BYU Football: The strengths (and weaknesses) of each QB
By Adam Gibby
BYU Football now has six quarterbacks on the roster which are all either sophomores or freshmen.
With the announcement of quarterbacks Cade Fennegan (Boise State) and Nick Billoups (Utah) transferring to BYU this week, the quarterback room is now filled with a lot of young talent and a lot of different skill sets.
To this point, Aaron Roderick has shown no signs of wanting to use multiple quarterbacks in his offense, but technically it is still possible. For the sake of this article, we will assume that Roderick is more traditional and will likely only stick with one QB unless an obvious reason would arise to use more than one.
The nice thing about BYU Football’s QB room is that there are three players who have seen significant playing time, Jaren Hall, Baylor Romney and Cade Fennegan. This experience will be helpful and will provide depth to the team should the offense need them.
But what are the strengths, and weaknesses, of each player? Could one be used in a certain situation as opposed to the starter? Let’s jump into each, in the order that they will likely be listed on the depth chart.
Nick Billoups
Brief Bio: Billoups is a transfer QB from Utah who played his high school ball in San Clemente, California. During his senior year in high school he went 89-of-147 passing for 932 yards and 11 touchdowns, 554 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns. He walked on to Utah’s football team and never saw the field. He was moved to the secondary while playing for the Utes.
Strengths: Dual threat. As mentioned in the bio, he rushed for more touchdowns than he threw for in high school. He has an odd way of staying in the pocket and avoiding the sack while in the pocket, a skill I honestly haven’t seen done quite the same way Billoups did it. Billoups also has a lot speed, although he doesn’t seem to have elite speed, but unless you are looking at Taysom Hill or Lamar Jackson that is fine.
Weaknesses: As I mentioned Billoups has a unqiue skill of avoiding sacks while in the pocket. While that worked in high school, I’m not sure that would work against P5 competition. Billoups also seems to hold onto the ball too long and heave the ball down the field when desperate. In high school that worked, in college those are pick sixes.
How to get into the game: Originally, I saw Jaren Hall as the running quarterback that would get the extra yards on fourth and short or goal line situations, but maybe that guy becomes Billoups. If Hall and Billoups have the same running ability, why risk injury to Hall?
It is also possible that Billoups at 6’2″ plays in the secondary for the Cougars, particularly in late game hailmary situations.