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BYU Fall Camp Overreactions: Did Bear Bachmeier Learn How to Throw it Deep?

Overreacting the clips we've seen in Fall Camp
Joe Wheat|
BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier in the first scrimmage of Fall Camp
BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier in the first scrimmage of Fall Camp | BYU Photo

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BYU Cougars

Have you ever been to a pond with one of those candy vending machines with fish food? Have you ever seen the veracious energy with which those fish attack the pellets the moment they hit the water. That is the same energy with which I attack fall camp highlights the moment they are posted by the official BYU football account. If you are the same, you and I will be friends.

BYU held their first scrimmage of fall camp Saturday, from which the BYU media team posted 21 of the roughly 100 total plays (Yes I counted). Despite the limited sample size, that is not going to stop either of us from making sweeping prognostications from the perfectly curated view that the program wants us to see. Here are my top five overreactions from scrimmage number one.

Overreaction #1: Uhhhh… is the secondary bad?

Ah the Fall Camp paradox. Is the offense lighting it up because the offense is good or because the defense has cratered after the loss of Jay Hill? I think this is probably an overreaction, but worth monitoring. When watching practice highlights, it's best to let the things you have seen historically educate your conclusions from the clip rather than the other way around.

For example, going into last season, everyone knew LJ Martin was excellent because we had seen it in games. Therefore, when reports started to trickle out that BYU was struggling to run the football in last Fall Camp, that was always an indication of the strength of the defense rather than Martin suddenly forgetting how to tote the rock. Likewise, we know that BYU’s secondary talent is good because we have seen it in back-to-back seasons.

Based on the clips we saw, it looked like the offense cooked the defense through the air. No doubt about it. Did you notice what we didn’t see in those clips, though? Evan Johnson and Faletau Satuala. We saw one clip of Tre Alexander on a TD that was not his responsibility. Those are all players that have proven to be studs at this level that were likely held out of portions of practice. While you would like to see the depth perform better, it's probably not fair to worry about the entire group just yet.

One thing we don’t know is how this defense will look schematically, and based on the clips, BYU’s offense appeared to be on a play-calling heater. The fact that multiple receivers are shown finding soft spots in the zone rather than just one receiver dominating shows that the offense clearly had a schematic advantage on this day. We’ve seen Aaron Roderick do this to plenty of defenses in his time here, but Saturday’s scrimmage definitely didn’t quell fears that the play calling would take a step back with Jay Hill’s departure.

Overreaction #2: Bear is now working with a full toolkit as a passer

Coming in to Fall Camp, there were two traits I wanted to see from Bear Bachmeier: throwing the deep ball with touch and throwing in the redzone. Last season, Bachmeier was 2/23 on deep balls thrown outside the numbers and threw 9 fewer redzone touchdowns (8) than TCU’s  Josh Hoover (17), despite one more redzone pass attempt (51). Those were really the only gaps in his game. Those gaps appear to be closing. It’s not so much that I am buying into the Bachmeier Bump because of any individual throw as much as the volume of throws we are seeing of him pushing the ball accurately down the field.

In one practice, we saw him drop it in the bucket on two over the shoulder deep balls to Roger Saleapaga and Legend Glasker. The next day, he evaded pressure and delivered an off-platform laser to Jojo Phillips streaking across the back of the end zone. In the scrimmage, he launched a 40+ yard bomb in stride to Reggie Frischknecht, layered in a beautiful TD to LJ Martin on a wheel route, and showed perfect ball placement on a TD throw to Kyle Kasper where only the 6’6 giant could get it. Why are we buying in? Because these are throws we only saw sparingly, if ever, last season. By sheer volume of clips shown, these throws are now being made regularly. At this point, it’s completely fair to start to buy-in on a year-two jump as a passer from the talented gunslinger.

Overreaction #3: The receivers are actually a strength this year?

After all the production lost this last season, it was fair to ask if BYU’s wide receiver room was going to be able to elevate the BYU offense. Maybe we sold them short. Did you notice something about the players catching the previously -mentioned passes from Bear? I never listed the same receiver twice. I also didn’t mention Tiger Bachmeier, who also scored a nice TD from Treyson Bourget as well as a chunk play on a crosser for a big gain. I also didn’t mention Walker Lyons who is a popular preseason pick to be BYU’s leading receiver.  

The plays shown this week support what we wrote in our article about the receivers last week: this is largely a plug-and-play offense that will produce open receivers if the offensive line is good enough to give time for play development. From what we’ve seen, the top receivers are probably going to be some combination of Jojo Phillips, Legend Glasker, Reggie Frischknecht, and Kyle Kasper (particularly in the redzone), with the Saleapaga/Lyons duo seeing the field together often. That is 6 guys that fans should feel extremely confident in this season, because even if we haven’t seen it in games from these particular players, we have 7 years of historical data, and some solid proof of concept tape, coming out of practices.

Overreaction #4: Maybe the running back depth isn’t as thin as we thought

Coming into camp, the depth behind LJ Martin was a legitimate concern. Sione Moa almost lost his leg last season, literally. Preston Rex at RB3 was a last-minute position change from safety because the personnel count was that dire. Devaughn Eka is a true freshman who didn’t have a slew of high-level offers out of high school. After watching these clips, maybe we were judging too harshly. All 3 players scored touchdowns on Saturday in situational team drills, including a spectacular run by Eka that showed shades of Jamaal Williams. Eka found the seam, made two men miss, and ran away from the defense en route to a long touchdown. That clip alone makes me think he has the vision, physicality, and speed to push for carries this season.

The other two had some impressive carries of their own, but what struck me from their clips was the gaping holes created by the right side of BYU’s offensive line. This offensive line was projected by Pro Football Focus to be a top 10 offensive line in college football, and they certainly looked the part on Saturday. There were clips that favored the defense as well, so we will defer to the head coach who commented after the scrimmage that BYU’s front seven had a good day. All things considered, I feel better about the running back depth if LJ needs a breather, especially if Eka can be a true change-of-pace back that BYU was missing last year.

Overreaction #5: Kalani needs the season to start as bad as we do

After a rather curt media availability regarding resources and his relationship with athletic director Brian Santiago on team picture day, Kalani seemed to be in much better spirits talking ball in his post-scrimmage presser. In my opinion, this shows one thing: we just really need the season to start. Whatever drama is or isn’t circulating around the athletic department the last few weeks, it's important to remember that this is all supposed to be fun, and I for one, have a lot of fun watching Bear Bachmeier absolutely rip a post route through a zone defense.

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Joe Wheat
JOE WHEAT

Joe Wheat has covered BYU since 2020. He specializes in passionate opinions fueled by statistics and advanced analytics. Joe’s goal in writing is to celebrate the everyday fan by understanding what they are feeling and giving them the data to understand why.

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