BYU QB Bear Bachmeier Must Overcome the Odds to Start in Week One

When BYU kicks off Fall camp in just over a week, all eyes will be on the BYU quarterback battle.

There will be a three-way battle between redshirt junior Treyson Bourguet, redshirt sophomore McCae Hillstead, and true freshman Bear Bachmeier.

From a numbers perspective, Bear Bachmeier will have to overcome the odds to win the starting job at BYU.

Allow us to explain.

In all of FBS college football last season, 14 freshmen played 100 or more dropbacks for Power Four schools.

Only one true freshman was a week-one starter at a Power Four school: Nebraska quarterback and former five-star prospect Dylan Raiola.

True freshmen quarterbacks rarely start at Power Four schools, especially in week one.

If they play as true freshmen, it's more common for them to take over the starting job at some point during the season.

That happened with quarterbacks like DJ Lagway (Florida), Michael Van Buren Jr.

(Mississippi State), and Demond Williams Jr.

(Washington).

Under Aaron Roderick, BYU has only played one true freshman at quarterback: Zach Wilson.

Wilson didn't take over the starting job until midway through his true freshman season.

Does that mean Bear can't win the starting job at BYU? Certainly not.

He will be given the chance to win the job if he's ready.

Bear Bachmeier's situation is especially unique because he spent part of Spring camp at Stanford.

Bachmeier will face a steep learning curve in terms of learning BYU's playbook.

If anyone can learn a playbook quickly, however, it might just be Bear Bachmeier.

Bear is a smart - he picked Stanford over a long list of competing offers and academics were a big part of that.

His older brother Tiger, a wide receiver at BYU, graduated from Stanford in 2.5 years before transferring to Provo.

He also comes from a football family and the Bachmeiers have been able to contribute early in their college careers.

His older brother Hank Bachmeier won the starting job at Boise State in 2019 as a true freshman.

He led the Broncos to a win over Florida State in his first college start.

Tiger led the Pac-12 in receiving yards as a true freshman.

The Bachmeiers know how to digest college football playbooks quickly.

Bear was a star quarterback at Murrieta Valley High School for three years.

He arrived at Stanford and was one of two quarterbacks competing for the starting job before he decided to enter the transfer portal.

Bear has all the physical tools to be a fantastic college quarterback.

He is already 230 pounds, he is dangerous with the ball in his hands, and he has the arm talent to make every throw required of him in Aaron Roderick's offense.

In high school, Bachmeier had a career TD/Int ratio (including rushing TDs) of 92/14.

In terms of ceilings, Bachmeier has the highest ceiling of the three BYU quarterbacks.

If Bear is going to play in 2025, the best opportunity to play would be right away.

The Cougars have a light non-conference schedule to open up the season.

After hosting Portland State and Stanford to kickoff the season, BYU has a bye in week three.

In week four, East Carolina will host BYU to wrap up the non-conference schedule.

It's never easy to win games in college football, but you won't find a better part of BYU's schedule to get a true freshman up to speed.

The BYU quarterback battle will be fascinating to follow when Fall camp kicks off.

All eyes will be on Bear Bachmeier, especially if he has grasped the playbook well enough to win the job.

The data suggests that Bachmeier will face an uphill battle to win the starting job in Fall camp.

However, the Jake Retzlaff situation has opened the door for Bachmeier to not only win the job, but to become the quarterback of the future in Provo..

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