Jake Retzlaff: From JUCO Standout to BYU QB Star

put your head down block out the noise and just do your thing it's easy to sit back and complain about this that and next thing it's easy for me to go you know Co Road my career would be playing in the NFL and I blah blah blah but instead I was like no whatever I'm just going to put my head down and grind go grind it out and go see what happens go roll the dice cuz there's going to be a spot somewhere welcome to the quarterback room I am here with Jake rlof quarterback from BYU and I can't wait to dive into your whole journey today which is really wild um as you go through the whole timeline for you you didn't even get to play your senior year of high school one of the many California kids that got cancelled go play at two different junior colleges put up ridiculous stats at both uh I'll just give your last season for fun for people he threw 4,596 yards 44 passing touchdowns 14 picks but you also somehow had over 500 yards on the ground and six touchdowns on the ground so you're doing everything you're named the number one junior college quarterback in America by ESPN coming into the recruiting class then find yourself at BYU which is a wild jump in the middle of a red shirt season you're backing up a quarterback that was highly touted from USC he gets injured and you burn you know burn your red shirt year because you can play up to four games but you do the opposite of what many people do in red shirt years you play you play your final four games of the season start them all against murderer's role of opponents I was doing this research before we got here according to Prof Football Focus you play three games against Oklahoma State Oklahoma and also West Virginia Garrett Green Top 10 returning quarterback by Pro Football Focus Dylan Gabriel the number two returning quarterback by Prof Football Focus and olly Gordon the number one returning running back by Pro Football Focus probably number one returning offensive player in the country so just a absolutely ridiculous group of opponents with ridiculous players two of the best teams ranked in the country uh it's a crazy way to get introduced to college sports so it's a long intro but I wanted to make sure I set the stage for the interview kind of letting our listeners know if they didn't follow BYU football at the end of last year what exactly your introduction to power five college football was it was pretty it was pretty rough to to get jumped into the into the lions did like that and you really especially in those final two games you gave that everything and and almost came out in top boat tops yeah it was definitely a it was a like you said murderers R it was a tough schedule last four games West Virginia came out played really well Iowa State same o up State those names speak for themselves it was a it was a fun way to get baptized into college football there doubt yeah it's a no PL words intended in uh playing at bringham Young University but you definitely did get that experience and you know gett Green's a guy you had to go head-to-head with a very elite quarterback right out of the gates I don't think a lot of people know how good that West Virginia team is but they only got better as the year went on and uh he's a real Gunslinger out there you know it's one of these guys that might turn the ball over a little bit so you you look and you think man maybe he doesn't protect the ball but he's so efficient down the field that analytically is actually a very one of the best quarterbacks analytically in the country despite the turnovers really amazing deep ball accuracy and a lot of things that make him a dangerous guy to go against that's a heck of a way to get introduced in college football yeah we doubt he played a pretty good game their offensive line was unbelievable uh their def is really aggressive really big and so it was a it was a wild game he he came up to me after the game and got to gave me some good words of regurg which was kind of cool and it's kind of you know it's a Brotherhood in the way of col fo ball quarterbacks and you know um trying to build each other up and he definitely came over to the game and said some good things to me and kept it positive and you know he said that uh he like you know he liked he saw me rather even though the game didn't go our way obviously but he said that just keep do keep doing it keep doing and that's what I've been doing you can see that and uh I was able to watch a lot of your tape thanks to some nice man that films one of your community college games and I got to see a lot of it uh and uh it was an exciting thing put on display but I really got to see one of the things I wanted to pinpoint we're jumping ahead here the progression in your game from that last game in Jo to the first game at BYU was very laar you can really see the work that was put in throughout the spring and then in fall and throughout your time watching slovis you could really see that you were a better quarterback in absolutely every facet of your game from that first start at BYU to your last start at Riverside it was a pretty markable Improvement despite the fact that maybe the stats don't show that just because there's a slightly different level of competition between West Virginia and the junior college League you were playing yeah for sure I mean the development here has been well everything from the straight add condition to that in the film real and you know our coach just Co with Mitchell they' been diing me up and so it's easy to what you do to that it's not a hard thing to develop the way that they they hope we developed and uh just keep focused on grinding grinding try is a better football player it's uh it's clear that you've been doing that work without without any doubt um kind of going back to the beginning or at least earlier in the journey how early did you start playing quarterback when was when was the start of your journey in football yeah in the fun of day is like my dad be football coach I was around football all the time and everything my first news football was like nose guard or something like that and Cal football and uh I was just quicker than the guy in front of me I wasn't any bigger I was a little skinny kid but I was quick enough to get around I wouldn't survive these days away uh it was actually I broke my arm in a biking accident that year my bike didn't play that year Tech football and then somehow thought to myself quarterbacks the move I don't I don't know how exactly that progress went but uh I it started in flag football and then it went to tackle right after that were out of the quarterback so I don't know how I describe it I guess just kind of CH with me you picked it learned to do it maybe the hardest up there intellectually with one of the hardest positions in Pro Sports to play in terms of running an offense understanding the emotional intelligence of all of your teammates and being the leader in that huddle it's a it's a really big task and it's something that I guess just natively that you were up to how was the progression through high school and how did that all kind of play out you have your Junior season what happened between your junior year and that first year in Jo where you didn't find yourself playing at a D1 college football program because you watch the games the tools jump off the page from day one in Jo you were balling like there was no there was never of both years you put up video game numbers looked like an elite player on the field was there a major progression from that junior year