Aaron Roderick Has a Good Track Record with Quarterback Battles at BYU

For the first time since Fall Camp kicked off, BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick met with the media on Friday. Roderick's comments were full of noteworthy tidbits. Roderick commented on the frontrunners at the tackle positions, provided an update on Hinckley Ropati, and said Bear Bachmeier was "up to speed" on the playbook.

Roderick made another noteworthy comment that got lost in the shuffle of the more notable headlines. Roderick mentioned his experience with quarterback battles, particularly at BYU. Roderick expressed his hope that "people have some confidence that we can get this done."

“It’s always a challenge, but I’ve been through this enough times," Roderick said on the challenge of having a quarterback battle. "I hope that people have some confidence that we can get this done. We’ve done it before and we have a good process that we go through. Whenever that starter is named, everybody on the team will be like ‘oh yeah, of course.’ We’ve done this in the past with Zach and Jaren, Jaren and Baylor, etc. We’ve been through this last year with Gerry and Jake and we’ll do it again.”

Roderick is well versed when it comes to quarterback battles. Since he joined BYU's staff in 2018, this is his fifth quarterback competition. Most importantly, he has a track record of picking the right quarterback in those quarterback battles.

In 2018, true freshman Zach Wilson pushed Tanner Mangum for the starting job. Wilson's talent was obvious in camp, but the Cougars went with the veteran quarterback to take on a gauntlet of September games that included games at Arizona, at Wisconsin, and a home game against Cal. The staff had a plan to bring in Wilson when the schedule eased up midway through the year. You could debate whether Roderick and his staff made the right call to go with Mangum over Wilson to start the year, but BYU needed to win right away and they did. The Cougars ended up going 2-1 in those game and bouncing back after a terrible 2017 campaign.

In 2020, Zach Wilson battled Jaren Hall and Baylor Romney for the starting job. Wilson wasn't named the starter until the week of the season opener. Roderick and co. obviously made the right choice going with Wilson - he had a breakout season before getting drafted by the New York Jets no. 2 overall in the 2021 NFL Draft.

In 2021, Jaren Hall beat out Baylor Romney and Jacob Conover for the starting job. Hall led BYU to a 10-2 regular season that, in terms of resumes, was easily the best season of the independence era. The Cougars went 5-0 against the Pac-12, including a win over Pac-12 champion Utah. That win snapped a decade-long losing streak against the Utes. Jaren Hall was certainly the right choice for the job in 2021.

In 2024, Roderick went with Jake Retzlaff over Gerry Bohannon after a contested quarterback competition. Retzlaff and Bohannon split first-team reps throughout Fall Camp. Retzlaff was named the starter internally after Fall Camp, but the decision wasn't announced externally until Kalani Sitake announced it in his preseason interview ahead of the BYU-Portland State game. Retzlaff wasn't a perfect quarterback in 2024, but he quarterbacked an 11-2 season that was one or two bounces away from a Big 12 championship game appearance.

Roderick's philosophy is simple: let the quarterback battle last until the starter becomes the obvious choice. Sometimes the right choice becomes obvious early in camp. Other times it takes the entirety of Fall Camp for a quarterback to separate himself. That was the case with Jake Retzlaff in 2024 - it wasn't until the back half of Fall Camp where he started to separate himself from Gerry Bohannon.

Roderick warned that rushing a decision can come with consequences. With that being said, he wants to make the decision sooner rather than later.

“There’s no deadline, but the sooner the better." Roderick said. "I would prefer not to be naming a starter on game day, but you have to let it play out a little bit too. If you rush it, it creates some other issues. We need to let them compete for a little while...we have to let them compete so we gather enough information to make a good decision.”

Time will tell whether it will be Bear Bachmeier, McCae Hillstead, or Treyson Bourguet that starts against Portland State. Aaron Roderick's track record suggests suggests that he will find the right man for the job.