BYU is 19 days away from kickoff against Portland State, and the Cougars still don’t know who their quarterback that day will be.
But perhaps the QB race has reached the home stretch.
During a prerecorded interview broadcast on Monday’s episode of “BYU Sports Nation,” BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick suggested — without naming names — that one of the three quarterback candidates could begin receiving the bulk of practice reps in the near future.
“I think there’s starting to be ... a little bit of separation there,” Roderick told BYUtv’s Spencer Linton of the quarterback battle. “I need to watch this (scrimmage) film to confirm that, because the body of work grows incrementally. You get a certain number of pass attempts each day in practice ... and we’re keeping track of how these guys grade out every practice.
“We keep track of every stat in practice the same way you would in a real game, because stats aren’t everything, but they do matter. It’s part of the position. And then we also just grade them on if they’re doing the right thing with the ball every play.
“And so, yeah, it’s not going to be equal reps forever,” Roderick continued. “You know, the time is coming soon where we’re going to have to make some decisions. You can’t keep giving equal reps to three guys, or nobody will be ready to play. So that time will be coming soon. I’m not exactly sure how soon, but we are watching it very closely every day.”
In terms of eventually announcing either McCae Hillstead, Treyson Bourguet or Bear Bachmeier as the starter at quarterback, Roderick said BYU’s staff “probably” won’t repeat last year’s strategy of keeping QB1 under wraps until just before kickoff.
“I think last year it was sort of to our advantage to not let the opponent know who was going to run out there, and this year, we haven’t really talked about that yet,” Roderick said. “But I think this year, when we do make a decision, we’ll probably just make it and say who it is.
“But again, I need to talk to Kalani (Sitake) about that and see what it is. We haven’t discussed that yet ... But personally, I don’t see any big advantage this year to not letting the opponent know.”
What coaches are focusing on in QB1 battle
While BYU isn’t ready to name a starting quarterback just yet, Roderick did share some of the principles guiding the competition’s evaluation process.
“If you take care of the football, you always give yourself a chance to win. So last year, we won some tight games that were high-scoring, we won some tight games that were low-scoring. But if you take care of the ball, you give yourself a chance, so it starts there,” Roderick said. “And then just accuracy, throwing completions, moving the team, the guy that moves the team the best down the field and scores points, because that’s the name of the game.
“You’ve got to score ... And so we’re looking for a good decision-maker who’s accurate and takes care of the football.
“And then explosive plays is the final thing,” he continued. “It’s hard to win games going on 12-, 13-, 14-play drives. We love those, and we’ve had our share of those over the years ... But it’s hard to do that over and over and over again without getting some chunk plays, so we’re looking also for the quarterback that can create those explosive plays for us.”
How will decision be made?
As for making a final decision at some point, Roderick feels his fellow offensive coaches are uniquely suited to work together in making the right call.
“Fesi (Sitake) has a huge role in this, he’s our passing game coordinator, he coaches our receivers. I’ve been coaching with him for a long time, and we have a great relationship and I trust him very much, so I very much count on his opinion,” Roderick said. “Then I’ll add to that, our whole coaching staff is the most quarterback-friendly, quarterback-knowledgeable staff I’ve ever worked with.
“Kevin Gilbride played quarterback in college. He’s our tight ends coach, and he played quarterback in college,” he added. “He’s been in the NFL for a long time. His dad was a famous offensive coordinator and head coach. He has a lot of knowledge as well, where he gives good input.
“Coach (TJ) Woods, our offensive line coach, every single thing he does in the run game and the passing game, he’s always thinking of the quarterback first. That’s a pretty interesting approach for an O-line coach, a lot of those O-line guys don’t think much about the QB part of it.
“Then, of course, (assistant quarterbacks coach) Matt Mitchell is involved. But Fesi’s role is huge, to go back to that, and I trust him very much, and he’ll definitely be in that conversation. That’s why I don’t want to go too far with making bold statements until I’ve talked to these guys, because I welcome their input and I want it.”
QB’s supporting cast
Aside from quarterback, Roderick is confident that the supporting cast of proven veterans on offense will be able to set up success for whoever ends up under center.
“I think we’re going to be able to run the ball,” Roderick said. “When we have our best 11, you know, 11 to 14, 15 guys available to us, we have some pretty dynamic personnel groups. We can do some things in the run game and in the passing game.
“I think we have some good players that are proven guys, you know, Chase Roberts, Jojo (Phillips), Parker (Kingston), LJ (Martin), Sione Moa and Carsen Ryan, those are guys that have played in big games ... And we have a good offensive line. So I’m very confident we’re going to be good on offense.”
But even with other stars on offense to help shoulder the load, the weight of the quarterback question still remains, with Roderick saying it keeps him up at night.
“I feel an obligation, first of all, to our players and the coaches in the program, and then I feel an obligation to our quarterbacks. I want to do right by them and be fair to them,” Roderick said. “All of Cougar Nation is counting on us. The standard doesn’t drop. Whoever takes that field is going to be expected to play up to the BYU quarterback standard that’s been set by so many other great QBs. I take that very seriously, and I want to do right for everybody, and so it’s tough.”
Aaron Roderick’s thoughts on each of BYU’s three starting QB candidates
McCae Hillstead: “He’s operating so much more quickly this fall than he did in the spring. You can just see that his comfort level in our offense has really grown, and I’m pleased with that growth. What a difference from spring ball till now in how he’s operating.
“I would like to just see him continue to be able to push the tempo, get a play call, get our team going, get lined up, move things along. It’s one of those things as a fan when you’re watching the game, you probably don’t really notice, but the faster you can get that call, get people going and lined up, the more play clock you give yourself to see what the defense is doing. I want to see McCae just keep growing in how fast he plays, how he processes the information and moves our team.”
Treyson Bourguet: “He actually is the guy who knows the offense the best of the three, I would say. He’s been in the program a little bit longer than the other guys. I think Treyson is doing a lot of good things for our team.
“... He knows what to do, he runs the team well, I just want to see a high level of consistency from him.”
Bear Bachmeier: “Very talented guy, very smart. It’s amazing he’s only been here, I can’t remember if today was practice eight or nine, but to be in college football for eight or nine practices and to know our offense as well as he does is very impressive.
“With Bear, what we just need to see is reps with our best players. Those reps just grow a little bit each day. There’s times where he’s doing the right thing with the ball, but maybe he hasn’t thrown that particular route to that guy before and maybe we’re a couple of inches off, because sometimes it’s things like a person’s body language as they’re coming out of their break and understanding the timing of it. So with Bear, it’s just a matter of building up his reps and gaining experience, but I’m very pleased with him.
“Like I said, Treyson and McCae are both much better than they were in spring and much better than they were a year ago, so I’m pleased with their improvement. And then Bear is giving them everything they can handle, he’s right in the mix.”
