Former Boise QB Cade Fennegan enjoying restart at dream school BYU

PROVO — Before the truncated campaign of the 2020 season, BYU football had never experienced a win on the blue turf at Boise State, a seldom-viewed but now constant rivalry game over the past decade.

Things changed when the Cougars, led by Zach Wilson and Tyler Allgeier, went up to the Treasure Valley after the Mountain West hastily rescheduled its near-conference exclusive season during the COVID-19 pandemic and allowed two teams to play BYU. The Broncos were one of them.

And in a game that featured three quarterbacks for the home side at Albertsons Stadium, the Cougars made history with a 51-17 win on the blue turf. Two years later, players still point to that victory as a key moment in the program's decade of FBS independence, a year before joining the Big 12 in most sports.

Every player, that is, except for one.

Third-string quarterback Cade Fennegan was in Boise that night, but in a different role. When Broncos quarterbacks Hank Bachmeier (COVID-19 protocols) and Jack Sears (head injury) were both sidelined against the Cougars, the recently returned missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was called into action.

Fennegan hadn't taken a single snap in practice the week before, but found himself playing one of the most important games of the season against the team he grew up rooting on as a child in Dallas, Texas.

"Here I was getting thrown in, having returned from my mission only a few months ago; it was an interesting feeling. I hadn't played football in a live snap in years," said Fennegan, who threw for 182 yards, two touchdowns. "There were definitely some nerves, but I also realized that I didn't really know the offense. I was supposed to be redshirting and sixth-string quarterback, and then I had this opportunity to make some plays.

"BYU was rolling that year; it was a really good team," he added. "And by the end of the game, I was catching the ball and just running without a chance to set and throw. But I'm also grateful for it."

Fast forward two years and Fennegan will once again prepare for the BYU-Boise State rivalry game — the last scheduled meeting between the two sides — but wearing a different shade of blue Saturday (5 p.m. MDT, FS2).

Two years since taking a harsh loss, Fennegan is ready to see his old team again — albeit, one that has moved on, with a new head coach in Andy Avalos, a new starting quarterback in Taylen Green, and a new offensive coordinator (twice over) in interim Dirk Koetter.

But time — and the benefit of a redshirt season in 2021, when Fennegan ran the Cougars' scout team — has a unique ability to heal wounds.

"It was hard for him to deal with that," Garth Fennegan told BYUtv of his son's first significant reps against his alma mater. "I think it put him in a dark place, a bit.

"Football is a game, and you want your kid to enjoy the journey, but he wasn't enjoying the journey (back then)."

Much like in the 2020 season, Fennegan doesn't plan on playing in this weekend's game, either. He sprained an ankle in practice during the week but will make the trip in a boot, where he'll signal in plays and help starting quarterback Jaren Hall and backup Jacob Conover any way he can.

In a lot of ways, that's been his role since transferring to the university where his dad played defensive back from 1990-93 and his mom, Amy, also studied. One moment he ran the scout team, and then at one point during the season while Hall struggled through a shoulder issue, he took reps with the ones and twos to keep things moving.

Either way, Fennegan attacks his role with the team in the same way he did the lead role in his high school's production of "The Music Man," where he busted out "76 Trombones" while his best friend, Jack, played his right-hand man.

"I always like to think that I am ready for whatever," said Fennegan, a redshirt freshman communications major and theater arts minor. "If they need me to run the scout team, I'm there. If they need me to step in for some reps with the ones and twos, then I'm there. That's just what happens when you fall right in the middle.

"And I think I bring a fun energy, too."

Whatever his role is, as soon as Fennegan hit the transfer portal when Bryan Harsin left Boise to take the head coaching job at Auburn, BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick reached out.

Sure, watching the 6-foot-2, 190-pound signal caller up close helped frame his opinion, but Roderick had also recruited Fennegan in high school, when the former North Texas commit considered mostly New Mexico State, Abilene Christian and Southern Miss.

A second look via the transfer portal and Roderick was convinced that Fennegan could help a crowded quarterback room that — at the time — also included Wilson, Hall, Conover, Baylor Romney and current backups Sol-Jay Maiava-Peters and Nick Billoups.

"In that game, I thought he competed really hard," Roderick said. "He came into the game in a tough circumstance as the third quarterback, so he didn't get any reps before during the week.

"But we like that he competed hard and showed some good athleticism."

Fennegan couldn't have been more excited when the coaches reached out, either. Prior to enrolling at Boise State, he had already applied and been accepted to classes at BYU as a student. If he wasn't going to play football, Provo was where he wanted to be.

Now he got the chance to do both at his dream school.

"We definitely bleed Cougar blue," Fennegan said. "I was definitely excited when they reached out, and it was one of those things that I never expected to happen but was super grateful to have been given the opportunity."

Fennegan is also eager to return to Boise this weekend, where the Cougars (4-5) are 7.5-point underdogs to the surging Broncos (6-2) who have Mountain West title dreams. Even if he won't play, the Dallas native made a lot of memories on that blue turf and still holds a lot of cherished memories from his brief time in another shade of blue.

"It will be fun," Fennegan said. "I still have a lot of good friends on the team. I loved my time there, spending a year in the town. The people are great, and I'm excited to go back, obviously wearing a different shade of blue, but the city holds a dear place in my heart."

Related topics