Provo • BYU’s first scrimmage of training camp on Saturday might be the determining factor in solidifying large parts of the depth chart.
That goes for nearly every position group, as the staff will possibly get its last game-like look at all 22 starters on the field at once.
“This might be the biggest practice for that, as far as fall camp goes,” defensive coordinator Jay Hill said. “Because once you get further on into camp, and you do some of your other scrimmages, some guys will be sat. This will be a big deal to see if our starters are where they need to be. It will be a big deal on just moving up and down the depth chart.”
But will the scrimmage also be enough to name a starting quarterback?
Head coach Kalani Sitake hopes so.
It could be a critical data point in the quarterback battle. Jake Retzlaff and Gerry Bohanon have been competing for the job dating back to spring practice. They’ve been taking equal reps through the first 10 days of August.
“If one emerges, yeah,” Sitake said about naming a quarterback after Saturday. “I would like to name a starter as soon as we can. But until that happens, we are working on everyone getting better.”
Sitake said both Retzlaff and Bohanon will get first-team snaps with the starting offensive line and receivers on Saturday. It will be an even playing field to see how well both quarterbacks can move the ball in a live setting.
Sitake thinks one of the more difficult parts of the quarterback evaluation so far has been Retzlaff and Bohanon running with a mixture of starters and backups. The two quarterbacks have sometimes worked on two separate fields at the same time to get them more reps. But it can be harder to compare their performance side-by-side if one quarterback is working with the top offensive line and the other is not.
“It is difficult when you are working with the one offensive line compared to working with the twos. So we are taking that into account,” Sitake said. “Also working with the receivers and the DBs that are going against them. We factor it all in. It is more, ‘Who can get the team to execute the best and make sure we aren’t making mistakes?’”
(Jaren Wilkey | BYU athletics) Quarterback Gerry Bohanon participates in BYU football practice in Provo, Wednesday, July 31, 2024.
Saturday will be full drives, like a real game. Throughout fall camp, most of the live work has been situational, Sitake said.
“When we see real football, real tackling — I mean, quarterbacks won’t be live, especially those two — but I think we can kind of gauge when the team is going first, second, third,” Sitake said. “Right now it is all situational. Once we get to running drives, and sustaining drives and getting points, it will be better for us to focus on that. And maybe see the competition when we get to that point.”
Sitake still left the door open for the competition to drag into the third week of fall camp. He wasn’t worried about the team fracturing between the two quarterbacks if the battle did continue.
“They don’t pick sides. They want to win. They want to play at their best. It doesn’t matter who the quarterback is,” he said. “It is not like the O-line is wondering who is throwing the ball or calling the plays. They just have to be ready for anybody. Tom Brady shows up and plays for us, I’d like to see them play their best no matter who is playing the quarterback position. But I do think they are all improving and are getting better. Especially with Gerry and Jake, they are doing a great job.
“... We’ve been through quarterback battles before. We handled them before. We’ve had guys win them before. We’ve decided early and we’ve had to extend it all the way to game week. We are not new to this stuff,” he said.
Still, Hill believes there is plenty of value to getting a quarterback named sooner rather than later. He said if Sitake and offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick wanted his opinion on the battle, he would take part in the discussion. “Behind closed doors, yes I will give my input to A-Rod if he wants my opinion. But ultimately that’s his call and Kalani’s call,” he said.
Until then, he is also waiting.
“I think that matters a lot,” he said of naming the starter. “Because the reality is, you get the right guy, the right signal caller back there and our defensive guys will follow that guy. I like the way both guys are handling the situation. But I’ll go to battle with some of these quarterbacks and I know our defense will feel the same way.”
It is possible BYU could have its answer after Saturday. In a six-month battle, this might be the most consequential day yet.
