It's official: after months of anticipation, BYU football has named its starting quarterback. His name? Bear Bachmeier. A freshman transfer from Stanford who joined the team with the expectation that he'd play understudy to veteran Jake Retzlaff for a year, then see where to go from there.
Now Retzlaff is battling for QB1 with the Green Wave of Tulane, and Bachmeier will take the first snap of the season under center for the Cougs.
QB1. pic.twitter.com/pBVCyEGtOs
— BYU FOOTBALL (@BYUfootball) August 19, 2025
Plenty can happen during the offseason, even with stadiums empty and records deadlocked at 0-0. The buzz around BYU football was magnified with every nibble of news coming down the Aaron Roderick pipeline. What once began as a three-man race was whittled down to two, and finally the face of the team was determined.
The selection? A freshman who wears the number 47 and hit sticks like it. But just because he's a highly-recruited rookie does not mean his number was called as a long-term investment. No sir, Kalani Sitake expects to win and win right away with Bear in the backfield. This is a win-now move, plain and simple.
"He gives us the best chance right now,” Sitake explained to the press. “I'm sure somebody has [started a freshman on week one] before ... but I don't know how many of them have had Bear Bachmeier."
But all this is just word soup until we see it in action on the field of LaVell Edwards Stadium week one against Portland State, right? ...I may as well add a bit of spice to the broth.
It's not Bachmeier's arm strength or accuracy that sets him apart, though he certainly boasts plenty of talent through the air. And it's not his noteworthy IQ and processing center headquartered behind his forehead. No, Bear is a special kind of athlete that doesn't always opt to play the quarterback position -- the kind that crosses the line of scrimmage with intent. With force. With malice.
When an opposing defense sees Bear rolling down the field (and rolling fast), they accept full awareness that tackling this force of nature will inflict just as much damage to themselves in an attempt to stop him. Dip the shoulder and drive, Bachmeier's jersey number becomes an accurate representation of his position as soon as the football gets tucked in his arm.
Like another Stanford transplant who seemed too big and too strong to take direct snaps, Bachmeier gives me glimpses of Taysom Hill from his days with the Cougars. Though he doesn't boast the same top-end speed as the Swiss Army Knife of the NFL, Bear is unafraid of contact. He embraces it. He seeks it out. He exploits it.
BYU's offense becomes more unstoppable when constantly threatening to send Bachmeier through the ground. Scramble, tuck, and run will give defenders serious headaches as they scramble to find answers themselves.
He represents a new age of BYU football. Welcome to the year of the Bear.