What BYU’s starting QB candidates are saying about the competition as fall camp opens in Provo

For obvious reasons, BYU football coach Kalani Sitake and offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick want to choose a starting quarterback as quickly as possible.

That is going to be quite difficult, obviously, as the three main candidates — Treyson Bourguet, McCae Hillstead and Bear Bachmeier — all appear physically able to lead the team.

All three have the requisite amount of confidence in themselves, as Wednesday’s interviews with media members showed after the Cougars wrapped up the first practice of preseason training camp. Bourguet was particularly bold.

The Western Michigan transfer from Tucson, Arizona, is a redshirt junior with only two years of eligibility remaining and seems to have more of a sense of urgency than the others.

“I know that we can wait until the first game, but we would like to get it sorted out soon as we can. But you can’t really put a deadline to it.”

BYU coach Kalani Sitake on the BYU QB battle

“I just want to continue to show that I am worthy to play at this level, in the Big 12, that is one of the best conferences in the country,” Bourguet said. “I want to continue to show that I am ready for this level of competition, and can go out there and compete with the best.”

After a few conversations with head coach Kalani Sitake — one at the Big 12 media days in early July and another on Wednesday — it appears that coaches are looking for someone with the mental capability of getting the job done. That means a quarterback who can make good decisions, limit turnovers, and rally the team in crunch time when games are on the line, a trait that departed QB Jake Retzlaff displayed several times in BYU’s recent 11-2 season.

Coaches will also be watching closely to see which quarterback the team believes in the most. Roderick said several times in the last five years or so when BYU had a quarterback battle on its hands that the team would know which guy deserved the starting job before it was to be officially announced and the players would start to rally around that guy.

“Players usually know before we do,” Roderick said last year before Retzlaff beat out graduate transfer Gerry Bohanon for the starting job.

So those are some of the intangibles the staff seeks, all while giving the three QBs almost-equal reps with the first-team offensive line the next few practices to gauge other attributes such as passing accuracy, escapability, and the ability to make all the throws necessary in Roderick’s offense.

Wednesday, Sitake acknowledged that the faster a QB1 emerges, the better.

“I know that we can wait until the first game, but we would like to get it sorted out soon as we can,” he said. “But you can’t really put a deadline to it. It’s not like we have to have it done (the first three days). I would just like to see them kind of go with the flow of the offense.

“It can’t just be all the focuses on them. We got a lot of different players that we need to get ready,” he continued. “We need to get our run game, get our O line, get our tight ends and our receivers, everybody clicking. So that’s going to have to be handled in the midst of everybody getting their part done, too.”

It wasn’t a surprise, Sitake said Wednesday, that the defense got the upper hand in 11-on-11 sessions without pads. It is a veteran group, despite losing seven or eight starters or part-time starters. He said it will be important to let each quarterback work with the first-team offensive line and go against the first-team defense as much as possible.

“I am really pleased with the way the guys worked in the offseason, and we’ll just keep building on that,” Sitake said. “But we have a lot of work to still accomplish.”

Sitake said two scrimmages are currently scheduled as part of fall camp, and a third might be added depending on progress. In past years when they’ve had a QB battle, the Cougars have allowed the QBs to be tackled in some limited situations to see how they react to and handle contact.

“Maybe I will consider it,” Sitake said. “… We’ve done that before.”

What the candidates are saying

In a savvy PR move, BYU allowed all three QBs to speak to reporters on Wednesday, partly to signal that all three are being given an equal opportunity to win the job, and partly to see how they handle interviews and pointed questions from outsiders. If history is any indication, don’t expect to see any of the three QBs talking publicly until a decision has been made and announced.

Here are some of the highlights of what the quarterbacks said Wednesday. Some answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.

Hillstead says he’s tall enough

One of the knocks on the Utah State transfer who prepped at Skyridge High in Lehi is that he’s only 5-foot-10 and too short to be a Division I quarterback.

“It is how I’ve been my whole life,” he said. “So I think obviously there are things that I have figured out. I see (the field) the way I see it. It doesn’t slow me down. Obviously I can’t just grow automatically. I can’t choose that, right? It’s out of my control.

“It is about just figuring out the game, like how I have up to this point, and all throughout high school, Utah State, now here. I am confident in my ability, and just going out there and trying to win.”

