Will LJ Martin be good to go for BYU opener?

Head coach Kalani Sitake and offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick announced Monday they would let the QB competition fester for a few more days.

Here’s Jay Drew’s story from practice with quotes from both coaches on why the decision will linger longer.

Roderick said the decision could be made closer to game preparation for Southern Illinois, which begins midweek as fall camp ends on Tuesday. He said both Jake Retzlaff and Gerry Bohanon have competed like warriors and made their case. Neither has significantly put himself above the other, both have strong cases he can build into his offense. Both can run effectively, which makes the RPO a weapon and choice. Odds say he’ll need both this season if injuries come into play.

Roderick said the decision is ultimately his, but he talks of this QB decision every day with Sitake. He also told the media he would pick the minds of defensive coordinator Jay Hill to see what he’s tried to defend, and also cue in pass-game coordinator Fesi Sitake, a former offensive coordinator at Weber State. “I’ll get the views of all the coaches, but it will be my decision,” he said.

I think Roderick likes the idea that both have a lot to prove. Bohanon has come off a long injury road after stops at Baylor and USF and this is his last hurrah as he tries to play catchup in learning the offense and calls, some of which he has familiarity with from his time in Waco playing for Jeff Grimes . Retzlaff wants to atone for not winning a game last season when he came in as relief for Kedon Slovis, not fully prepared and off an early injury in fall camp. Retzlaff is more comfortable with the offense and he had a great chance to lead BYU past Oklahoma and Oklahoma State and get BYU to a bowl game before falling short.

Roderick might like this chip-on-the-shoulder attitude that is bleeding into the other offensive players from this competition. Players see Bohanon and Retzlaff battling and competing and they are following with their respective challenges and competition. In all, it’s a good attitude to foster in fall camp. Game prep is different, however. You don’t want two QBs coming in and out of a game.

I’ve seen these QB battles for decades. We saw it with Zach Wilson and Jaren Hall, Taysom Hill and Tanner Mangum, Riley Nelson and Jake Heaps. In my experience, BYU coaches know exactly who they will start. Publicly, they let this string itself out for competitive purposes within the team.

Here are some of the latest headlines from the Deseret News on fall football camp:

• Can the deep receiver group carry the offense? ( Jay Drew )
• Crazy road to BYU for offensive lineman ( Jay Drew)
• TJ Woods fired up to coach O line( Jay Drew )
• 10 transfers who will impact the Big 12 ( Brandon Judd)
• Parker Kingston is BYU’s Swiss Army knife ( Dave McCann )

Cougar Insiders predictions

Question of the week: With LJ Martin seeing contact in practices, it appears he’s more prepared to see playing time in the first or second game. How big is this for the offense?

Jay Drew: I was critical of the decision when BYU coaches opted to stray from their pattern of the past few years and not bring in another running back from the transfer portal. Guys like Ty’Son Williams, Chris Brooks and Aidan Robbins made an impact for the Cougars.

I still think coaches blew it by not bringing in a big-time back capable of being the workhorse. But I think news that LJ Martin may be healthy enough to play in the opener certainly makes the lack of a transfer portal addition a bit easier to swallow.

Getting Martin back in time for the second game — at SMU — will be a nice development for the Cougars. I’m skeptical that we will see him in the opener vs. Southern Illinois next week, but we’ll see. As a side note, I’ve been told that Martin is way ahead of schedule in his recovery from a shoulder injury — about four weeks ahead of where some of BYU’s medical personnel believed he would be.

As history has shown, BYU never seems to have enough running backs; about the only guy who has gone through a season recently without missing a game due to injury is Tyler Allgeier.

Dick Harmon: Any good news of running back play is amplified by reports of the offensive line progressing toward playing better than last year. Without the O-line play getting better, the RBs are in jeopardy of failure. LJ Martin is a stud. That he’s ahead of progress is great news.

Kalani Sitake singled out running backs coach Harvey Unga specifically for his work with the backs and how they are making an impact on the offense this fall. He praised Martin, but also pointed to freshmen Sione Moa and Poka Haunga out of Timpview High in addition to Miles Davis and Hinckley Ropati.

BYU will lean heavily on the run game this fall. If defenses have to respect the run, it will open up so many other things with the pass game, QB runs with the RPO, targets out of the backfield and downfield shots.

BYU has had mixed results with bringing in one-year transfer backs. Injuries have been a part of that. We can remember that the best BYU has had in recent years was a walk-on linebacker named Tyler Allgeier. Perhaps Moa and Haunga can step up and become the next Allgeier.

Cougar tales

BYU basketball coach Kevin Young and his staff continue to make headway in recruiting the nation’s No. 1 basketball recruit, who is playing his high school ball in St. George, Utah. You can read the details here. BYU and Young have made the final seven for AJ Dybantsa and the top nine for his teammate, JJ Mandaquit , who play together at Utah Prep.

Dybantsa and Mandaquit are expected to make a joint official visit to BYU on Oct. 12 during the football game with Arizona. Mandaquit’s top nine are USC, Louisville, Cal, Hawaii, Tennessee, Creighton, Washington, Virginia and BYU.

On Thursday, Young has invited members of the Utah media to a luncheon at Riverside Country Club, a kind of meet and greet with questions from the group.

In soccer, BYU’s women held on to shut out ranked Wisconsin in Provo.

From the archives

From X-verse

Extra points

• How to watch Big 12 football on TV ( KSL Sports )
• Observations from final week of practice ( KSL Sports )
• BYU not playing a Utah school preseason hoops ( Daily Herald )

Fanalysts

Comments from Deseret News readers:

Part of the problem in appreciating what BYU has here is that players generally improve significantly through their college careers, to which no credit is often given, especially from haters. The stats may not show it yet, but several of these guys are very talented and are no longer young in their careers. Hill, Roberts and Epps are now very experienced, and assuming they are now playing at a higher level than they did before, there is a lot of optimism in Provo. Of course, this assumes that they have a QB who can get them the ball and an O-line to protect the QB when he is throwing the ball. We will learn a lot in the first two games. If they come out sluggish (like last year), then expect more of the same throughout the season and a similar result. If they score 50 in each game, then they may have figured out how to compete as a Big 12 offense. But I suspect it will somewhere in between.

— Mabramso

Can deep and talented group of receivers carry the offense in 2024? The answer is no. If the O line, QB and tailbacks play reasonably well, the answer is “yes,” the receivers can.

— Mowgli54

He did so much look like Joe Namath. Still does. He was the one that started it all. I’m not trying to bring Utah into the article but I went to the BYU/Utah game in 1973 at Utah and it was snowing heavily. I was with some Utah fans and we sat right on the 50-yard line. It was snowing like crazy. At the end of the half it was like 30-0 for BYU. One half of the field was virgin snow with no foot marks. The other side of the field was all torn up. Utah never crossed the 50-yard line.

— 512Boxer

Up next

• Aug. 21 | Noon | Women’s volleyball | Southern Utah | @ Fillmore
• Aug. 22 | 6 p.m. | Women’s soccer | Saint Louis University | @ St. Louis
• Aug. 24 | 8 p.m. | Women’s soccer | Long Beach State | @ Long Beach, California
• Aug. 28 | 8 p.m. | Women’s soccer | UCLA | @ Los Angeles