Since spring camp ended in late March with BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick declaring the starting quarterback competition between Jake Retzlaff and Gerry Bohanon “neck and neck,” the general consensus of reporters who cover the team has been that it feels like Retzlaff has the inside track.
This scribe, for instance, has said that it is Retzlaff’s job to lose.
But after a couple of preseason training camp practices, it has become apparent that this race is razor-close, and perhaps Bohanon — who has proclaimed himself 100% healthy — has a much better chance of taking the first snaps when BYU opens its 2024 season on Aug. 31 against Southern Illinois than most people think.
Some offensive players have said that the former Baylor and South Florida starter brings a new level of confidence to the huddle, and his experience as a former Big 12- and Sugar Bowl-winning quarterback shines through.
“Gerry is flat-out a winner and a leader,” receiver Darius Lassiter said at Big 12 football media days in Las Vegas last month. “We know that either one of those guys can go out there and be our starting quarterback Aug. 31. We know both of them are good quarterbacks.”
At the same gathering, redshirt junior receiver Chase Roberts said Retzlaff showed in the last two games of 2023 — close losses to Oklahoma and Oklahoma State — that he has what it takes to move the offense, while also noting that Bohanon “brings credibility” from his work at Baylor in leading the Bears to a 12-2 season in 2021.
“Fans should be excited about both those guys,” Roberts said.
Lassiter said that during player-run practices this summer the returning receivers vowed to make sure both quarterbacks got the best of everyone.
“We (said) that we got to be available for both of them. We gotta be able to make the same plays for one that we make for the other one,” Lassiter said. “It is not easy to step in to a Big 12 game, your first time ever starting in college football, you play Oklahoma or whoever it is. We are just about being there for everybody.”
When camp opened Wednesday, Bohanon said that he wasn’t quite 100% in spring camp, but is now and is ready to “truly compete.”
He said he’s noticed how motivated returning players are to make it to a bowl game in 2024, and believes he has the experience to get them there.
“Since I have been here, I have been talking to the guys, saying you watch the Big 12, every year it is somebody different winning it,” he said. “… It is a wide-open conference, so I let the guys know every weekend we gotta come in and work.
“We can’t ever expect to come in and just win,” Bohanon continued. “We have to earn the right to win every day. If you don’t earn it every week, you can’t go out and just expect somebody to roll over. They work out the same way as us, they run the same way as us, lift the same way as us and practice the same way as us. So we gotta go out there and earn it and deserve the right to win.”
Coach Kalani Sitake said Wednesday that nothing should be read into the fact that Bohanon was with the ones when the media was allowed to view practice the final 15 minutes or so, and that both QBs are getting equal reps and equal opportunities to play with the other first-teamers.
“Their job is to make it hard on us to make a decision, but I feel comfortable having a bunch of guys who can do it,” Sitake said. “So we will go with the best one. Right now, that one hasn’t stood out yet.”
Sitake said the starting quarterback decision won’t come the first week of camp and reiterated that there’s no deadline to pick a starter.
Bohanon connected with receiver Parker Kingston on a couple of medium-length throws, and looked crisp and decisive on Wednesday. He did have a pass knocked down by defensive lineman David Latu, but said his knowledge of the offense is considerably better than it was in March.
“Everybody knows it takes some time to just really learn (the offense) and just know it,” he said. “Now I am at a good point where I can just get out there and react to whatever the defense does.”
Bohanon said one of his strengths is his ability to run with the football, and said he won’t hesitate to add that to the BYU offense’s arsenal now that his surgically repaired shoulder is fully healthy.
“You can pull the defenders (away from point of attack),” he said. “Once you run the ball a couple of times as the quarterback, they have to respect it. They have to keep a guy on the backside keeping an eye on you.”
