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The BYU football team started the 2024 season 9-0 before dropping two of its final three regular season games. It looked like the Cougars had a great chance to win the Big 12 and qualify for the College Football Playoff, but everything came crashing down at the end. Now, the 2025 season is right around the corner, and BYU doesn't have a quarterback. Jake Retzlaff landed at Tulane on Monday, and the Cougars are in a difficult spot at the most important position on the field.
Jake Retzlaff stepped away from the BYU football team recently after breaking school honor code, and he committed to Tulane on Monday. The Cougars are a little over a month away from the 2025 season, and they don't have a QB.
“You look back and it's like, they start 9-0 last year they've got CFP in their sights,” Fox college football analyst Joel Klatt said during a recent episode of his podcast. “They lose two of their last three in the regular season. They beat Colorado in the bowl game. A lot of people high on them in the offseason, but part of that was the fact that they felt like with Jake Retzlaff back on offense, they could handle some of the losses on the defensive side. I love Kalani Sataki (BYU head coach). Again, this is not indicative of like an overall program decline. It's just an indicative of terrible timing at the most important position on the field.”
So, who is going to be the QB for the BYU football team now that Jake Retzlaff is gone? The Cougars have a couple of transfers to choose from, and they also have a true freshman. There isn't a lot of experience in the BYU QB room, and there is zero Power Four experience.
“This is a guy that, on the field, was steady. He was a good leader for them last year, they believed in him, and now, all of a sudden, you lose your quarterback, and the three-man battle has had no time to develop,” Joel Klatt continued. “What do they got? McCae Hillstead, he's got four career starts at Utah State. He's a dual-threat guy. They've got Treyson Bourguet, eight career starts at Western Michigan, and then a true freshman, Bear Bachmeier enrolled at Stanford in January, but transferred after Troy Taylor was fired, so he's been there a short time.”
The QB situation is a problem for BYU, and then you also have to remember that this team lost a lot defensively as well. All in all, it's going to be very tough for the Cougars to find success in 2025.
“So, in total, they have 12 total quarterback starts at the college level and zero at the Power Four level,” Klatt added. “That's tough. It's really tough to overcome that. They're replacing eight starters on defense. That was a defense that was excellent last year. The schedule isn't bad, but it's, again, just like all the other Big 12 schedules. You're facing a bunch of teams with similar talent, and you're probably going to be in a one-score game with a quarterback that has no experience. So again, not indicative of where this program is at overall.”
Last year was a promising season for the BYU football team, but after losing QB Jake Retzlaff, things aren't looking great ahead of this year. Head coach Kalani Sitake seems to have the program trending in the right direction, but there isn't much that he can do about the QB situation on such short notice.