she didn't play a senior year and that that that Joo year or kind of what was your process through which you wound up rapping high school and then going to Jo yeah I mean obviously the co kind of shot every every outs recuit and all that stuff it was uh it was a time that's for sure but you know it was just grinded in the weight room trying to get bigger stuff like that no ending sign really was wild during that Senor year was like we didn't know when the season was going to be if there was going to be a season and stuff and so it was just training training training all day every day and so it was kind of like there's nothing else to do but you know work hard and try to get better and whenever the time comes it comes and it turned out I had to wait until Jud B just show that again and you know it was really quiet in the repoting realm after Co during Co and all that stuff and so going to Golden West was a fun deal and Coach ship over there he he made the transition easy he actually had some history going back coaching with my dad got coached by my dad and coached with my dad so it was cool easy relationship with the AL coordinator over there um and so just kind of going from there was like it was high school ball or Joo ball and there's some different bers on the field it's probably not as big of a jump from Joo to power five football but it's still a jump none way like you get some dudes who like you know we had a guyt went to the military came back but two three years later and this grown man on the football field so it's pretty wild B is the different types people you'll play against but uh it was definitely you know because I had that year in a half or two years since I played football it was just like the accumulation of time and the in the weight room and all the Reps throw to my brothers throw to whoever would catch and it kind of helped me be ready for that first game when that when that first game G how much preparation was there whether it was in backyards local Fields Etc I I you could see when you watch the games at Riverside you and your brother's connection was Unreal uh you know your ability to get him the ball he put up some incredible numbers that past season he had put great numbers last year at CSU publo also he's really kept with it but how much of that connection was really built during that Co year where you guys were both home and you were able to kind of be in the backyard or be at the fields and just throw the ball around run routes and kind of know where the other was because there's a decent age separation in the sense that that probably wasn't happening at high school as much it would have happened over that covid time where you guys are kind of closer in age at that point yeah I mean when Co hit it was kind of was especially when you in college sop college and Co it and so it was just like he wasn't doing anything I wasn't doing anything cuz School closed down all that stuff and so it was like well I had a built-in receiver living with me so it was just like hey Reggie let's go let's go you had to come catch you got to come catch come catch and then my little brother felt left out so he'd come and try to catch and he was just hilarious cuz he was not at all he's a linebacker in high school and then he ended up being a baseball only guy but yeah I mean it was random Parks whatever bark had the best grass to run on like to move on turns out Parks don't have football grass and so it's like it's always Way Too Tall and you feel like you're getting stuck and stuff but it was just accumulation of that over the years like obviously in high school I was a little too young but it was still like we're throwing to each other Bunch my junior year to in offseasons he was the the guy didn't need to call and buy him lunch to go throw with me he was just in the other room and I'd make him come throw with me so it was uh it was easy to I mean obviously I've had the most repes of my life that guy so it made a lot easier to come game day and so that was a big part of the jumping skill probably was just getting all that practice with him when a lot of people in California weren't that lucky to have their future number one receiver in the uh in the mix at home how special was that when you got to go play at Riverside and you guys wound up playing at the same team I have to imagine that's something you're just going to remember for the rest of your life because you got a rare experience where your brother was your number one receiver I don't know how many people get to ever have a season like that yeah that that was for sure special that's something we're going to remember forever and something we can always look back on forever and you know just watching those games and you know 5 10 years are going to be fun and just thinking about them now it's fun and uh obviously we were really really good had a really good team you know everybody around us was also really good but yeah playing with him was special it's it's really mom's dream come true um in high school when I was a little sophomore she always wanted him to stay in the games or BL out so I could throw him a touchdown turns out head coach didn't feel like leaving in his one receiver of the game for no reason and so yeah so it was awesome it was something that like it was cool to see it it realiz seeing the work kind of become you know the gravy on top when I'm always throwing to him in training why not always throw to him in the game too PR pretty simple it it was it was very natural right in the opener you come out your first game there 529 yards and six touchdowns so you didn't you didn't waste too much time in in putting the Herd on and he was doing the receiving end of a lot of those so you know you're assuming I guarantee your parents were in the crowd at that game I can't see a world in which they wouldn't have been uh your mom got her witch pretty fast yeah she didn't that was that was a really fun game to come out like that and just click it was pretty awesome and he we him clicked right away that game and you had a had a dominant year you had 12- one but you wind up losing 55 to nothing in the championship how like I I'm not enough of an expert so I'm actually just going to ask you like what was like how does that happen when you're dominating so much was the other team that much better or was it just a tough day or a combination of those few things it's hard to know yeah so we went up to Sano up in Northern California late in the year if you ever been up there it's raining and windy and bad bad football weather this is like yeah and we don't have any accommodations junior college so it's just like go out there and play it whatever however it plays play it so headed up there like the day before the game I catch a bad case of tonsilitis I can barely speak um basically in bed all day uh then we show up for the game it's like okay this weather is not that bad and we are preparing for a rainstorm and turn out the rainstorm was 10 times worse than we thought it was going to be uh it was like wind blowing sideways 30 m hours Sub 50 degrees with all that wind it was just a it was a perfect storm for them because they were a run first team and all they did was put the ball on the ground and run it and they were used to all that stuff it's like there was just kind of a further storm for them and we had guys literally like bodies locking up because of the weather and how cold it was and we and stuff and news it was rough and so I've never experienced a weather game like that ever I don't know if any other body