Cougars set to sink or swim with two QBs
The countdown to imminent team implosion for BYU is now at four days—at least that’s what many fans expect from the new “revolutionary” two-quarterback system. While there are exceptions (like Florida’s Chris Leak and Tim Tebow in 2006), these type of situations don’t usually end well (think of last season’s Michigan team, which started with so much promise then two-quarterbacked its way to a lost season).
Bronco Mendenhall faced a difficult situation in picking a quarterback. On the one hand he had the No. 1 quarterback recruit in the country (according to Scout.com) who brought other top recruits with him to Provo—a series of events that just doesn’t happen every day. Jake Heaps is clearly the future, and he has shown more than enough in practice to align himself with the starting position. But then there’s also Riley Nelson, the Utah State transfer whose fiery leadership and endless work ethic won over the locker room almost instantly.
It’s clear that Mendenhall likes Nelson. A lot.
Therein lies the dilemma: Do you go with the freshman and endure the growing pains that are sure to come, or do you go with the junior and risk alienating one of the nation’s top recruits (and those who came to Provo with him)?
Unable to settle on one, Mendenhall went with both—a decision that has as good a chance to hamper the growth of each individual player and split the locker room as it does to succeed. The real key to BYU’s success this season may not be the play of the quarterback(s), but the ability of the team to support whichever quarterback is on the field. Will Zac Stout and Ross Apo, who both figure to get meaningful playing time this season, play as hard for Nelson as they will for Heaps? Will experienced players like McKay Jacobson and Matt Reynolds embrace the goal of helping a freshman quarterback succeed when things might be smoother with Nelson under center?
These are the storylines that will play out the first few weeks of the season, and hopefully no longer.
For now, everyone is saying the right things—they’re “100 percent behind this decision” (Heaps’ words) and feel it will “give [the team] an opportunity to have a highly successful season” (from Nelson).
What will determine the fate of BYU’s season is if they really mean it.