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Yahoo
20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
BYU looking to fill unexpected hole at quarterback after Jake Retzlaff's offseason departure
PROVO, Utah (AP) — BYU is unexpectedly searching for a new starting quarterback while trying to contend for a Big 12 title again this season. Jake Retzlaff led the Cougars to an 11-2 record and an Alamo Bowl victory over Colorado a year ago while throwing for 2,947 yards and 20 touchdowns. With Retzlaff returning for his senior season, BYU was optimistic about building on that success in 2025. But he left the program in July. Retzlaff was named as a defendant in a since-dismissed civil lawsuit that accused him of sexual assault. He acknowledged what he described as a consensual sexual relationship in his defense. Following the lawsuit's dismissal, Retzlaff transferred to Tulane rather than face a potential suspension for violating a requirement in BYU's honor code asking students to abstain from premarital sex. His departure left a major hole in BYU's offense heading into fall camp. Three quarterbacks — McCae Hillstead, Treyson Bourguet, and Bear Bachmeier — have emerged as serious candidates to be the new signal caller. 'Luckily this staff has been through quarterback competitions many times before,' BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. 'The goal is to try to get these guys in situations where we can play football and see how they can function.' Hillstead and Bourguet have already spent a year in the program. Both players were buried on the depth chart behind Retzlaff and backup QB Gerry Bohanon after transferring into BYU last season. Each quarterback came to Provo with starting experience at their previous schools. Hillstead appeared in eight games, starting four, as a true freshman in 2023. He threw for 1,062 yards and 11 touchdowns while completing 59.5% of his passes. During his lone season with the Aggies, Hillstead set Utah State's freshman single-game passing record. He tallied 399 yards and four touchdowns on 25-of-47 passing in a 45-38 loss to James Madison. Hillstead is listed at 5-foot-10 and struggled to stay healthy at Utah State. But he's confident that his familiarity with the BYU playbook and his experience with the Aggies will help him overcome any perceived disadvantage with his height and smaller frame. 'You can't try to be anybody else other than yourself,' Hillstead said. 'Put that all on tape. Be your best self and try to go get it.' Bourguet played in 10 games over two seasons at Western Michigan before transferring to BYU in 2024. He threw for 1,314 yards and six touchdowns while completing 52.4% of his passes. The 6-foot-2 junior is feeling confident after having continuity for the first time in his football career. Bourguet had to adapt to new coaches and new offensive systems in all four years of high school football and both seasons at Western Michigan. 'This is most confident and comfortable I've been in a system my whole career,' Bourguet said. Bachmeier did not play a snap for Stanford, transferring from the Cardinal to the Cougars after spring practices. The 6-foot-2 true freshman is trying to follow in the footsteps of his older brother, Hank, who won the starting job as a freshman at Boise State. Hank Bachmeier eventually made 48 career starts in stints at Boise State, Louisiana Tech, and Wake Forest, tallying 11,256 yards and 67 touchdowns over six seasons. The younger Bachmeier looks at his older brother as his primary mentor as he tries to make his own mark. 'He's obviously played a lot of ball, he's got a lot of experience,' Bachmeier said. 'So I'm just trying to be a sponge with him. Obviously, he's passing down a lot of knowledge to me and I'm trying to soak it up as much as I can.' Sitake and offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick split first-teams reps evenly between Hillstead, Bachmeier, and Bourguet in the first fall practice. Their preference is to name a starter quickly, but they also don't want to rush their evaluation period ahead of the season opener at home against Portland State on August 30th. 'I know that we can wait until the first game, but we'd like to get it sorted out as soon as we can,' Sitake said. 'You can't really put a deadline to it. It's not like we have to have this much done in day one, day two, or day three. I just like to see them go with the flow of the offense.' ___ AP college football: and
Washington Post
23 minutes ago
- Washington Post
BYU looking to fill unexpected hole at quarterback after Jake Retzlaff's offseason departure
PROVO, Utah — BYU is unexpectedly searching for a new starting quarterback while trying to contend for a Big 12 title again this season. Jake Retzlaff led the Cougars to an 11-2 record and an Alamo Bowl victory over Colorado a year ago while throwing for 2,947 yards and 20 touchdowns. With Retzlaff returning for his senior season, BYU was optimistic about building on that success in 2025. But he left the program in July.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
49ers' Robert Saleh leads list of new coordinators for NFL contenders