of sports would actually play that game other than Junior gge because it's Junior go there's nothing else to do would play so it was I that's my go-to if that game was played at a neutral site which often is Bakersfield where it's sunnier we could have it would have been a different ball game I think it would have been really fun to play that ball game but it was what it was it was a brutal bus trip back home um very humbly moment but it was just like at that point it was like all right time to move on and do better things yeah it's a bummer though you know no matter what way you put it you you bomb with your team you're playing with your brother literally um not even though you have brothers that you Bond relationships with but you have the opportunity to play with your brother and um it's just you know you want a different result but it's took an example of when things are out of your control um you just do the best you can with them there's nothing that those are circumstances that just didn't play out in your favor before you even got on the field to Major home field advantage to be used to the weather in climate and also sleep in your own bed the night before you play that game yeah lot true a lot of things it's always a good example of when people watch a product on TV or they attend a game and they can kind of see a result you don't always know all the things that were going into what happened that day and you know I think your story gies example there's a lot more at play than maybe maybe people would have known there uh what would you say two years very dominant in the junior college level uh dominant enough to be the number one quarterback in junior college what would you say your best lessons were from those two years in Jugo uh man it's it's honestly the Joo lessings is grind grind grind there there's no other way to put it anybody who goes Jo go looks for p advice or something like that I just say put your head down block out the noise and just do your thing it's easy to sit back and complain about this that and next thing it's easy for me to go you know Co Road my career I I was would be playing the NFL and F blah blah blah but instead I was like no whatever I'm just going to put my head down and grind and and that's what I learned and it was like sitting around and talking about it wasn't going to do anybody any good so it was just about getting up and going and just grinding through it and that's what made the difference at the end of the day it was just it was you know when it was me and my brother together it was because both of us decided to you know get off off our butts and just go go grind it out and go see what happens go roll the dice cuz there's going to be a spot somewhere we knew that and so we wanted to go get that spot and a lot of people I guarantee there were a lot of stories they're not going to be the ones covered on the podcast because we cover people that are in your shoes um starting games at our five level or at a D1 school are are bridging their path somewhere else where they're making a name for themselves not in the couch but all that said there were a lot of kids in California I'm sure or other places in the country that got their season cancelled would have in your case based on what we've seen in the junior college level if you played your senior year you probably would have wound up somewhere in D1 um playing football but that didn't happen because you can get the play there were a lot of people out there that probably would have that would have been the case but they decided to call today after that year when they didn't get to play and you made a different decision saying he I'm going to go to Jo I'm going to go work I'm prove myself and maybe even put myself in place for a better opportunity when all this is over and that's what happened yeah I mean there's plenty of people like you wish that didn't they just kept their head down and grinded instead they looked at all the noise and they found other things that you know turned out didn't be too good for them and it was just you know it was it was fun to see the guys flourish the guys who did and it was disappointed see some of the guys who didn't so but that's like I said it was just about the guys put their head down and just got it down at the end of the day and then you did and so we we move into uh kind of the journey to choosing BYU how did your recruiting process go you got much more interest obviously after two Jo Seasons the amount of success you had than you did when you were in high school what was that process like to ultimately wind up at BYU BYU I mean there was a few spots I could have gone but nothing was like as appealing as BYU especially for the for the atmosphere that if you come up to proo ever if anybody ever comes up to proo they'll understand it's a different type of atmosphere on game day it's different love for the guys different love for the game the first time I came up here on unofficial visit it was uh it was special and I just remember being like this would not be a bad place to place some ball uh it's a special special opportunity that I got here talk to the coachings coach A-Rod and and Coach Matt Chris fani and them and they were just so in alignment of what I saw as my myself as a football player and and them and and how they could guide me on this journey the opportunity at quarterback was also very appealing you know they got jiren Hall drafted like uh that year and so it was pretty just so many things were pointing in this direction that it was it was hard to deny it absolutely and when you saw jiren last year he played he started games for the Minnesota Vikings so when you see him on TV playing for Minnesota that had to be awfully inspirational kind of know he was in the same place as you were and there he was starting games in the NFL year after getting drafted no doubt he was uh he was a guy that like God us to talk to whenever he's in the back in the building what read R i' love to just chat it up with him and see how see what's what because you're right he was in my shoes and now he's at the top level yeah and still gonna compete out there with uh with JJ and darnold and all those guys funny enough you and jiren are gonna have something in common he's getting jiren's playing with Sam darnold that was at USC and you uh you actually played with his successor last year and kadon slovis who was a absolute baller during his freshman year at USC do was D and is's going to get an opportunity in the league now as a udfa what' you learn from him that also had to be an appealing part of the situation it was part of the plan at least what had been discussed publicly is that was their plan all along was they were going to bring Keaton in to play the one season the plan was not for you to play those last four games plan was for Keaton to come in have a ton of success you a red shirt the one year learn Big 12 Football and then start next two seasons after him how what did you learn from him because he got to play a lot of college football in a lot of really good locations and really at the highest level he was a guy that coming out of that freshman year people thought he was a first round pick locked in so a lot of excitement with him coming to BYU and he did a lot of good things while he was there yeah I mean because he' played so many games and he'd been around for so long he was just he was very professional about everything he did like it was very simply put like he did what he needed to do all the time like stuff he did when he walk into a