BYU Football certainly wasn’t looking for any headlines or attention this Spring Football season as the Cougars have wrapped up their spring football training and practices. Throughout the entire process, coaches, players, and other personnel were very careful with the statements that they shared. The team also didn’t release much footage or allow reporters to see much during the open sessions of practice.
Despite the very little that media personnel and fans could see or hear, we still got some storylines and takeaways. Below are just three of them.
Jake Retzlaff is Improving
There weren’t many comments about the quarterbacks during spring football, but one thing is clear: Jake Retzlaff is improving and being pushed by Gerry Bohanon. Last year, there was a lot of debate about who would be Kedon Slovis’ backup, and even into Fall Camp, there wasn’t a lot of clarity on who that would be. Following an injury and lackluster play by Slovis late in the season, Retzlaff was handed the keys to the offense and showed promise; however, they never led the Cougars to a win.
After the season, the Cougars hit the transfer portal and recruited former Baylor and South Florida quarterback Gerry Bohanon. The early assumptions were that Bohanon was brought in to be the starter, but after Spring practices, Coach Kalani Sitake and Aaron Roderick said it was still a two-man race and that the two had separated themselves from the rest of the field.
Additionally, Coach Roderick mentioned that Retzlaff didn’t throw a single interception all spring during live contact drills and scrimmages.
Culture Change on the Offensive Line
Last season, the biggest complaint among fans was the offensive line’s play. All offseason leading up to the 2023 season, everyone assumed that the offensive line would be one of the best in the nation. Instead, the team struggled to run block, and BYU ended up being one of the worst rushing teams in the nation. Additionally, the pass protection was average at best.
Following the season, TJ Woods was hired to coach the offensive line. In a video released by BYU Football, it is clear that Woods demands precision and more effort, something that the Cougars lacked throughout the 2023 season, particularly once some starters started to go down with injuries.
MIC'D UP with TJ Woods pic.twitter.com/5jGT3gB2QW
— BYU FOOTBALL (@BYUfootball) March 22, 2024
BYU is Locked In, Focused
As mentioned at the start of the article, BYU had a very quiet spring football session. When compared to last year, it couldn’t have been further from how things were last year. With the new reality of entering the Big 12, coming off five straight winning seasons, and having a promising QB transfer in Kedon Slovis, the Cougars were not quiet at all about their excitement.
The novelty of being in the Big 12 hasn’t worn off yet, but the reality of how difficult it is to win games in a P4 league certainly has. There were fewer ‘fun’ social media posts, fewer highlight videos put out by the team, less joking in the interviews, and no Spring Scrimmage that was open to the public (I know they have an excuse, but they could have made it work if they wanted to).
In other words, BYU is locked in this spring and is not letting any outside noise or distractions get in the way. Whether that will pay off or not won’t be evident until perhaps week two of the season when BYU takes on SMU.
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