‘A big deal’: BYU football coaches say Saturday’s scrimmage will be important for starting QB battle, depth chart positioning

Saturday’s closed-to-the-media scrimmage at LaVell Edwards Stadium will be the first of several for BYU’s football team during 2024 preseason training camp, but coaches are not hiding the fact that it will be one of the most important in recent memory.

“Saturday is a critical part of our progress,” defensive coordinator Jay Hill said Thursday. “The scrimmage will be a big deal.”

Said head coach Kalani Sitake: “In terms of install, we are pretty much almost there. Now it is (time) to play ball, and let guys compete, and figure out who are going to be our guys who start the first game, our starting 11 on both sides of the ball.”

Said receiver Parker Kingston: “Coaches have been pointing to (the scrimmage) for days. It’s going to be huge. There’s a lot still to be decided.”

Hill said the scrimmage “might be the biggest practice for (figuring out the depth chart)” since he’s been at BYU.

“Because once you get further on into fall camp, and you do some of your other scrimmages, some guys will be sat,” Hill said. “This will be a big deal to see whether our starters are where they need to be. It will be a big deal on just moving up and down the depth chart for certain guys.”

Receivers coach and passing game coordinator Fesi Sitake said for probably the only time in camp, every receiver will play in the scrimmage , at least for a few plays each.

“Those key guys, I have seen get tackled. So I don’t need to see a ton of them. Our starters, I am not going to have them play live just because I need to see them make a play,” Fesi Sitake said. “Ahead of the season, it is that fine balance. They gotta get hit, and break a tackle, and remember that feeling. And once they have a couple plays, (I will) take them out and we let the others roll.”

Monday, head coach Kalani Sitake said neither of the two quarterbacks in the battle to be the starter, Jake Retzlaff and Gerry Bohanon, will “live,” which is to say they will wear the green jerseys and will be off-limits to contact. However, he stressed that both QBs will get opportunities to play with the first-team offensive line and first-team receivers and tight ends.

With presumed RB1 LJ Martin not having been cleared for contact yet after he had shoulder surgery last April, guys such as Miles Davis, Hinckley Ropati and freshmen Pokaiaua Haunga and Sione I. Moa will be featured more heavily.

Kalani Sitake said Wednesday that the offense and defense have pretty much taken turns having the best days throughout camp, but on Thursday when the media was allowed to watch for more than a half-hour, the offense seemed to have the upper hand.

“We have seen a lot of back and forth,” Sitake said. “It is going to be interesting to see the buildup to the scrimmage on Saturday. It is going to be a lot of fun. I am looking forward to seeing these guys get after it in a game-like situation. The scrimmage will probably be the most like a game than anything else.”

Latest on the quarterback battle

Also Thursday, Bohanon reeled off a 50-yard run, and showed some outstanding speed. Retzlaff made some nice throws as well. Utah State transfer McCae Hillstead and Western Michigan transfer Treyson Bourguet have also had strong camps, with Hillstead showing off a strong arm and Bourguet displaying his ability to run and improvise.

Asked if he wants to name a starting quarterback after the scrimmage Saturday, Sitake said that would be a best-case scenario, but might not be doable.

“Yeah, if one emerges,” he said. “I would like to name a starter as soon as we can. But until that happens we will keep working on getting better.”

Is starting quarterback competition dividing the team?

Coaches say that in any starting quarterback competition, players will naturally have their favorites — guys they like to be around more. Guys to which they gravitate more. That’s human nature.

But they insist that nobody is taking sides and that the competition is not dividing the team. They say there is no “Team Retzlaff” or “Team Bohanon,” as it were.

“They don’t pick sides. They want to win. And they want to play at their best. It doesn’t matter who the quarterback is (to them). It is not like the O line is caring about who the guy is that is throwing the ball, or calling the plays behind them,” Sitake said.

“They just have to be ready for anybody. If Tom Brady shows up and plays for us, I would like to see them play their best no matter who is playing the quarterback position. … We have been through quarterback battles before. We have handled them before. We have had guys win them before. We have decided early, and we have extended it all the way to game week, so we are not new to this stuff.”

Fesi Sitake, whose receivers are the most affected by the decision, said his group is mature enough to handle the competition and not choose sides.

“All of these guys in my room have played with multiple quarterbacks in college. … They are young and have played with new quarterbacks. I think a new quarterback is nothing really new. So they are handling it well.”

The aforementioned Kingston said both QBs have looked good in camp and he is happy he is not the coach trying to make that decision.

“Everybody loves both of the guys. Both have done a great job of being leaders on the team, bringing everybody together,” Kingston said. “They’ve been doing a good job. The team loves both of them. We will be happy with whoever it is.”