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — The San Francisco 49ers went back to a familiar face when coach Kyle Shanahan looked to revive a defensive unit that had gone from dominant to mediocre in recent years. The Niners brought back Robert Saleh for a second stint as coordinator in hopes that he could once again build back the defense in similar fashion to what he did in 2019 when San Francisco's stingy defense helped carry the team to the Super Bowl. 'His commanding presence in defensive meetings is what we needed,' star defensive end Nick Bosa said. The 49ers aren't the only contender that made a change at play-caller on offense or defense headed into 2025. How all of those work out will go a long way to determining which teams are playing deep into January. Some teams were forced to make changes they didn't want to with Detroit needing to replace both coordinators after Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn got head coaching jobs and Super Bowl champion Philadelphia needing to replace offensive coordinator Kellen Moore after he became Saints head coach. Tampa Bay is in a similar boat for a second straight season after losing an offensive coordinator to a head coaching job with Liam Coen leaving for Jacksonville one year after Dave Canales left for Carolina. Other teams such as Houston, Cincinnati and Seattle made changes in hopes of finding a spark. Here's a look at some of the key new coordinators around the NFL: 49ers DC Robert Saleh The 49ers ranked 29th in the league in scoring defense last season, allowing 25.6 points per game, and were tied for the seventh-fewest takeaways with 17 as the unit looked nothing like the dominant ones under Saleh and DeMeco Ryans from 2019-22. That led to Shanahan making another change at coordinator, bringing back Saleh after he was fired as head coach of the New York Jets to replace the fired Nick Sorensen. During Saleh's last two full seasons with the Jets in 2022-23, New York ranked first in yards passing allowed per game (178.9) and yards per play allowed (4.7), and second in total defense (301.7 yards per game). The Niners are hoping similar results will get them back to the postseason after a 6-11 record in 2024. Lions OC John Morton and DC Kelvin Sheppard Detroit became the third team in the past 15 seasons to lose both coordinators to NFL head coaching jobs in the same offseason with it also happening to Philadelphia following the 2022 season and Cincinnati after 2013. Both those teams went back to the playoffs the following season, losing in the wild-card round. The Lions have their sights set higher after making it to the NFC title game in 2023 and losing in the divisional round as the top seed last season. Whether that happens will depend heavily on if Morton can keep the offense in the top five in scoring for a fourth straight season after Johnson helped make it one of the most dynamic in the league with his trick plays and schemes. Morton has only one year of play-calling experience in the NFL in 2017 with the Jets, finishing in the bottom 10 in scoring with an offense that lacked the playmakers he has in Detroit. Sheppard should be helped by getting star pass rusher Aidan Hutchinson back healthy after he missed the final 12 games last season with a broken leg. Eagles OC Kevin Patullo QB Jalen Hurts will have a fourth play-caller in as many years with Patullo getting promoted from passing game coordinator following Moore's departure. The offense improved under Moore in 2024 after stagnating the previous season when Brian Johnson replaced Shane Steichen as OC. Patullo has plenty of talent with one of the top offensive lines, record-setting running back Saquon Barkley and two talented wideouts in A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith to support Hurts. Buccaneers OC Josh Grizzard Tampa Bay's offense got even better last season when Coen replaced Canales with both the running game and screen passing showing major improvement. Grizzard will try to build on that as he moves from passing game coordinator to OC. He was heavily involved with the third down offense last season when the Bucs led the NFL by converting 50.9%. Texans OC Nick Caley Coach DeMeco Ryans made a change after last season even though Houston made it back to the divisional round. That came in spite of the offense taking a big step back thanks in large part to shoddy line play that hindered the growth of QB C.J. Stroud. Caley comes over after spending the past two seasons on Sean McVay's staff with the Rams and is being counted on to bring some of Los Angeles' successful wrinkles to Houston to help make Stroud's job at quarterback easier. He will need to do it with an overhauled offensive line that lost stalwart Laremy Tunsil in the offseason. Bengals DC AL Golden The Bengals went to the college ranks to hire Golden away from Notre Dame to replace Lou Anarumo. Cincinnati reached the Super Bowl with Anarumo leading the defense in the 2021 season but regressed the past few years and were ranked in the bottom 10 in most categories last season. Golden spent the 2020-21 seasons as linebackers coach for the Bengals and brings a man-heavy scheme to the NFL. Seahawks OC Klint Kubiak Seattle hired Kubiak to replace Ryan Grubb in hopes that his scheme heavy on zone blocking and play-action passing can help the Seahawks offensive line. Kubiak was OC in New Orleans last season when the Saints got off to a fast start before injuries led to a downfall. ___ AP NFL:
