BYU Freshman QB Bear Bachmeier Explains Unique Jersey Number

On Wednesday, BYU kicked off 2025 Fall Camp. The first day of camp marked the first day of a three-way quarterback battle between Treyson Bourguet, McCae Hillstead, and Bear Bachmeier. Bachmeier, a true freshman who transferred in from Stanford, will wear no. 47 at BYU.

Bachmeier met with the media after practice and explained why he wears such a unique number.

"Me and my dad joke around," Bachmeier said. "I used to play running back when I was younger or when I started playing football, and then when I made the transition to quarterback, I just kept the number and I continued to play middle linebacker up until 8th grade. I don't know I just kind of like the number and it kind of brings you back to your primitive nature when you're playing so it's cool."

Wednesday marked Bachmeier's first practice at BYU and his first collegiate Fall Camp. In the limited portion of practice that the media was permitted to watch, Bachmeier did not look like a true freshman who started learning the BYU offense two months ago.

This feels like the appropriate place to put the required caveat of the first day of Fall Camp: the media is only permitted to watch a small portion of practice. Additionally, players are not wearing pads on the first day as required by NCAA rules. Therefore, it's unwise to draw too many conclusions from day one. Keep that in mind as we talk about Bear Bachmeier.

With that being said, Bear Bachmeier was really impressive in the limited reps seen by the media. On his first throw with the first-team offense, Bachmeier hit Jojo Phillips near the boundary on a deep out. His second throw was a quick completion to Phillips on a drag route.

First look at Bear Bachmeier (kind of...he's hidden behind the offensive line) as he connects with Jojo Phillips for the completion ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/2Z7nIwnTSq
— Casey Lundquist (@casey_lundquist) July 30, 2025

Bachmeier's third throw was the most impressive throw by any quarterback on day one. As the pocket collapsed around Bachmeier, he stepped into the pocket and hit Chase Roberts right in the chest on a post route. The ball got to Roberts quickly coming out of his break so he bobbled it before securing the catch.

After the completion to Roberts, Bachmeier had his one and only incompletion of the media portion. He threw a ball to the back shoulder of Jojo Phillips on a slant route and Phillips couldn't secure it.

On his final throw of day one, Bachmeier stepped up into the pocket and delivered another strike on a post route to tight end Will Zundel.

On his high school film, Bachmeier proved how dangerous he is out of the pocket and creating plays off script. In the opinion of this author, the most impressive thing Bachmeier did on day one was to look comfortable in the pocket, as a true freshman, in an offense that he just started learning two months ago.

If day one was any indication, Bachmeier certainly deserves a shot to compete for the starting job.