The upcoming BYU football season has long been engulfed in a fog of uncertainty, and the coaching staff is perpetuating that uncertainty in preseason training.
Following a disappointing 5-7 season to open their life in the Big 12 Conference, the Cougars haven't made apparent improvements that promote much hope for a season ripe with victories, and preseason expectations are at an all-time low for the squad from Provo, Utah.
To add gob-smacked gasoline to BYU fans' flabbergasted fire, offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick told the media that the ongoing conflict regarding the starting quarterback position hasn't been resolved--Gerry Bohanon and Jake Retzlaff are still going toe to toe with less than two weeks until BYU opens their season against FCS foe Southern Illinois on August 31st.
Aaron Roderick on the starting quarterback: “Haven’t decided yet.” pic.twitter.com/i1BDqWSqoC
— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) August 20, 2024
“They’re both playing really good,” coach Aaron Roderick explained. “You guys just saw both of them make some really good plays in that last drill, and it’s what practice has been like all through camp. They’re both good players and we haven’t decided yet what we’re gonna do.”
Questions, Questions, So Many Questions!
Since transfer QB Gerry Bohanon hit the scene in Provo, a struggle for the starting slot at QB has delivered complicated feelings to myself as well as the rest of Cougar Nation. This battle began in the spring and hasn't made any headway in the eyes of BYU's coaching staff. Like the black gentleman ninja from Psych the movie, swinging, flipping, and twisting through the air as if in defiance of gravity, both Bohanon and last year's understudy, Jake Retzlaff, continue to "wow" coaches in practice.
Popular sentiment surrounding the program seems to favor Bohanon--quite unanimously, in fact. Experience and mobility are on the side of the former Big 12 Conference champion, and if he can rekindle the spirit he carried while starting at Baylor, it's hard to imagine Retzlaff earning the starting nod at the end of August, barring significant improvement from last season's campaign.
Could this all be a game to get both quarterbacks to continue working their hardest to improve their games and amaze the coaching staff? Has a starter silently been decided, but the coaches are withholding that information to get a leg up on the competition? Is it possible that the quarterback battle won't be settled until the season has already begun?
Questions continue to dominate the narrative surrounding a BYU football team that isexpected to be lackluster. Without any solid decisions from the coaching staff, expectations continue to take a dive. With undying hope for an acceptable season of football, let's pray that whatever decision is made, the team can rally around whoever is named starter--if that time ever comes.