BYU Quarterbacks History in the NFL will only get better

BYU quarterbacks history is long in the NFL and it will only get longer. The Cougars have produced several talented quarterbacks and their careers after BYU only proved that. Whether they won a super bowl or not or they ended up in the hall of fame they all had careers that helped put BYU on the pro map. This BYU quarterbacks history is strong. I explain in the next paragraph what I will talk about and then give some of my thoughts on each quarterback.

Virgil Carter 1963-1976

Carter played for BYU from 1963-1966

• Set 6 NCAA records, 19 WAC records, and 24 BYU records
• Received the Dale Rex Memorial Award in 1967
• All-American honorable mention
• Led the NCAA in TD passes and total offense and set an NCAA record for 599 yards total offense against UTEP
• Finished 11th in the 1966 Heisman Trophy balloting

Carter played for the Bears, Bengals, and Chicago Fire before retiring in 1976

• Was captain of the Bengal team
• In 1971 he led the NFL in pass completion percentage and was third in overall passing statistics
• Named Most Valuable Player in 1968, 1971, and 1974
• received the Man of the Year Award in Sacramento, California in 1971 for his contribution to athletics
• Inducted into the BYU Hall of Fame in 1977

Gary Sheide

Played for BYU in 1973 and 1974

Drafter by the Bengals but never played a game

• Inducted into the BYU Hall of Fame, in 2011

Gifford Nielson

Played from 1973-1977

• Led the Cougars to a 28-14 homecoming victory over the Air Force Academy in his first start as quarterback
• Led the nation in three passing categories, broke thirteen school records, and set thirteen WAC records
• Came in sixth nationally in the voting for the Heisman Trophy his junior year
• Named by the NCAA as a member of the College Athletics’ Top Five in 1978

Nielson played for the Oilers from 1978-1983

• Inducted into the BYU Hall of Fame in 1987

Marc Wilson

Wilson played for the Cougars from 1975-1979

• First-team All-American by the American Football Coaches Association (Kodak), the Football Writers Association of America, United Press International, Association Press, Walter Camp Football Foundation, and Churchmen’s Hall of Fame 1979
• All-Western Athletic Conference First Team, Downtown Athletic Club of New York Player of the Year, NCAA Top Five Award, Juhan Trophy Winner (Churchmen’s Hall of Fame) 1979
• Third in the Heisman voting in 1979
• WAC Offensive Player of the Year 1979
• Was selected to the Churchmen’s All-America squad for 1978
• Set four WAC records overall during the season of 1977
• Led WAC in passing and total offense in 1977
• Selected WAC Back of the Year 1977

Played for the Raiders and the Patriots before retiring in 1990

Jim McMahon

Played for the Cougars from 1977-1981

• Broke 75 NCAA Records (37 on total offense and 38 in passing)
• career pass efficiency rating of 156.9 in 44 games
• broke 23 school records and set 29 WAC records
• missed only three games (USU and UNLV in 1981 and Hawai`i in 1978)
• presented the Dale Rex Award in 1982 by BYU

McMahon played for the Bears, Chargers, Eagles, Vikings, Cardinals, and Packers before retiring in 1996

Steve Young

Young played for the Cougars from 1980-1983

• First-team All-America by Coaches (Kodak), Football Writers (Mercedes Benz), Associated Press, United Press, Walter Camp, Football News, Gannett News, and ESPN 1983
• First team All-Western Athletic Conference and WAC Player of the Year 1983
• Football Foundation Hall of Fame Scholarship Winner ($3,000) Scholar-Athlete 1983
• Was runner-up in the Heisman Trophy balloting his senior year
• First team All-WAC and WAC Offensive Player of the Year 1982
• Honorable mention All-America by Associated Press 1982
• Set an NCAA record for most consecutive passes completed in a season: 22 (8 vs. Utah State and 14 vs. Wyoming) 1982
• Selected as the outstanding freshman in 1980
• Set seven Western Athletic Conference records and broke 13 NCAA records during his career

