Every day is a first for Bear Bachmeier. On the heels of his first two starts at BYU, the true freshman quarterback is working through his first bye week. When the Cougars (2-0) return to action next week, Bachmeier will experience his first road game. The following week, it will be his first Big 12 game at Colorado.
BYU Hall of Fame quarterback Gifford Nielsen likes what he sees but offers a word of caution.
“Cougar Nation please be patient with our new quarterback,” Nielsen told the “Y’s Guys” livestream show this week. “We are going to be OK. We are going to win some games. They are not going to be absolutely beautiful, but there is going to be a time when this thing is going to open up and you are going to see some amazing things happen and you are going to go, ‘Yes, we are on the right track.’”
A key ingredient for Bachmeier’s development is time.
“When you are a freshman quarterback and you look downfield, nobody is open. You just have to have repetition after repetition after repetition,” Nielsen said. “As a quarterback, you have to understand what capabilities you have and what you can do.”
Bachmeier became the first true freshman quarterback to start at BYU when the Cougars routed Portland State 69-0. Last week, against a much bigger and more aggressive Stanford defense, he led BYU to a 27-3 victory.
Nielsen believes the arrival of an early bye is priceless for the teenager as he continues to settle in.
“You don’t really know how fast things are until you get on the field. You have guys coming around, inside, outside, you have to just feel the pocket,” he said. “I want him to continue to have confidence in himself, look at what he’s done, refine his skills and get to a point where he feels like he is the leader — and it just takes repetition.
“You can’t coach it, you can’t say, ‘Hey Bear, you are the leader.’ No, you have to go put yourself under the center. You have to receive the ball and watch people fly all around you and stand with confidence in that pocket and lead this team.”
Supported by an aggressive defense and near-automatic special teams, Nielsen contends Bachmeier is in a good position to grow — no matter what comes his way.
“Every team is going to come after him. They are going to hit him and hit him hard,” he said. “This kid will get back up, he’ll pick his spots and all of a sudden, he’ll throw something, and we’ll go, ‘Oh my gosh, this is what we’ve got.’”
Through two games, Bachmeier has thrown 38 passes and rushed 17 times. He’s accounted for six touchdowns and no turnovers. In addition, the defense has allowed just three points, and Will Ferrin has drilled all six of his field goal attempts.
“It is so important just to get wins. Early in the season, just win and keep the confidence coming,” Nielsen said. “If you lose a game, then you start to question. You have an elite defense, they know they have a young quarterback, but you just have to win. Well, (Bear’s) 2-0 and he hasn’t given the ball away and he is just doing what he needs to do to get comfortable with his position.”
Bachmeier and the Cougars return to action next Saturday at East Carolina (5:30 p.m. MDT ESPN2).
Giff’s top five
Nielsen starred at Provo High and earned All-America status at BYU in 1976. He played six seasons with the Houston Oilers in the NFL. In 1994, Nielsen became the first BYU football player to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. There were many influencers in his football career — but here are his top five.
5. (Tie) Dick Hill and Bry Lake (Provo High School coaches): “Dick Hill got us started and Bry Lake was the coach our senior year. They were there in our football career to get us focused on what was going to happen. Five of our guys on the Provo team that year got scholarships at BYU. That’s almost unheard of.”
4. King Hill (Houston QB Coach): “He was my quarterback coach when I went into the NFL. He was my guy. He is the guy that said, ‘Here is how you play in the NFL. We are going to learn the game.’ He was instrumental in my development in the National Football League.”
3. Bum Phillips (Oilers head coach): “He was legendary. He was so remarkable. This guy knew how to bring people together like no one I have ever seen. He could take people from all parts of the country in all socioeconomic conditions and bring us together as a team.”
2. Doug Scovil (BYU offensive coordinator): “He is the mastermind of what we are seeing in football today. Everybody who is playing a wide-open offense — it started with Doug Scovil. Everybody has developed their offense from the first West Coast offense and that started at BYU in 1976.”
1. LaVell Edwards (BYU head coach): “LaVell is iconic. He was inquisitive about everything. LaVell didn’t know about the offense, but he just said, ‘Doug, it’s yours. Let’s go!’ That’s the genius of LaVell.”
Dave McCann is a sportswriter and columnist for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com.