Almost three months to the day when BYU coaches, fans and players alike were rattled by the bombshell news that projected and veteran starting quarterback Jake Retzlaff in all likelihood would not be under center for the Cougars in the Aug. 30 opener against Portland State, another somewhat startling development was announced in Provo.
As some wisps of white smoke wafted over the Y on the mountain above the Zions Bank Practice Fields just before noon on Tuesday, head coach Kalani Sitake and offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick chose a true freshman who happens to be Catholic, Bear Bachmeier, as the starter for the first game of the 2025 season.
If you know, you know.
Roderick and Sitake said the other players knew, without having to be told, that the Asian-American (his mother, April, is from Thailand) was going to be the guy in the 14 or 15 practices and scrimmages since preseason training camp began by the way he outplayed fellow, more experienced candidates McCae Hillstead and Treyson Bourguet when the heat was on.
“I don’t think we’re the first ones (to start a freshman in an opener), but I don’t know how many of them have had Bear Bachmeier,” Sitake said. “You know what I mean?”
“He makes really good decisions. He’s a very smart player. It’s rare to see a freshman get through his reads so fast and be so quick to a check down.”
— BYU OC Aaron Roderick on Bear Bachmeier
From this vantage point, it is the right move. It’s risky, no question about it. But it is also right.
Hillstead, the Utah State transfer, would have been the safer move. Bourguet would also have been a surprise, after the Western Michigan transfer never seemed to be able to make accurate throws beyond 5 yards during the media viewing portions of practices, this month or last spring.
So let the Days of 47 begin. Yes, Bachmeier wears the No. 47, unusual for a quarterback, because he says it takes him back to his younger days when the now 6-foot-2, 225-pound athlete used to play linebacker and running back in the hills above Murrieta Valley High between San Diego and Los Angeles.
“Like I said before, we settled it on the field,” Sitake said. “We feel like that’s the best move. And (from) what we’ve seen in camp so far, and all the practices, he gives us the best chance (to win).”
Later, when asked to elaborate on the “(never) had a Bear Bachmeier” comment, Sitake said the quarterback “is a special player” with a high football IQ who improved a lot because of the competition.
“I saw all those quarterbacks get better, and we felt like this was the right decision to make,” Sitake said. “And I think looking at the overall part of camp and seeing every variable that went into the decision-making process, we feel really good about it.”
Roderick, who ultimately made the call, said Bachmeier won the job because he completes a lot of passes, takes care of the football — he threw the fewest number of interceptions — and still makes explosive plays.
Then Roderick answered the question on the minds of everyone in Cougar Nation. How will Bachmeier’s teammates — many of whom have connected with Hillstead and Bourguet the last 18 months — respond to being led by a teenager who arrived in Provo with long, wavy brown hair but has since had it cut short?
“He has done a good job leading our team,” Roderick said. “He’s very mature, man. Our players gravitate to him. I mean, all these guys are good leaders, but it is rare to see a freshman lead the team the way he does every day.”
Roderick acknowledged there is some risk involved.
“In practice, he’s proven that he deserves it. I think everybody out here has watched it happen. This is not a big surprise to anybody on our team, because they’ve seen it happening in practice,” said Roderick, who rightfully chose Retzlaff (now at Tulane) over graduate transfer Gerry Bohanon. “So now it’s our job to help him, have the players around him execute so that he can play in the game like he does in practice.”
Roderick said he never made an announcement to the whole team. He told the other quarterbacks Tuesday morning, “but it has been an ongoing conversation” throughout camp and each guy pretty much knew where he stood after each practice.
“He makes really good decisions. He’s a very smart player. It’s rare to see a freshman get through his reads so fast and be so quick to a check down and just take a check down and get 4 yards and make a second-and-6, those types of things,” Roderick said. “And he’s very accurate.”
Roderick said Bachmeier knows the whole playbook already, and can run anything that Jaren Hall, Zach Wilson or Retzlaff ran when they were at BYU.
As reporters waited to talk to the coaches after Tuesday’s practice, a roar went up from the huddling team some 100 yards away. It was assumed that that was when they were told about Bachmeier getting the starting job.
Actually, the fourth QB in the room this fall — freshman Emerson Geilman — had announced he has received his mission call to São Paulo, Brazil, and will leave in January when the season is over.
BYU did not make Bachmeier available to the media on Tuesday, saying the newly minted starter will appear via Zoom on Monday when BYU holds its weekly press briefing.
So we went to his brother, graduate transfer receiver Tiger Bachmeier, for the inside stuff. Tiger is Bear’s older brother and transferred with the QB from Stanford, after both had gone through the Cardinal’s spring practices.
“Bear had the majority of the good days (among) the quarterbacks throughout camp, and I think that’s really what it came down to. There’s something about stacking days and stacking reps,” Tiger said. “I mean, it was really close at the end there.”
Tiger declined to speculate whether Bear would have won the starting job at Stanford, had he stayed, but acknowledged that he certainly was in the discussions.
The receiver said the quarterback has a lot of Patrick Mahomes in him in the way he plays, including one factor sure to please BYU fans.
“He’s got this clutch factor to him,” Tiger said. “He always has that mindset of handling the pressure and coming up clutch. He will get the job done.”