Played for the Buccaneers, and 49ers before retiring in 1999

Robbie Bosco

Played for the Cougars from 1981-1985

• WAC Offensive Player of the Week 10/13/84, 10/20/84, 10/7/85
• Holiday Bowl Offensive MVP 1984
• Led Nation in Total Offense in 1984
• Led WAC in Passing in 1984
• Second-team UPI All-American 1984
• Third-team AP All-American 1984
• First-team All-WAC 1984
• WAC Offensive Player of the Year 1984
• Third in Heisman Trophy balloting 1984, 1985
• Honorable mention AP 1985
• UPI All-American 1985
• Second-team All-WAC 1985
• Third-round NFL draft pick

Played in the NFL for the Packers before retiring in 1988

• Became the quarterback coach at BYU from 1990-03
• Inducted into the BYU Hall of Fame in 1995
• Currently the Director of the Varsity Club in the BYU athletic department

Ty Detmer

Detmer played for BYU from 1987-1991

• 1990 Heisman Trophy winner (finished ninth in voting in 1989 and third in 1991)
• Two-time Davey O’Brien Award winner (’90,’91)
• Broke 59 NCAA records and tied three others
• Third in NCAA with 15,031 career passing yards
• Had 14,665 career yards in total offense
• The Cougars were invited to four bowl games with him and compiled a record of 37-13-2 during the Detmer years, including a 28-21 victory over top-ranked Miami(Florida) on September 8, 1990, in Provo, one of the biggest wins in BYU history
• During the nationally-televised victory over the Hurricanes, Detmer threw for 406 yards and earned National Player-of-the-Week honors

Played for the Packers, Eagles, 49ers, Browns, and Lions and retired in 2003

• Was the top backup behind All-Pro quarterback Brett Favre
• Finished the 1996 season with 2,911 yards passing and 15 touchdowns
• His quarterback rating was 80.8, fourth best in the NFC that season (1996)
• Finished the season with 548 yards passing
• Inducted into the BYU Hall of Fame in 2000
• Was BYU’s offensive coordinator from 2016-17

John Walsh

Played for BYU from 1991-1994

• Passed for 9,233 yards and 73 touchdowns, including bowl games, over his four years at BYU, which included two full seasons as the starter
• Set BYU record with 619 passing yards in a single game (at Utah State in 1993)
• Threw for 300 or more yards in 19 games and surpassed 400 yards five times
• Finished BYU career with 8,390 regular-season yards (excluding bowl games per NCAA statistics), which ranked fourth in school history
• Completed career with 66 regular-season touchdown passes (excluding bowl games per NCAA statistics), which tied for No. 5 in Western Athletic Conference history with BYU’s Robbie Bosco
• Achieved a 147.6 career pass efficiency rating, which ranked No. 6 in NCAA history

Walsh was drafted by the Bengals but never played a down

• Declared after his junior season for the 1995 NFL Draft and was selected in the seventh round by the Cincinnati Bengals

Brandon Doman

Doman played from 1998-2001

He played for the 49ers before retiring in 2003

John Beck

Played for BYU from 2003-2006

• second all-time leading passer with 11,021 yards. He also finished second behind Ty Detmer in total offense with 11,059 yards.
• Beck totaled 17 different 300-yard games, ranking tied for second with Jim McMahon and John Walsh for most career 300-yard games.
• He played in 43 games during his career, ranking second behind Detmer (46 games), and totaled 79 career touchdown completions, ranking third behind Detmer (121) and McMahon (84).
• Beck totaled a career efficiency rating of 141.29 – the ninth-highest career efficiency rating in BYU history.
• He became the Mountain West Conference career record holder in total offense (11,059), passing attempts (1,418), completions (885), passing yards (11,021), and touchdown completions (79).
• Beck was the MWC Offensive Player of the Year and ranks second on the conference career list with a completion percentage of 62.4. He was also recognized by ESPN’s SportsCenter with the top play of the day for a game-winning touchdown pass to Jonny Harline against Utah.

