There has been a lot of news out of Provo on the quarterback front recently, and I figured now was a good opportunity to distill all of my thoughts on it into one place. I'll start with the most exciting BYU recruiting news in over two decades:
It would be hard to exaggerate what a massive deal this is. According to 247Sports, Lyons is a 5-star prospect rated 99 overall and is the third highest-rated recruit and second highest-rated quarterback to sign with BYU in the era of online rankings, behind only quarterback Ben Olson in 2002 and offensive lineman Ofa Mohetau in 2003 (more on them in a moment). In other words, it has been more than two decades since a player of Lyons' caliber committed to BYU. It's not even worth the time to list all of the schools that offered Lyons—just about any P4 program worth its salt was interested. Lyons eventually narrowed his choices down to just Oregon and BYU, and if Dick Harmon of the Deseret News is to be believed, it was a close-run thing, with Lyons leaning hard towards Orgeon and its larger NIL offer before his official visit last Saturday swung him to BYU. Like AJ Dybantsa last December, Lyons chose to announce his commitment in a nationally-televised ESPN segment—in Lyons' case, the Pat McAfee Show. I could certainly get used to more BYU recruits committing live on ESPN!
It should go without saying that landing Ryder Lyons is a program-changing win for BYU. Like AJ Dybantsa on the basketball side, Lyons is proof that the Cougars can compete in the highest echelon of college football recruiting. Lyons was the most sought-after recruit left on the board. He could have played anywhere, and seems to have been offered more money by other schools than BYU was willing to promise. But he chose the Cougars. Gone are the days of top Latter-day Saint prospects flirting with BYU, only to inevitably sign with some higher-profile program. BYU is a high-profile program, and these recruiting successes are the proof.
And the craziest part is that Lyons isn't BYU's only historic recruiting win of this cycle! Tight end Brock Harris and offensive linemen Alai Kalanivalu and Bott Mulitalo, all four-star prospects, have each committed to the Cougars in the last couple of months, and they are, respectively, the fifth, ninth, and thirteenth highest-rated BYU recruits of the rankings era. In other words, Kalani Sitake and his staff have landed four recruits in this cycle alone who each, individually, would previously have headlined not just a class at BYU, but potentially an entire coaching tenure. This program has been absolutely transformed by the NIL era—finally allowed to bring the might of its donor base fully to bear, this coaching staff has begun to approach recruiting with a level of confidence never before imagined. All the Cougars needed was a seat at the table—NIL bought them one, and they are now winning hand after hand.
Since Ryder Lyons' commitment yesterday, there has been a flood of discussion about BYU's history with five-star recruits. Remember the two signees ranked higher than Lyons by 247Sports? Ben Olson and Ofa Mohetau? Well, Olson never played a snap in a BYU uniform—he redshirted his freshman season, served a mission, and transferred to UCLA upon his return. And Mohetau played some during his freshman season, but then redshirted his sophomore year and transferred to a JUCO program before eventually finishing his career at Texas Tech. In addition, it's been hard for fans not to remember the last two highly-touted quarterback prospects who signed with BYU. Tanner Mangum was a 2012 four-star recruit who served a mission before enrolling for the 2015 season. He started 12 games as a freshman in place of an injured Taysom Hill, and played reasonably well throughout the season, but he fell off a cliff after that and was eventually permanently benched for Zach Wilson in 2018. Jake Heaps, a Scout.com five-star recruit in the 2010 class, also started throughout his freshman season, but he never really looked comfortable in the offense and was eventually benched for Nelson a handful of games into his sophomore year. What makes anyone think Lyons will be different than all of these disappointing examples?
Well, for starters, Lyons is a better quarterback right now than Olson, Mangum, or Heaps were coming out of high school. With elite arm talent and high-level athleticism, he fits the mold of a prototypical NFL quarterback in 2025. But more importantly, all of the other situations I just mentioned make poor comparisons with the current state of the BYU football program. Olson and Mohetau both committed to Gary Crowton—Olson, in particular, did so following the 2001 season, right at the zenith of Crowton's success. As Crowton's tenure wore on and the program collapsed into a raging dumpster fire, it's hard to blame anyone who decided to bail out. Mangum, for his part, was hampered by the fact that as a freshman, he was really only standing in for Taysom Hill, and therefore spent his entire sophomore season riding the bench. Once he was finally handed the reins as the full-time starter in 2017, he was left running Ty Detmer's unfamiliar and challenging offense while also dealing with injuries. He never had a prayer of developing into the player he might have become.