stadium or something it's like he knew what he was there for he had he had a reason to be there he knew what it was and he didn't mess around it was uh a lot of guys especially young guys who go on the trips to stuff like that walk into a new stadium and they're like whoa you know it's little Starry Eyed you know wideeye and and he was never that way he's like I played in all these stadiums I played in the best ones and I'm here for one reason it's time to go play some ball and so that was cool that was cool to see that and a guy like him and very professional with him the way he approached everything he did and so that's something you know I took a little of that and there's there's nothing wrong with being appreciative where you are and he for sure was but he was just so professional about all his business it was it was pretty cool sounds like he was a guy that was very supportive in your development knew that he was there to help part of his job there was to help you grow as a quarterback and it sounds like he was able to do that yeah yeah and he must have been pumped for you when you got to go in and have that opportunity because it definitely had him not playing the end of the season was not his fault he got injured and that's a that's a difficult situation he was kind of starting to come on having good results and that last four games that you got to play would have been four games that would have been very important for his NFL tape so I'm sure that was a bummer but at the same token was excited to be there for you as a mentor and help guide you through everything seems to work out perfectly and if you wanted to get the perfect education into the power five football you got it on your wrap sheet you able to come right in there and uh and really get thrown head first no early season warm-up game nothing uh and kind of want to ask like how I talked about it a little bit earlier on the show but everything in your game got better from the game I was able to watch in Joo and the tape I was able to watch there to BYU and I think it's important for those who didn't ever take the time to look back at you previously because the problem I think with fans of a team is they go read your stats in J which are ridiculous they come in with an expectation level and expect that's instantly going to happen in the Big 12 that's just impossible um never happened like that from College of the pros uh just you you're at a different level but you look at your spiral looked better your release was faster you actually looked quicker every aspect of your game was improved I'm going to miss things your deep ball looked better in the first throw you even threw I believe in uh or at least one of the early throws in the game against West Virginia got the ball downfield immediate pass interference that's the type of stuff that does doesn't make it into your that shet but it was a good throw kind of describe you know what was it that happened kind of walk through the process of you getting to BYU where you make all of those large strides because you were a completely different quarterback game one at BYU than you were at Riverside in a really impressive way yeah I mean like I said it's just it was the development I was buying in so the people around me the support system was different in power five football power four football I would say now then J Jor guard is all your nutrition G from your own whatever you could make up or whatever your parents made for you whatever that was your nutrition your speed training stuff like that was from a dude who's so underqualified for speed training he's actually your line the whole time uh it's just it's a jry college was fine and learned a lot for for sure but coming here I was just able to have so so many more resources so many guys so many so available to me I mean there's a guy like John Beck who's a quarterback here now he's a prestigious you know quarterback Trader that you know anybody in the NFL goes to like you name a guy in the NFL 90% of them go to John backs train and he's a long from here and so it's easy connection down to lington beach he actually trains out of Golden West College which is where I went my firstman year car so being able to hook up with guys like that and train and get better and it was just it made everything so much easier for me to develop it's like you can do a million reps but if you don't know what you're doing you're not really getting that much better you know what I mean and so uh those guys showed me the way physically mentally talking to the coaches here coach Aaron rodick is mine for the game there's no doubt about that uh coach Matt Mitchell is another minds of the game and so be able to pick those brains and just learn from them and have them coach me and be coachable it just allowed me to grow a bunch and allowed me to be a better football player on the field it was very evident if you were to pick one thing Young quarterback listening to the show who trying to work on their game if you were to pick one thing from all those extra resour sources all the coaching that clicked really quickly that you were just like wow I hadn't heard that before that you put into your game and instantly made you a better player what would it be that's a great question something that made me instantly better I think was putting time in the film room knowing what's going to happen before it happened that's huge I mean the more you're able to anticipate Stu on the field that makes all the difference in the world I talked to irod after every season whether it's Spring ball or whether it's fall Camp whatever it is and he gives me things to improve on every time and at this time he's like dude watch the ton of film and what I did this spring is I put a cutup together that was a crap ton of place and I watched it all the time and it made me a better player cuz I watched these plays happen so when it came to my time if I saw something similar I had a good idea of what might happen it was it made it it made the game slower for me uh it made it simpler for me I'm waiting on things to happen instead of things I'm waiting on me to happen and so the anticipation level which goes up the mental part of the game is the biggest part of the game for the quarterback position you can have every athletic ability in the world throw the ball on yards if you can't throw it to the right guy it doesn't matter so I'd say just that to be able to watch film The Right Way intently have a have something in your mind to work on that's that's what put me over the top of the next level I watch my film I'd watch Co players before me I'd watch all these things and and it just made it so much easier for me to be like especially in our offense I watch Zach Wilson play I watch Jon Hall play and then I watch myself play and so I just get to compare contrast and see what see what's what make it you know easier for me when it came to actually being out there on field somewhere in between those two guys too I'm like processing them in my head actually you're like you're kind of somewhere in between you have you have some attributes that kind of match up to both different players and I was actually going to ask that question so you answered it for me it has to be helpful to watch the two of them and then even Keon do a degree guys that have had so much success in your offense that you can kind of go even take a look at and say man I can take this from them or they did this really well but what's interesting about your answer is you go all the way to the power five program you