Beck played for the Dolphins and the Commanders before retiring in 2012

Max Hall

Hall played from 2006-2009

• Hall became BYU’s winningest quarterback of all time after leading the Cougars to a 32-7 record.
• As a three-year starter and letterman, he played in all 39 career games and tallied over 11,000 passing yards.
• He was the nation’s top-ranked sophomore quarterback in 2007 while matching the Mountain West Conference record for the fastest ascent to 3,000 yards in a single season. As a senior,
• Hall was fourth in the nation in pass efficiency and eighth in completion percentage.
• He holds both the MWC and BYU record for seven passing touchdowns in a game and leads the conference with 20 career 300-yard passing games.
• As a cougar Hall was named to several award watch lists and garnered both all-American and all-conference accolades. See the season summary tabs below and the recognition and stats tabs for more details.

Hall played one year for the Cardinals in 2010

Taysom Hill

Hill played from 2012-2016

• Played in 37 career games, starting in 33
• BYU’s career leader in QB rushing yards and No. 5yardsrall in the rushing yard with 2,815
• Had 23 wins as a starting quarterback
• Accounted for 75 career touchdowns to rank No. 5 at BYU
• No. 4 at BYU in career total offense behind, Ty Detmer, Max Hall, and John Beck
• Averaged 263.4 yards of total offense in his career
• Earned an $18,000 post-graduate scholarship as an NFF Scholar-Athlete
• Named a William V. Campbell Trophy Finalist and NFF Scholar-Athlete 2014, and 2015 Heisman Trophy Candidate
• Two-time Davey O’Brien and Walter Camp Award watch list honoree
• Had nine career 100-yard rushing games

Hill was picked up by the Packers and was then placed on waivers where he was put on the Saints roster in 2017. Hill has played QB, RB, TE, WR, PR, and more positions for the Saints.

Zach Wilson

Played from 2018-2020

• Wilson played in 30 career games for BYU with 28 starts.
• The youngest freshman quarterback to ever start for the Cougars,
• Wilson finished his career going 566-837 for 7,652 yards passing yards with 56 touchdowns at a 162.91 efficiency rating.
• The athletic quarterback added 212 rushing attempts to his career stat line for 642 yards and 15 touchdowns.
• Wilson was one of the nation’s most productive quarterbacks during the 2020 season.
• No. 2 nationally in points responsible for (264), passing efficiency (196.4), and completion percentage (73.5)
• No. 3 in passing yards (3,692), passing touchdowns (33), yards per pass attempt (10.99), and points responsible for per game (22.0)
• No. 4 in rushing touchdowns by a quarterback (10); No. 5 in passing yards per completion (14.95)
• No. 8 in total offense (328.8)
• No. 10 in passing yards per game (307.7).
• In 2020 he earned
• Pro Football Focus All-America Second Team
• Phil Steele All-America honorable mention
• Co-Polynesian College Player of the Year
• No. 8 in the Heisman Trophy voting.
• A team captain in 2020
• Wilson was a Manning Award Finalist, Walter Camp Player of the Year Semifinalist, Maxwell Award Semifinalist, and Davey O’Brien Semifinalist.

Wilson was Drafted Number 2 overall in the 2020 draft by the Jets and is still with them playing quarterback.

Jaren Hall

Play from 2018-2022

• Finished the season 189 of 296 (64%) for 2,583 yards, 20 touchdowns to only five interceptions with an efficiency rating of 156.1.
• BYU’s second-leading rusher with 62 carries for 307 net yards and three touchdowns, averaging five yards per carry.
• Phil Steele All-Independent First Team
• Pro Football Network Independent Quarterback of the Year
• Pro Football Network First Team All-Independent Offense
• Received Davey O’Brien Award’s Great 8 recognition for performance versus Utah.
• Named College Sports Madness Independent Offensive Player of the Week for his performance at Baylor – 22 of 31 for 342 yards passing and 25 yards rushing
• Named one of the Manning Award Stars of the Week for 377-yard, three-touchdown performance in a 31-28 win at Boise State on Nov. 5.
• Named KIA Player of the Month for September by the College Football Hall of Fame on Oct. 3.
• Named to the Top 25 Watch List for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award on Oct. 3.
• Became the first BYU quarterback to both throw and receive a touchdown pass in the same game with a 20-yard scoring strike to Chase Roberts and a 22-yard receiving touchdown from Roberts versus Baylor.

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