let it play out for a while and then eventually it gets to a point where everybody on the team knows who the starter is, and when you make an announcement everybody on the team is like, ‘Yeah, duh, we already know that.’”
Roderick continued: “I will say this, though, both those guys can play. They have both proven they can play in Division I games. Not a lot of games, but both of them have played enough that we know they can go in and win for us. We will see how it shakes out.”
With only three quarterbacks in 2025 spring camp — in 2024 there were 7-8 — Hillstead and Bourguet got plenty of reps, almost as many at Retzlaff, according to several observers.
Media members were only allowed to watch the final 20-30 minutes of practices a couple times a week, but in those viewing times it appeared to this reporter that Hillstead got more work with the twos and was usually the first QB to get reps behind Retzlaff. Bourguet got more work with the threes.
“Both of those guys have played in real football games. They are not like your typical new players. And they were both with us all last season. They are moving the team pretty well when they have a good team around them,” Roderick said early in camp. “… Every time those two guys have had a chance to play with people that know what they are doing they play pretty well.”
Here’s a closer look at the two QBs in the hunt to be QB1 at BYU if Retzlaff is out of the picture:
• McCae Hillstead, RS-Soph, 5-10, 195
Hillstead is from Lehi and prepped at Skyridge High before signing with Utah State in 2023 after leading the Falcons to the 2022 6A state championship.
He started in four games as a true freshman at USU in 2023, and worked hard enough in the classroom to earn an Academic All-Mountain West designation.
On the field, he appeared in eight games and completed 59.5% of his passes (94 of 158) for 1,062 yards and 11 touchdowns, with eight interceptions. He set a USU freshman single-game passing record against James Madison, throwing for 399 yards and four TDs.
He told the Deseret News in late April of 2024 that he entered the transfer portal because he wanted a “new change of scenery” and a place where he could be developed further. After drawing interest from Utah, Iowa, Cal, Mississippi State and a “few other” Power Four programs, he picked BYU.
“More than anything, I just wanted to go to a place where I felt hopeful for my future,” he said.
Hillstead was also a track star in high school, and he flashed that speed several times in spring camp, once taking off for a 60-yard TD jaunt and beating a safety in hot pursuit.
“His speed shows up every day in practice in the run game,” Roderick said.
After the first spring practice on Feb. 27, Hillstead said he had a “good grip” on Roderick’s offense after observing Retzlaff run it throughout the 2024 season and felt like it played into his strengths.
“My biggest goal, and my expectation for myself, is I just want to keep improving,” he said. “My goal is to get better and have a mastery of the offense before fall camp starts in late July.”
Now that mastery can’t come fast enough for the business major who speaks Mandarin (Chinese) and enjoys fishing, hunting and dirt biking in the offseason.
• Treyson Bourguet, RS-Junior, 6-2, 205
Growing up in Tucson, Arizona, Bourguet dreamed of playing for BYU although he is not a member of the faith that sponsors the school, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is a Lutheran, he said last February.
However, his senior season in high school was altered by the pandemic, and the Cougars never came through with a scholarship offer so he signed with Western Michigan in 2022 and played two season for the Broncos, 2022 and 2023. He appeared in 10 games in Kalamazoo, completing 111 of 212 passes for 1,314 yards and six touchdowns. He ran 79 times for 219 yards and a score.
“When I entered the transfer portal, I had my mind set on BYU,” he told the Deseret News. “Without even talking to the coaches … I knew where I wanted to go.”
Bourguet said Roderick reached out as soon as he went into the portal, and he committed shortly thereafter — even though BYU didn’t immediately have a scholarship available.
“I knew where I was supposed to be. I knew where God wanted me. This is right in my backyard from Arizona, an hour flight away. My family gets to come see me all the time. So yeah, when I got into the transfer portal I just told myself, ‘I am going to do whatever it takes. If I come in and am the ninth string, if I come in and be the backup, if I come in and be the starter,’” he said. “Whatever it is, I just want an opportunity. And coach A Rod gave me an opportunity and I have just taken it ever since.”
Bourguet was put on scholarship at the end of 2024 spring camp, and he’s got two seasons of eligibility left. He is in BYU’s business management program and expects to graduate next spring.
Bourguet is bigger and has a stronger arm than Hillstead, but doesn’t appear to be as mobile in the pocket. He was fairly accurate this spring, especially on intermediate and deep throws.
“He’s a really good person who knows what he wants and has made the goals to get there,” Roderick said in 2024. “He’s going to be an asset to that quarterbacks room, and a good example to the other QBs in it.”