BYU Football: Bronco Has a Talent Retention and Development Problem

You might have seen recently that BYU running back Josh “Juice” Quezada has decided to transfer.

BYU running back Josh Quezada will transfer

Quezada had a solid freshman year and then was plagued by injuries last year. The other thing that plagued him was Bronco Mendenhall deciding to use a converted linebacker as his feature running back – Mike Alisa. Alisa had nice season but it should be noted that most of his yards were racked up against the weak schedule the cougars played in the second half of the season. His emergence reduced Quezada’s carries further and further.

Not that Quezada was an All American but he was a highly touted high school prospect from Orange County, CA. Quezada sadly lost his brother in an auto accident back home. There was some speculation that perhaps Quezada would rather be closer to home. However, by all accounts he was happy at BYU and committed to the program. Things obviously did not go as expected on the field though.

Mendenhall has now lost both Jake Heaps and Josh Quezada in the same off-season. Instead of the #1 high school QB recruit-Heaps, back-up Riley Nelson has become the darling at BYU. And though not as highly touted, Quezada lost his running back spot to Alisa, a guy that wasn’t even considered an offensive player before the 2011 season started. I don’t mean to say that Alisa and Nelson won’t have good years. I just wonder why the elite talent isn’t being developed or even kept in the program.

To drive the point home further – who would you say is the go-to receiver for BYU right now?

The answer is Cody Hoffman. The Junior-to-be has amazing talent and should continue to excel for the Cougars.

Anyone remember this name though – Ross Apo?

He was injured his freshman year and then came out and had a nice season last year. However, he was second fiddle to Hoffman. What’s interesting about this is Apo’s pedigree. He was a highly sought after recruit out of Texas. In fact he was committed to Texas and then Jake Heaps was able to talk him into coming to BYU instead. The guy was a legit, big time high school recruit and BYU got him, frankly stole him from Texas. Contrast that with the fact that Cody Hoffman was recruited by one school other than BYU – Sacramento State!

Not only are these top recruits not developing into stars, some of them aren’t even making it on to the field. Even more alarming, the head coach seems fine in some instances with them walking out the door to play elsewhere.

With 85 scholarship players on a team, a head coach will always endure some defections, injuries, bad attitudes, etc.  However, we’re starting to see a trend emerge at BYU that will certainly make it more challenging to attract big time recruits in the future.