Cougs Daily

Takeaways From Watching McCae Hillstead and Treyson Bourguet at BYU Camps

Casey Lundquist|
BYU quarterbacks McCae Hillstead (left) and Treyson Bourguet (right) at BYU Spring camp
BYU quarterbacks McCae Hillstead (left) and Treyson Bourguet (right) at BYU Spring camp | BYU Phot

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BYU Cougars

On Wednesday, a civil lawsuit was filed against starting BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff accusing him of sexual assault.

The purpose of this article is not to debate whether Jake Retzlaff will be available to play or not, or whether he should be allowed to play or not. That will be determined over the course of the next few months. Instead, the purpose of this article will be to look at the BYU quarterback room if Jake Retzlaff can't play.

If Retzlaff can't go, there will be a three-way battle for the starting quarterback job between McCae Hillstead, Treyson Bourguet, and newcomer Bear Bachmeier. Both Hillstead and Bourguet have been at BYU for the last year. For this article, we looked back at our notes from both Spring camp 2025 and Fall camp 2024 to compare McCae Hillstead and Treyson Bourguet. Here were our takeaways.

But first a caveat, and a big one at that: over the course of Spring camp, the media was only permitted to watch a small portion of practice. Our observations come from only a sample of practice. That's important context for our observations.

Rep Distribution

After Spring camp, BYU declined to name a backup quarterback behind Jake Retzlaff. That's not too surprising since there wasn't really a need to name a backup at that time. While BYU didn't make any official decision, the rep distribution in Spring camp point to McCae Hillstead having an edge in the backup race.

In every practice we observed, it was McCae Hillstead that ran with the second-team offense. When Jake Retzlaff and Gerry Bohanon were battling for the starting job back in Fall camp, the first-team reps were evenly distributed and every practice. That wasn't the case for Hillstead and Bourguet in terms of the backup reps in Spring camp. Hillstead ran with the second-team offense and Bourguet ran with the third-team offense.

McCae Hillstead Strengths

Ever since McCae Hillstead arrived at BYU, he has flashed big-play potential. Big plays were common when McCae Hillstead was under center during both Fall camp and Spring camp. Allow us to give a few examples.

HIllstead had one of the best throws of camp back in the Fall. He hit Ty West in stride for the long touchdown. West got behind the defense and Hillstead found him 40+ yards downfield for the score.

Throwing well on the run and in play-action situations was a theme. On multiple occasions, Hillstead was able to make the right read in play-action drop-backs and hit receivers in stride. For example, he hit Weston Covey in stride for a 25-yard touchdown. Most of Hillstead's best throws came off play action. In the second clip in the below highlight from Spring camp, Hillstead found Nason Coleman off play action for a touchdown.

Mobility and speed is a core strength for McCae Hillstead. Where he lacks in size he makes up in athleticism. Hillstead had the longest touchdown run of Spring camp. He pulled the ball on a read option and beat Faletau Satuala to the sideline. Once he was behind the defense, nobody could catch him on his way to a 70-yard touchdown. Hillstead isn't the most elusive runner, but his top-end speed stands out.

Chunk plays play a big role in Aaron Roderick's offense, and Hillstead has proven capable of consistently creating chunk plays. That's something you could expect if Hillstead wins the starting job.

McCae Hillstead Weaknesses

There were times when Hillstead was prone to misfires, particularly on long throws towards the boundaries. Hillstead is one of the shorter quarterbacks in college football and we believe that contributed to the misfires. When he missed, he usually missed high. The misfires were most likely driven by his height and trying to fit passes over the offensive line. When he had to throw the ball on a line with velocity, the misfires were more frequent. The quarterbacks that have had the most success in Aaron Roderick's offense have been able to hit those throws near the boundary.

There were also times, particularly in Fall camp, where Hillstead put the ball at risk. He threw a pair of interceptions during media availability last year. That's not too surprising given Hillstead's inexperience. It's important to remember that Hillstead has only played a handful of games in college. Cleaning up the turnovers is typically the first hurdle for young quarterbacks, and Hillstead is still a young quarterback.

On that note, however, Hillstead took better care of the football during Spring camp. There was one throw that could have been intercepted by Miles Hall, but other than that, he didn't put the ball in danger.

Treyson Bourguet Strengths

Treyson Bourguet throws a beautiful football. If all the quarterbacks participated in an accuracy contest with targets, we would probably pick Treyson Bourguet to win. When he has time to throw from a clean pocket, he can make most throws on the field. Deep throws are where he separates himself. Back in the Fall, Bourguet found Pokaiaua Haunga in a tight window where only Haunga could catch it. (Side note: Pokaiaua Haunga is absolutely a weapon in the passing game and should be used that way in 2025)

In Spring camp, Bourguet found true freshman LaMason Waller down the sideline on a deep throw. Bourguet has proven that he can throw effectively downfield in a game setting as well. That was his primary strength at Western Michigan. He had a PFF grade of 90.9 on throws of 20 yards or more. He completed 50% of his downfield throws and had three touchdowns in just 14 attempts.

While throwing down the field is his strength, he has also flashed the potential to make tight-window intermediate throws like this third-down conversion to Dom McKenzie.

Treyson Bourguet Weaknesses

Between the three quarterbacks that will contend for the starting job, Bourguet is the least mobile. While he's not a statue back in the pocket (he did scramble for 30 yards once back in Fall camp), he's not able to evade the rush like the other quarterbacks and punish defenses with his legs.

Quarterbacks don't need to be mobile. However, the most successful quarterbacks in Aaron Roderick's offense have been mobile. Bourguet's mobility, or lack thereof, would put more stress on the offensive line than a mobile quarterback otherwise would.

The offense that BYU would run for Treyson Bourguet would look more like the offense that BYU ran back in 2023 with Kedon Slovis. The offensive line under TJ Woods is more equipped to handle an offense like that, but it remains to be seen how good the 2025 offensive line can be. If the offensive line isn't able to dominate in the run game, the offense would stall out frequently like it did in 2023.

Lastly, inexperience would be a hurdle for Bourguet as well. He would be the most veteran quarterback among the three quarterbacks. However, he has only appeared in 10 games over the course of his career.

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Casey Lundquist
CASEY LUNDQUIST

Casey Lundquist is the publisher and lead editor of Cougs Daily. He has covered BYU athletics for the last four years. During that time, he has published over 2,000 stories that have reached more than three million people.

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