On what he learned from Jake Retzlaff:

“The willingness to win. Jake is super competitive. And I thought that was super cool. Obviously, never faltered during a two-minute situation, because he just wanted to win. I think sometimes you get distracted with, how can I manage this? How can I manage that? But ultimately, the goal is just, OK, how can we win here? How can we get it done?”

On how he’s viewing the competition:

“I think for me, it is about just playing my game. I think that’s the same for all the other guys. You can’t try to be anybody else other than yourself, so just put that all on tape, be your best self, and try to go get it.”

On how he’s mastering the playbook:

“I don’t (have to) think when I’m out there. I would say that that’s where I’m at. I can get guys where they need to be going. So I think it is full mastery, really.”

On what his mindset and preparation have been like since the Retzlaff news broke on May 21:

“Obviously, we love Jake. The situation was pretty crazy. But I think when it comes down to it, ‘stay ready soon enough to get ready’ is my thing. … Even last season, when I wasn’t going to see the field and Gerry was the backup, you prep like you’re the starter regardless, and (learn) all the coverages of the opposing team and what you have going in with the install each week. That’s just my mindset. Always stay ready.”

Bourguet believes he is ‘more than capable’ of winning games

Bourguet completed 111 of 212 passes for 1,314 yards and six touchdowns for Western Michigan over the course of two seasons. He joined BYU before spring camp in 2024 as a walk-on and has since earned a scholarship.

He does not lack confidence.

“This is the most confident and comfortable I’ve been in a system in my whole career. Coming from freshman year in high school, throughout my senior year of high school, I had a different offense every single year. Then going to college, I was at Western Michigan for two years, two different coaches. Then here last year. So that’s my third offense in college. So now it’s finally having some continuity in my offense, and I feel super confident, got good timing down with the receivers and just ready to work.”

On how he plans to separate himself:

“All four of us are trying to compete and win the starting job, obviously, but the person who does that is the person who competes the hardest, gets the job done, takes the easy completions, moves the ball and scores touchdowns. … I just want to show that I’m more than capable of doing everything on the field, whether that’s running for 10 yards, throwing for 15 yards on a play, or even taking the easy completion for 5 yards. Whatever it is, I am gonna get the job done.”

On what he learned from Jake Retzlaff last year:

“How to win football games. I got to watch, sitting on the sidelines, a quarterback win 11 games. That’s hard to do, especially in the Big 12. And so he’s a competitor. The guy can grit out some wins, make some big throws, make some big-time runs, take some hits, get right back up. I love Jake.”

Bachmeier says he brings a ‘commanding presence’

To some, the fact that Bachmeier got reps with the first-team offense the first day of fall camp was a surprise. If nothing else, it showed that coaches are going to give the true freshman a chance, even though the other two know the offense, the system and the playbook much better than he does.

Bachmeier took it all in stride. He believes he belongs.

“Any time you come to a school, to a new environment, you want to play. You want to be in the competition for the starting job right away. … You want to compete. Obviously circumstances arose and that kind of opened up an opportunity,” he said “So you gotta take it and do your best with it.”

On how crazy the last eight months have been for him:

“I think everything happens for a reason. I learned a lot (at Stanford). Everything’s a process. … I think I’m in a good spot. And, yeah, I’m really excited.”

On why he wears No. 47, an odd number for a QB:

“I used to play running back when I was younger, when I started playing football. When I made the transition to quarterback, I just kept the number. I continued to play middle linebacker up until eighth grade. I like the number. It kind of brings you back to your primitive nature, I guess, when you’re playing.”

On how difficult it is to learn Roderick’s offense:

“I was fortunate to be at Stanford, and got to experience college football, and obviously learned from a great offensive mind. So coming over to (this) Rod’s offense, there’s a lot of complexity in (it). ... So I am getting acclimated to terminology. But you find ways to kind of simplify the game and simplify the playbook. You gotta just play free when you’re out there.”

On learning the playbook with his brother, receiver Tiger Bachmeier:

“Yeah, so he’s smart. I like to think I’m smarter, but we kind of (disagree on that). He’ll quiz me and I’ll quiz him. That’s kind of helping us, and even expedites our learning process within the playbook.”