The Case For and Against Jake Retzlaff to be BYU's Quarterback in 2024
JUCO transfer Jake Retzlaff started the last four games of the 2023 season for BYU. In those four games, Retzlaff had the opportunity to position himself as the quarterback of the future. Instead, BYU went 0-4 during the last four games and Retzlaff struggled to take care of the football. Now, questions surround the quarterback position for next season and the Cougars are recruiting the transfer portal to bring in another quarterback. Even though BYU is recruiting the transfer portal and hopes to bring in another quarterback, Retzlaff could still be the guy in 2024. Today, we're making the case for and against Jake Retzlaff to be the starting quarterback in 2024.
Fair or not, you won't find many BYU fans that would feel confident about the 2024 season with Retzlaff as the starting quarterback. There are some legitimate concerns, for sure, and we'll discuss those in this article. After all, BYU has concerns too. There's a reason why BYU is aggressively recruiting the transfer portal for quarterbacks. But if we're going to fairly evaluate BYU's quarterback room going into next season, it's necessary to evaluate both the positives and the negatives of each quarterback and what they bring to the room. The purpose of this article is not to convince you whether Jake Retzlaff should or should not start for BYU in 2024. Rather, the purpose of this article is to objectively weigh the upsides and downsides from the perspective of BYU's coaching staff. With every passing day, the options in the transfer portal are dwindling. The coaches have to ask themselves: who gives BYU the best chance to win? Jake Retzlaff, someone else on the roster, or a transfer quarterback?
The Case For Jake Retzlaff
We apologize in advance for the buzz word we are about to use in this first paragraph: mobility. The case for Jake Retzlaff starts with his mobility. If there was one thing that Retzlaff brought to the BYU offense that everyone can agree with, it was his rushing ability. Retzlaff isn't the most mobile quarterback, but he was clearly more mobile than Kedon Slovis. It was Retzlaff's mobility, in this author's opinion, that helped turn around the BYU run game at the end of the season. BYU went from being one of the worst run offenses in the country to running for 217 yards against a stout Oklahoma defense. He didn't put up gaudy rushing numbers, far from it in fact, but having a quarterback that could threaten the defense with his legs made BYU's offense better. There were eight games of evidence to suggest that BYU couldn't run the ball with Kedon Slovis at quarterback. That changed only after Retzlaff became the quarterback.
We'll talk about the areas where Retzlaff needs to improve a little later. He certainly will need to make strides in multiple areas to be the starter in 2024. But first, it's also important to be fair to Retzlaff and his learning curve. Remember, he was limited during Spring camp with an illness. His first true reps at BYU came in Fall camp and by that point, Kedon Slovis had already been named the starter. Few, if any, college quarterbacks are great in their first four starts. Not only was Retzlaff making his first starts, he didn't have the benefit of a tune-up game or a full Fall camp with the first-team offense. He was thrown into the fire when BYU was desperate for one more win. It's totally reasonable to believe that Retzlaff could get better in 2024 with more reps and some game experience under his belt.
Despite the four losses, there were some positive moments from Retzlaff in his four starts. In wet conditions, he led BYU down the field in the final minutes against Oklahoma State to send that game to overtime. Before that last drive, Retzlaff had been downright bad throwing the football (aside from a strike downfield to Kean Hill). It didn't matter. When BYU needed him most, he led a two-minute drive that kept BYU in the game.
Against Oklahoma, he converted three out of three critical fourth downs with his arm. The first one was a touchdown pass to Chase Roberts that tied the game at 7-7. He had another to Kody Epps that set up another score. Those conversions completely changed the complexity of that game - 17 of BYU's 24 points came on drives where Retzlaff converted a fourth down. Without those conversions, BYU wouldn't have had a chance to win that football game. When you factor in drops, his adjusted completion percentage was 70.8% against the Sooners. He was pressured on 30% of his drop-backs against Oklahoma but he was sacked just once. Oklahoma's defense was very good, but he used his mobility to evade pressure and make plays downfield throughout the game.
There's another angle to this conversation that needs to be discussed more. There is major, major risk involved in signing one-year quarterbacks at BYU on a consistent basis. Having a revolving door at quarterback is a slippery slope to bad offense in the long run. Retzlaff made mistakes, no doubt. But at least those mistakes could potentially pay dividends down the road. BYU needs to be a developmental program and Retzlaff still has the opportunity to get better with two more years of eligibility remaining. Coach Roderick himself said BYU underestimated the value of continuity last season. Even if Retzlaff isn't the guy next year, this is a long-term problem that must be solved.
Retzlaff was ridiculously productive at the JUCO level. As a sophomore, he threw for 4,596 yards, 44 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions and while completing 63% of his passes. Regardless of some questionable mechanics, you have to be a good passer to put up those numbers. If Aaron Roderick can help Retzlaff tap into those skills that allowed him to throw for 4,600 yards in 2022, the potential to be a dangerous dual-threat quarterback is there.
The Case Against Jake Retzlaff
The case against Jake Retzlaff starts with turnovers. In BYU's ultra-productive years from 2020-2022, BYU quarterbacks did not turn the ball over. For Aaron Roderick's offense to succeed, the quarterback has to take care of the football. Retzlaff committed six turnovers in four games, and those turnovers were as costly as turnovers can be. No turnover was more costly in 2023 than Retzlaff's pick-six against Oklahoma. BYU was knocking on the door of upsetting Oklahoma and getting bowl eligible. Instead, a 99-yard pick-six changed the trajectory of the game.
The first play of the game against Iowa State was inexplicable. Retzlaff threw a bad, bad interception that set the tone for an eventual blowout loss. BYU can't have a starting quarterback that makes mistakes like that. Until he can prove that bad mistakes like that will go away, you have to assume that will be part of the Retzlaff experience.
Of the areas where Retzlaff needs to improve, the turnovers are one of the easier things to fix. That's not to say turnovers are an easy fix, but they can be cured with more experience and more practice reps with the first team. After all, two of Retzlaff's fumbles were on failed hand-off exchanges. Both of those can probably be chalked up to limited reps with the starting running backs. He also wouldn't be the first BYU quarterback to throw a few interceptions in his first career starts. It's possible the interceptions would probably go down with more experience and more time in Aaron Roderick's system, but until then, they are a major problem.
There are also legitimate accuracy issues with Retzlaff. He completed just 50.4% of his passes in four starts. There were multiple misfires that stalled BYU drives and forced BYU into predictable play-calling on second and long. He throws the ball from multiple arm angles and while that's fun to talk about, does it impact his accuracy? Roderick's offense needs a quarterback that can consistently make accurate throws near the boundary. In four games, Retzlaff was not accurate enough.
Credit: BYU Photo
Accuracy concerns can't be resolved as quickly as turnover concerns. If you're BYU's coaching staff, can you design some wrinkles that better suits Retzlaff's skillset? Or would you rather start from scratch with a transfer quarterback?
Time will tell what BYU's staff decides to do. The Winter semester at BYU starts on January 8th, so questions about BYU's future at quarterback will be answered in the next few weeks.
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