Jake Heaps is a bit of a different case—lots of theories have been put forward for why he flamed out. He was clearly not ready to start as a true freshman in 2010, and his struggles during that season may have hurt his confidence going into 2011. Heaps' arc is certainly a worst-case scenario for Lyons, but as I said, I think Lyons is a better prospect than Heaps was. Lyons also intends to serve at least a one-year mission before enrolling at BYU, and could potentially spend a season developing behind someone like Bear Bachmeier—he is unlikely to be thrown in the deep end as a true freshman unless he's clearly ready to be the guy, and in that case, he will be more mature and prepared than Heaps was.
The upshot is that Ryder Lyons is an awesome prospect—an elite blend of vision, arm talent, athleticism, and leadership—and is the kind of player BYU has rarely landed in the past. His commitment is a tremendous achievement for Aaron Roderick and the whole staff, and evidence that a new era has dawned for BYU football.
Now, what about the quarterback situation heading into 2025?
I haven't written anything about the roiling controversy surrounding Jake Retzlaff yet, mostly because others with more inside knowledge have written a great deal already and I have very little of substance to add. Suffice it to say that I think it's possible Jake will be able to return to the program if the lawsuit currently pending against him is settled advantageously; if it is not, at least by fall camp, he will probably never suit up for BYU again.
But assuming Jake does return, we already pretty much know what we're going to get out of him. While he may improve a little, his basic strengths and weaknesses are probably fairly set at this point in his career. I want to use this section to look at the three other major contenders for the starting job—the guys who could be called upon if Jake is not able to play.
First up is McCae Hillstead, a redshirt sophomore who began his career at Utah State, where he started several games for the Aggies as a true freshman in 2023 before transferring to BYU and redshirting the 2024 season. His upsides are significant—he's quick and athletic, a capable runner, and he has a strong arm. But he has two major downsides, as well: he isn't an especially polished passer, and he is quite short—in the 5'9-10" range. While his lack of typical size for a P4 quarterback isn't a dealbreaker by itself, it's an open question whether his game has developed enough to make up for his limited field vision.
Next in the group is Treyson Bourget. A redshirt junior, Bourget began his career at Western Michigan, where he played in 11 games over the 2022 and 2023 seasons before transferring to BYU. He's more of a prototypical drop-back quarterback, taller than Hillstead and with better throwing mechanics, but he lacks Hillstead's athleticism and doesn't have quite as strong an arm.
There's a lot to like and dislike about both Hillstead and Bourget, but there is a third quarterback in the mix as well, and he's a bit of a wild card: Bear Bachmeier. Technically a transfer, though he might more accurately be described as a flip, Bachmeier was originally recruited to Stanford in the class of 2025, enrolled over the winter, and went through spring ball there. But when the Cardinal fired their head coach, Bear and his older brother, Tiger, decided to hit the spring portal and ultimately transferred to BYU. Bachmeier is a major talent—he was a four-star recruit with some heavy-hitting offers coming out of high school, and looked like he was trending towards the starting job during spring ball at Stanford. He's big, athletic, probably the best runner in the unit, with a great arm and solid mechanics. But he's also a true freshman, and the coaching staff has barely seen him throw in person. By contrast, both Bourget and Hillstead will come into the 2025 season having two full offseasons and a full regular season learning ARod's offense.
Barring disaster, Bachmeier will almost certainly start for BYU in 2026. He's got more pure talent than anyone else currently in the QB room, Jake Retzlaff included. But assuming Jake can't go this season, I'm not sure the coaches will be willing to trust the offense to a true freshman without even a full offseason in the system. That leaves Bourget or Hillstead, and frankly, it's hard to know what attributes the coaches will prioritize. Will they look to Bourget's greater experience and more fluid mechanics? Or will they trust Hillstead's athleticism to give the offense an edge? Hillstead was ostensibly QB3 last season behind Retzlaff and Gerry Bohanon, so for now, he can probably be called the frontrunner—but it's close. It would not be at all surprising to see Bourget pull ahead in fall camp and get the nod. And, of course, we have no way of knowing how Bachmeier will perform in camp—he might dazzle the coaches so much that they decide to roll the dice and favor raw talent over experience.
Of course, this could all be moot, because Jake Retzlaff might just be cleared to play. But regardless, I want to end on an optimistic note: I believe this BYU team will be really, really good regardless of who starts at quarterback. To put it bluntly, in 2024, Jake Retzlaff was great in a few specific moments, just OK for most of the season, and subpar for significant stretches. Overall, he was rarely the reason for the team's success. And yet BYU won 11 games and finished ranked in the top 15. Jay Hill's defense will be elite again this year—possibly even better than last year, at least in the trenches—and the offense has a ton of talent surrounding whoever wins the starting QB job. I expect this BYU team to compete in the Big 12 no matter who is playing quarterback.