got the gorgeous facilities you've got the better nutrition you got all these you got all these tools BYU puts you in as good of a place succeed as any school in the country can and the thing that helps you the most is the mental stuff it's all that coaching it's it really the biggest difference it sounds like was someone showing you how to watch tape because just watching tape easy you can go go to YouTube we all have access to it one way or another but having someone that really knew how to like the how it sounds like was the big breakthrough and having your coaches at BYU really show you this is how you break down getting better from your film work and as you started to see that translate because it did translate I mean it's obvious that between last game at Jo first game at BYU you were a substantially better player which I just want put out there in case a BYU fan was listening and wanted to know that their their quarterback at the end of last year made enormous strides from their last start to their previous start but the film was already helping and it sounds like that was enough of a boost to you to see yourself doing as well as you did that you wanted to put even more work the second that last game ended to make sure that top of this year you were going to even leave no doubt and it's a big difference coming in to start a year knowing that like all right I'm now getting a chance to public will compete for the job it's I'm getting the chance from day one to play I'm going to be on the active roster at the opener versus your communication last year was you're sitting behind him watching a veteran quarterback and it was kind of a surprise that you weren't expecting to get put in last season at all that was not the plan they gave you no I mean they they knew that I wanted your red shirt that was the plan all the way and then you know things happened as they happened and we knew he had four games in me and so that was nice move to get those four games and then they they always you know wanted to get me in one way or another just to kind of get some experience of course that's hard to do at my position it's not like you can just throw me in there as a running back or something like that but but no the plan yeah the plan was you know allow me to red shirt uh get me whatever time is possible which you know was hard to do but also at college football level you know that number two quarterback plays a lot most building the number two quarterback is going to get meaningful snaps and that's all with college football and so that was kind of the idea is get me the meet the snaps where they come and and get me ready through the reter year for the next year and it happened to be the maximum amount of reps uh which we grateful for and you know in one way and so we could you know just learn more and more and and that's definitely helped my development to now to now it's a huge difference that you know where I was in the past where I am now I mean in one in the this offseason has been huge jumps I can make I could point out different times in my career what I make big jumps and I would say this offseason one of them so that's why I'm so upseted for this coming up here well I heard from coach sataki zero turnovers the entirety of the spring which is a huge accomplishment that was a part of your game that you were really working on and didn't turn the ball over one time it's pretty it's pretty excellent yeah it was uh definitely special I mean when the coordinator and the head coach talk about it to the media must be important so I figured it was a one time I can B myself on the back for reps that actually don't really count that much but I guess they count for sure do especially that and defensive players are out there one thing is I was I I was watching uh I watched Spring football tape and it was funny someone was saying you know you can't the team results are something you can never read into in the spring but the individual results you can read into in the spring because you got defensive backs that are out there trying to compete for their jobs they very much care about every rep they're getting against you they are at full speed at least in their brain trying to go get an interception because every guy out there is trying to get noticed um for their own careers their own livelihoods there's there's competing for BYU and there's also in this spring moment got to play before you can get tape and go to the NFL and that's what a lot of guys are thinking about so they're winning their job it doesn't matter in college football especially now you could have started every game last season and there's going to be new transfers coming in there's goingon to be new freshman coming in and if a guy is better they're going to play and that's one of the good things of the portal because coaches know if they don't play the guy that's the best player the player can kind of make their decision to go somewhere where they can can play so coaches are going to play the best players every position now and so they are going full speed at you so the fact that you didn't throw any picks it's a very excellent team I mean BYU's defense was phenomenal last year getting to watch through the entire game against Oklahoma yeah there was some scoring in that game but that offense was electric and there were a lot of key plays that they were able to get stops uh the defense showed out Oklahoma State Defense only got wore down late in the game those last two games the defense was keeping in it throughout um it was just Oly Gordon's finally at some point the best running back in college football is going to make plays and that's what happened in that game against Oklahoma but it takes nothing away from the defense that guy is just special so you had good Defenders around you all spring you didn't throw any picks um I'll at least I'll at least give you the Pat in the back there also that that's a that's a heck of an accomplishment it's very easy to throw an interception in pring spring practice person who's been to some spring practices those you're trying things you're experimenting uh By Nature that something that could happen it shows that you were making a very uh intense ful effort to not do that and it didn't stop you from throwing the ball down field which is exactly what was said in the press conference uh and then getting to go through some of the games you played uh and ask fun questions what was your welcome to power now four but Power five college football the time what was the hit you took in one of those games I guarantee there was one of them who's the guy that hit you first where you were like whoa that hurt this is real um minute there was one in West Virginia where I was running up the field and the ref gets in the way and the ref is like where I need to run but the linebacker is like to the left of room trying to put the ref in the way so I don't go and I get caught in between a decision I don't do anything and I just kind of get stood up and popped right there that was like the all right what am I doing like that was like the okay that that was uh that was an unlucky hit right there the way I mean there was a couple in Iowa State in es game where it was like there was one run out of bounds where I'm running along the sideline and one of their safties their best defensive player runs kind of runs me down almost and hits me in the hip and I go flying like a motorcycle accident it was kind of bizarre it was literally like I rolled over myself four times like I was taken out on a motorcycle or