BYU Spin on Jake Heaps Transfer

With the exception of a few die hard, head in the sand, true blue Cougars – or relatives of Riley Nelson – most folks along the Wasatch Front realize what a mistake it was to allow Jake Heaps to get away. His decision to transfer from BYU means so much more than just losing your back-up quarterback. It signifies what a small time program BYU is right now. Make no mistake, this makes BYU look bad.

Head Coach, Bronco Mendenhall and Offensive Coordinator, Brandon Doman both spoke yesterday about Heaps’s decision to leave Provo. I’ve included links to both the Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News that include the Q&A session with the media.

BYU football: Cougars say they wanted quarterback Jake Heaps to stay – Jay Drew, Salt Lake Tribune

BYU coaches wanted Jake Heaps to come back – Jeff Call, Deseret News

I thought I might help with translation just a bit since a lot of their answers are in the foreign language of “coach speak.”

When Doman was asked if there had been any type of blow-up or falling out between the two, this was his response:

“As far as a falling out or a disconnect, I have heard that several times, and, I mean, I don’t know, maybe for him there was some frustration on his end….. But gosh, I never experienced any disgruntled feelings, or falling out. I have heard lack of communication, or [that] him and I weren’t talking. Heavens no. That wasn’t the case.”

Translated: Of course there was a falling out! The kid had a big head and wanted it his way. Rather than find a way to temper his ego and use his talents to win football games, we decided to teach him a thing or two and bench him.

Also, when a coach says “I have heard” – that’s like confronting your teenage son about underage drinking and all he’ll cop to is: “I’ve heard” some of the guys from around the neighborhood took a sip of beer the other night. All the while, your outside garbage can is full of bottles and there are cigarette butts all over the backyard.

Then, we get this gem once again from Mendenhall:

“I would much rather have had Jake stay. I wanted him to stay. I love him as a young man and he has such great football skill. I’ve said many times that I believe he is an NFL quarterback. I thought he would have done a great job leading our football program here. I was hopeful that the hard, valuable lessons of watching another quarterback while biding your time through a redshirt year next year would have been what he chose. But I agreed to help him. That’s what I’ve continued to do through the transfer process. I wish he would have chosen to be here.”

The translation on this one is a link back to a post I did a month or so ago:  BYU Quarterback: Nelson or Heaps?

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.”