The End Zone

As the college football season gets closer, speculation around who will start for at quarterback for the BYU Cougars continues to swirl.

According to Jeff Call’s story today in the Desert News, four players including Skyline graduate Jake Heaps, junior Riley Nelson, sophomore James Lark and redshirt freshman Jason Munns are all in the hunt for the job when fall camp opens Aug. 7.

Call quotes head coach Bronco Mendenhall as saying he’d like to have the decision reached by the end of camp, but it could take even longer.

“It might be all the way up to game week, it might be after week two. I’d love to have a starter named before the season, but I won’t be held to that if it’s not clear yet. It might take a couple of games into the year. I’m going to leave every option open I can and name one as soon as there becomes a clear starter. I’d rather wait a week too long than name one a week too early to make sure there’s been enough time and reps to show who really is the starter. … In this particular case, for this team, it would be wise to wait too long than too short to make sure it’s the right player with the team support.”

Call also quotes Mendenhall specifically on Heaps and his potential to come out the starter.

“I haven’t treated him any different than anyone else. Every freshman struggles going through the (offseason) workouts. It’s not specific to him. He’s a freshman. All freshman go through it. He’ll be treated exactly like (a freshman), and he’ll earn any role that he gets through his behavior on and off the field.”

Offensive lineman Matt Reynolds told Call something a little more revealing, hinting Heaps might have the upper hand.

Jake’s a great kid, a great player. He’s starting to earn the respect of his teammates and his coaches, which is something that you’re going to need if you want to succeed as a freshman in any program — especially at BYU, with the tradition being as it is for quarterbacks. Guys are realizing that he has a shot at this.”

Salt Lake Tribune sports writer and blogger, Jay Drew, revealed that Riley Nelson sits ahead of Heaps on the latest depth chart in BYU’s media guide.