something it was that was like a dang that I got to keep killing now I got to get back up CU it was like I tried to get up and then I rolled again and then I tried to get up and then I rolled it was kind of a little bit in the off seon uh not at all not one bit on baseball player I know I had a slide and I slid a couple times last year what I tell people is I go down on my own turns and there's never a time where I'm not going down on my own turns which is how I protect myself yeah you just carried the ball 51 times in four games so um although maybe some of those might have been sacks they count those as rushing attempts but still on on the um on the stat sheet you have 51 carries last year so you were you were not afraid to take contact in those first four games and it's on tape you get hit like you weren't a person avoiding say you say you go down your own terms you were not a person avoiding contact out there uh whether it was taking hits out of bounds you were you were doing everything you could to get first downs and help your team win it was it was obvious on tape my favorite play of the tape is probably your least favorite play of the whole season but it speaks to you well the the pick six against Oklahoma you almost had that guy like you showed your wheels off it's not the play wanted to make but it was pretty impressive like running down the field there you almost got him which is uh which at least shows put the Jets on he actually tackled them but he was you're this close to getting them down um it it is this bummer of a play as that is that's exactly what you're working on it definitely demonstrated the heart you got and uh and it was just a bummer not to see you finally get him at the end of that chase over there yeah it was the we come in on Monday and one of our strength guys we wear trackers throughout the game so they could test how far we're running how fast we're running and he goes dude you get or 21 miles hour on Saturday I was like no way really he was like like yeah it happened to be on the most forgettable play of the day but you did hit 21 miles hour which is which is fast guys you know the speed in football 21 is fa I was surprised I hit 21 but uh yeah that was in the four superl people have said that to me though that you're not the first guy to be like that was my favorite play even though it's your least favorite and I just kind of shap my head like well yeah I can understand your feelings but uh hopefully I can make something better out of it well the bottom line the key takeaway for those looking at 21 miles hour is you got a quarterback with some Wheels uh that's going to eventually manifest on the other side of the ball where you'll see runs where you break through it's just I imagine one of those things where unfortunately the four defenses you had to play right out of the gates maybe didn't allow for some of the bigger run plays although there was more than the stats showed because there were some sacks that were pushing back those stats so you were actually getting loose on some quality runs out in the field but definitely getting in the end zone uh you're able to do that a little bit but uh I think that probably next season in the right matchups you'll be able to have some 7500 yard rushing type games on the field that's the quarterback that you were in J throughout you know the last season rushing for 500 and change that's what you do it's just unfortunate that the first few games you play Oklahoma's defense is Relentless so having to go against a group like that in some of your early work Iowa State's a hardn team that's something that you were you were alluding to so those were just not the greatest of matchups in the Big 12 to put up offensive stats but this year you're going to get some you're going to UCF for example in getting to play in Orlando that should be a game very conducive to your speed and to your offensive skills because they run a absolutely outrageous pace so there's definitely some teams in the Big 12 that the style of play should be very conducive for you let the Jets loose and uh and make some plays yeah for sure I'm excited to go places like that that's what the big 12 used to be known for is those fast based highflying offensive games recently it's been a little less so with the new style of defenses that are being put in and the the Iowa State Defense where it's that uh you know that you player we call it where it's a 353 defense with people all over the place and different coverages and stuff but it's definitely uh it's definitely high flying conference um in some places specifically too especially a place like UCF and a team like you know a Colorado team Who coming in now they're also a highflying type team so that'll be fun but uh I'm excited to have those games where I get put up fun numbers uh similar to those that I did to Colorado will be fastpac the new team's coming in for the most part it's hard to know what Arizona is going to run because we have a new coach there but still very likely to see a pretty good Pace with their offensive Talent ASU if it's like the offense was at Oregon it's still we don't it's hard to know what a team is when they're that early in the development process but if it's anything like it was at Oregon you'll see a good manifestation of fast-paced play there and then the other team entering is going to be the most exciting team for you guys not necessarily the highflying offense but that Utah game being a conference game this year is going to mean a little bit more than it did in the past that was the best part of all the realignment moves by a mile was Utah and BYU finally being united in the same conference putting I think the most underrated rivalry in college football by a mile on a much better stage because it really is you've lived it it's right there with the Ohio State Michigan rivalry and all the other ones in terms of intensity but I just don't feel like get the same credit you have was similar it's a huge crowd every year it's the state is literally divided in half between these two teams they love football it's a pretty excellent game that now gets to be a conference game that's going to be something special yeah it's it's the holy war is what it's called Uh November 9th it's been caled and highlighted on the schedule since the schedule came out we're excited for it it's going to be a fun fun game What's the most hostile crowd you've played in your career thus far and I wouldn't be shocked if it was at juko it was in J College uh there was wooden High School modern day very hostile crowd uh they were new in the country uh but I would say West Virginia West Virginia was the most hostile crowd I've ever played in front of those guys are they got nothing else but West Virginia football they literally have nothing there in the in the Mountaineer Land Town West Virginia I ask what the I always ask every athlete what their favorite road trip was or favorite Road destination I'm taking it morganstown West Virginia was not not top of the uh not top of the mountain I would say to the bottom of the list uh there's no doubt about that it it was at the bottom um but my favorite one that's a good question our first one to Arkansas was a lot of fun uh where else to we go last year the crazy thing about these trips is like you go to these different stadiums and stuff but it's really like for 24 hours you're out like you're like 30 hours 36 hours is always there for so you don't get to experience a lot of the time TCU I got to experience TCU a little bit Fort Worth area that was a