BYU Quarterback: Nelson or Heaps?

BYU easily beat Idaho 42-7 on Saturday night. Riley Nelson was injured in the first half and Jake Heaps cam in and played well in his place. We were treated to some interesting post game comments from Bronco Mendenhall after the game. According to head coach, Bronco Mendenhall, he has an NFL caliber quarterback on his team. But also according to Bronco, that quarterback is not good enough to start. Here’s what he had to say:

“We have two excellent quarterbacks, and as I’ve said many, many times, I think Jake is an NFL quarterback.”

When asked if Jake Heaps would become the starter again after he filled in Saturday night for the injured Riley Nelson, Bronco responded, “My opinion has not changed,” meaning Nelson will remain the starter as long as he is healthy.

So………what’s going on here then. It’s well known that Bronco Mendenhall has always loved the play of Riley Nelson. Many have indicated that Bronco feels he owes Nelson something. He’s indebted to him for transferring after his mission and wants to reward him for his hard work and handling all the negative pub that came from the angry people in Logan.

More from Bronco on the QB situation –

“Jake came in and I think managed the game well………..He threw the ball well, made a lot of good decisions, and got in a lot of quality work.”

The kid was 15-20 for 185 yards and two TD’s in just over one half of football. Heaps did throw an interception. My point is – Heaps played really well and all Bronco can say is “I think he managed the game well.”

Somebody needs to remind Bronco this isn’t little league. No longer is it okay to play your son or the neighbor kid you love over the kid who’s 6’1″ already at age 13 and an absolute freak talent.  The idea is to win, not reward “hard work.”

That said, there is definitely something to Nelson’s leadership. The guys on the team do respond to him better. He is a tougher player than Heaps. However, you could feed me that same line of garbage about Tim Tebow of the Denver Broncos. The guy completed two passes yesterday and won the game against the mediocre Chiefs. Tebow is a winner and a gamer, but he’s not an NFL quarterback. I’m pretty sure if the Broncos had a rocket arm on their roster, that fella would be starting over Tebow and opposing defensive coordinators would have to actually game plan against a passing attack.

That’s why what Bronco Mendenhall said is so baffling. Of his own admission, he has a NFL talent on his roster and is choosing not to play him. So either Bronco is simply placating Heaps and trying to prevent him from transferring at year’s end or he really does think Heaps is an NFL talent and is deliberately choosing not to play him.

So if Riley gets healthy this weekend, go ahead and roll him out for your next scrimmage, or play him against Hawaii and your bowl opponent. He will certainly perform well, run some guys over and likely lead the team to victory. All the while, you will be wasting the one guy who has the talent to actually develop into someone who can go on the road next year and beat real teams like Boise State, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame and Utah.

As I’ve said all along, anyone could have quarterbacked BYU in the second half of the season and the Cougars still would have won against all these sub-par opponents. Why not let Heaps and Nelson battle it out now to see who gets the nod next year. All the while, determining which one can really make the big time throws.

It was the right call to replace Heaps in the Utah State game with Riley Nelson. Nelson really was a spark plug and he lifted the team. It’s tough to argue with that. However, those same teammates and coaches that believe Nelson is a gamer and a winner, will likely bemoan the fact that Nelson is unable to spread the field and challenge legitimate division 1 defenses next year if he remains the starter.