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SALT LAKE CITY — BYU football fans will never forget the press conference that will go down in infamy.
Inside a Salt Lake City restaurant, highly recruited quarterback Jake Heaps thanked his public relations director before announcing his decision to lead the Cougars to a national championship.
Four years removed from that June 4, 2009 press conference — now knowing that Heaps bombed as a BYU quarterback — it seems rather silly that anybody showed up at that restaurant for anything other than to eat a meal. But a new day has arrived, as Heaps is two months away from starting at quarterback for Kansas.
In a football sense, you might say Heaps is a born-again football player.
“He’s doing phenomenally well,” said reporter Matt Tait, who covers KU football for the Lawrence Journal-World.
Good for him. Heaps was a likable kid during his time at BYU, always polite and accommodating during media interviews. Even in down times, which were many, he never seemed to cop an attitude.
But whatever the reason, Heaps didn’t click with his teammates. After a promising freshman season, which may have come against weak competition, the former top high school quarterback washed out as a sophomore.
Unwilling to stay and possibly redshirt at BYU, Heaps bolted to Kansas. After NCAA rules forced him to redshirt last season, he quickly became the starting quarterback for coach Charlie Weis.
“He’s the man to beat out,” Weis told The Kansas City Star. “I put him first for a reason.
“What we don’t want to do is put any unnecessary pressure on him as ‘the savior,’ but at the same time, the expectation I put on Jake won’t exceed the expectations he puts on himself.”
Even before his senior season of high school in Washington state, Heaps had no problem putting gigantic expectations on himself for college. At his infamous press conference, he openly talked of leading BYU to the promised land.
But as much as he may have tried, Heaps never became one of the guys at BYU. Some of his teammates viewed him as above the program.
It doesn’t sound like he’s making the same mistake twice.
“The Jake Heaps that I dealt with is one of the most humble, down-to-earth guys I’ve ever met and certainly I’ve covered,” Tait said during a radio interview on "DJ and PK in the Morning" on 97.5-FM and 1280-AM.
“When the offseason hit — I’m talking day one of their final game of last season — he just elevated himself and emerged as the unquestioned leader, and it’s just really escalated since then. This guy is definitely the leader of this team.”
The reporter was shocked to learn that Heaps had trouble fitting in at BYU. He’s seen nothing of the sort during Heaps 18 months in Lawrence, Kan.
Tait also hasn’t heard any mention of the NFL, saying Heaps deflects any questions beyond helping Kansas win games.
“He’s here to help this team get better,” Tait said. “I think he grew up. I think he became a much more humble person. I think he understands in order to get there he’s got to show it first.”
For the Jayhawks, who last captured an outright conference championship in 1930, winning is a relative term. Last season, the first for Weis, Kansas went 1-11. His predecessor, Turner Gill, was 5-19 in two seasons.
For obvious reasons, Kansas’ last recruiting class included 19 junior college transfers. With little tradition, Heaps has a chance to “be a cult hero around here before too long,” Tait said.
“He looks very poised. He just looks like he was born to be back there. I know that’s kind of cheesy, but I think that’s really the way he carries himself. His demeanor is fantastic.”
And maybe now all the hype for Heaps will come to pass.