fun trip I had some local family there and so they took you know we went around and and that that was a cool little place Texas uh that was a fun place to go we we went there we went to the field the night before uh that was really fun trip man yeah last year had some fun trips to it Arkansas was so fun because of what we did uh beating them in Arkansas it was so fun that game wasn't incredible but ARA was wild this was my first travel moment in power five football and it was very bizarre when the police escorts came running around I was just kind of bewildered I was just in shock I was like wow this is unbel what we get but yeah no I if I had to pick one that's hard I mean where we went I think one of the the TCU game was like horrible but the time there was fun I liked it in Texas it was a cool place to be yeah it's a cool TCU is cool um I can't imagine that moment just like I watched watching the tape of the Joo game you get you get the contrast of of sitting in and seeing both when you're watching them back to back back and it's crazy to watch the intensity of the players versus the lack of intensity of the crowd you're just like you have these guys where it means everything and they care so much about what they're doing everybody both sides of the games are playing their hearts out knowing that's their their opportunity to get seen for college and the tape matters and their brothers matter and everything and then the fans are just like barely there for a lot of theci in California Joo too there's like they're just like barely there it's just like like lounging out and it's just it's crazy to look at the difference between the intensity on the field and off the field and then you go into this environment your first games in Arkansas that's a little bit of a contrast sold out crowd this is everything to them there complete different B very different and the Edwards art home stadium is definitely one of the craziest places in the country probably the most underrated Stadium atmosphere in the country just cuz people don't come here enough but we'll get college game here soon I'll try to make I'll try to make my way I will I I'll work on it to to get a game in at BYU the I actually have a um I've got a uh I've got one of the I do it some investment outside of podcasting and one of our portfolio companies is founded by a BYU defensive back funny enough so uh he still lives out in the uh in the area is doing really well so it's a it's a cool he told me the same thing that it's a uh it's an outrageously cool place place to play football and he loves living there he's still he's still out there he he stayed he did the uh did the thing and still still hanging in the area um so got to got to get some good experience from from that point uh let's see I'm I'm GNA reset myself for a second and then we'll be we'll be we'll be on on track lost lost train of thought picking in there oh so we had we we covered the uh we covered best best road trips one of my favorite things to cover um what was your favorite off field moment at BYU last year kind of behind the scenes moment they experienc the team that maybe fans wouldn't have thought about but you know and you're it could be anything that you thought was a cool cool thing to get to be a part of uh I ask a good question people around BYU uh people around the church here would would say that meeting one of the Apostles which is the cor of 12 it's a big deal on in the LDS F that was a cool moment I got to meet one of those Apostles for a game other cool moments off the field man it was just the the nature of traveling is so fun to be with the guys all the time in the hotel and stuff like that so I could pick a bunch of moments that have just been so fun just to be around the guys one time before game we 8:00 start and those 8:00 starts are brutal because you're just in the hotel all day we're actually in Provo and me and a couple of the guys went on walked we just walked around proo saw what was going on like there's a an event going on down in south or yeah South Provo and we were right down there and we kind of walked near we didn't walk to it we walked near it none of us were w't any by yu- so they don't know who we are or anything and we just look like people walking around and uh it was a cool cool thing to do be able to just kind of experience the moment not in the moment just be appreciate what's going on and and then there's the the parts where like you know family and everything having family come out to the games has been so special so awesome these are you know some family members I haven't seen in a long time and they they make trips out to the football games I get to see them at West Virginia I had a bunch of family drive down from New York and Jersey area and they got to drive down that game and then spend it with me and that's just been so cool my parents being a part of it and all that stuff and my dad's still getting used to it he can't you can't fathom that I'm on the field at a level like this and so sometimes I can't either but he uh there's it goes that when he he sees the introductions the pregame introductions when I started against Oklahoma he was at that game he uh was I St in Oklahoma he he looked up at the screen and there I am 50 feet in the air and 40 feet high just my picture starting waterback Jake rof and he said he blacked out for four hours straight came back towards the end of the game but it's it's pretty awesome to see the impact that it's had been on my parents and my family around and it's so cool I mean it was after the game after the Oklahoma game I'm hugging my mom hugging my cousin and and then my dad still up in the stands just kind of like hasn't really gathered himself he had and come down it's it's a special thing that I get to do now and him as a football coach he just sees it in a different light um and it's so cool just to see that impact on the people around me and be able to be in this situation just something else to inspire them is a special thing uh because they're in the trenches and it wasn't a um you know it wasn't a straight lineup Journey coming to a point where no you have the two different jco years and to make that jump to making power five college football starts the next year against one of the most storied programs in the whole sport in Oklahoma and go toe-to-toe with them I mean you guys went toe-to-toe with ou and to have that type of experience in your first season it's just one of those things where you get to sit down and everything all that work that everyone had put in paid off which is special because it was very earned yeah and also it shows that anything is possible that no matter where you're at in your journey don't judge it because that can happen it might be the perfect path to to that moment because there's no way of knowing if you'd gotten offered out of high school to go play anywhere else in D1 if that path leads you to starting games at BYU you never know but you know that this one did and that's an incredible that's an incredible thing yeah no doubt there's no doubt so you know just a incredible full circle moment and uh you take in all that you go to the film study we head toward 2024 season now it's inching Closer by the day it's crazy um it's I'm I'm going to wake up one morning we'll be playing college football what are your goals for this year so what a vict 12 Championship that's uh that's going to put us in the cball playoff and give us a chance to be on top of the world man I think we're going to put Bo on the map this year uh nobody's given us the benefit of the doubt nobody's given us anything with all the change and all the things going on and uh it's awesome I love it I love the doubts I love the you know people have no expectations for us for me for anything around here and so I'm excited for BYU football to go out there and prove every wrong um and it's something that it's going to be our thing it's going to be go out there for every wrong and and I don't set unattainable goals I know it's a table and it's right in front of us we're so much we're a great football team here so I'm excited to Absolute team success personally the goal is to get this team the best place it could be you know what I mean I mean I could talk about you know war or something to DAV O'Brien I could talk about the Heisman and yeah sure that's awesome but that's not going to happen without our team getting on the top of world so that's the goal and uh be heck of a story though talking about personal Awards I think 247 ranked your quarterback room 16 out of 16 in the b in the uh conference so if you found yourself in the first team All Conference you would have proved a lot of people wrong and I think that it just demonstrates to me in any of those type of articles that people didn't watch the games if that was their interpretation I don't I don't I I watch the same tape I don't tend to agree with the thought process there I have to imagine some of those things are just extra motivation when you see an article like that you're like all right I I know what it's like to succeed I threw for 529 yards the first time I stepped in the field in a season few years back I don't I don't think that you have any doubts in your mind that uh that's just noise and not important at all no it's Sports Illustrated put out an article had me as the 15 out of 16 uh returning quarterbacks 15th out of 16 to be 12 and so I just literally laughed out loud at it this is going to be awesome I'm just so excited I just love that all that stuff's coming out I love it love every bit of it I'm happy that it is if it wasn't somebody would be doing something wrong uh and it's just going to make everything somewhere sweeter your name's on the list you know like years ago you would have probably never thought your name would be on the list your name's on the list and uh that's hell of a lot closer to being number one on that list than not being on the list but uh I I I think that people are going to be in for a surprise as well based on everything I've seen and everything that you're talking about today it's going to be an exciting thing I hope I get the chance to talk to you on the other side of those predictions I think those will be awesome last thing just because I think that there's no doubt you guys are in every position to defy expectations they're making it too easy for you to do so give two or three players on BYU that someone listening to this interview might not know but you know from your Vantage Point are ready to break out from a national level oh man I I can talk about our so many different position groups I can start with defense I mean the guy this guy who got hurt last year Michael Harbor is going to come back and be unbelievable first this year there's a guy named hey rotti people have heard about around here but don't know how good he is uh he's going to be one of the best running backs in hall with college football uh this guy is looks like an action figure when he takes his shirt off it's not even funny he's going to be unreal for us and he's going to turn some heads nobody's talking about that one either you go to Our receiver room you you pick name throw a name in a dart board and that guy's going to have a better year than anybody thinks I mean guy like Darius Lasser is uh is an NFL receiver a guy like Cody EPS is an NFL catch and run guy I mean this guy catch ball ball in his hand he made you look at Oklahoma tape number zero Cody EPS he made how many people miss how many people fall over on the Oklahoma secondary when he was running with the ball in his hands he looked like an Allan ion mixtape it was crazy I mean Chas Roberts is a sound receiver also I Miles Davis now running back is a speed guy who like will break out this year there's no doubt and I mean I can keep going a guy even a freshman rer Swanson just out of nowhere is going to be one of the best tight ends for our team and he's going to show out and you're going to be like that's a freshman it's going to be exciting there's just keep going out Les you everybody knows about Jacob Robinson one of our top corners he's going to make a lot of plays Jack Kelly is a guy who's going to make every play that is to be made if anybody knows about him he's a Weaver State transfer um so you haven't heard about him if you're looking only at Power five power four football that guy's is going to make some wavs this year he he's got he's the most he's the fastest linebacker I've ever seen in my life it's not like he's light and skinny he's still thick as crap and he can hit hit anybody who comes after him so that's just a few guys off the top of my head that are going to make some plays this year and I'm super excited for them to make the lock you saw some fast linebackers in your four starts between OU OSU Iowa State and West Virginia so you know that's a that's a heck of a bar for you to go and say that's the fastest Lineback I've ever seen in the tight end position you don't see a lot of players break out their freshman year that's an a that's an awful big compliment you're able to say what you saw in the spring that that's going to be something that manifest itself anybody that comes from the power outside of the power five into the power five and you experience this there's almost a dangerous chip on their shoulder heading into a spring and coming to work too because there's a level of gratitude you discussed in terms of wow the facilities the he all these things I get I'm this opportunity now to get all this help to get to the league I don't want to take any of that for granted uh so I think that you know you you have you even have a greater level of gratitude than someone else were when you come from a place that didn't have all those things and then you find yourself in that position it's just you really want to make sure you maximize it and it sounds like he's doing that and you've done that and uh you're going to have a heck of a story to watch this year you know I think if everything goes the way that you're manifesting it uh you're you're pretty close to having a movie script by the time that your your four or five years are done um because you just have this great uh you've had this great unfolding where you just have super you have these super highs and then you have something like covid happened that's out of your control and you manage to stay high during that and train with your brother and uh then you have two outrageously Good Seasons in Joo and then unfortunately have to go have your last five games be a loss where you're sick and it's raining and it's way out of your control and then four of the toughest teams in college football let alone the Big 12 that have to be on your schedules for your introduction to power five football so excited to get to watch your play this season and watch all the work you put in and have no doubt that that Early Education is going to be a beautiful thing in shaping you because you kind of gotten you've gotten the hardest out of the way there's no doubt there's no doubt thanks for coming on today it means a lot C was coming appreciate you grant