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PROVO — One year removed from bringing in two transfer quarterbacks, BYU is again looking to bolster football's most important position.
Following Jaren Hall's early departure to the NFL, the Cougars were left with little experience at quarterback and were forced to hit the transfer portal. They plucked Kedon Slovis from Pittsburgh and Jake Retzlaff out of a Southern California junior college.
Unfortunately for BYU, an assertion that is not totally fair, neither played well enough to help offset the program's first losing season since 2017. The team has plenty of holes to fill, but, as usual, all eyes are on quarterback going into the offseason.
Slovis was a one-and-done player, meaning he had only one season of eligibility left after starting his career at USC and then moving on to Pittsburgh last season before transferring to BYU. He was 5-3 as a starter before injuries sidelined him the last four games.
The more mobile Retzlaff showed a bit of promise, but reckless turnovers played a large part in going 0-4 as the starter. The good news is adjusted NCAA rules allowed Retzlaff to retain eligibility and still have two years remaining.
Retzlaff has the most experience of the remaining quarterbacks but did not solidify the starting position going into spring practice. Given his uneven performance, BYU could elect to sign another one-and-done quarterback.
Herein lies the dilemma: Coming off a 5-7 season that included multiple blowout losses, coach Kalani Sitake and his assistants can't afford to wait for an existing quarterback to develop. But another new quarterback won't have much time to form relationships with his teammates on offense.
Decisions, decisions.
"Is (Retzlaff) the guy who is going to lead you to compete for a conference championship?" former BYU quarterback Riley Nelson said during an interview on The Zone. "Just looking at the skill set, probably unlikely unless he is utterly surrounded by dudes. So, for that reason, I would hope my evaluation is not that far off from that of the coaches in the program, so they're probably going to go and foster some competition and hopefully come up with up someone better to beat him out."
With the transfer portal officially open this week, dozens of quarterbacks immediately announced their intentions to seek a new program. Again, like last season, BYU could have next year's starter in the portal.
But starting over again with a new quarterback, given the immediate pressure to rectify last season's losing record, may not be the best solution. Dating back 40 years, history has shown BYU might be better served bringing along a quarterback already in the program.
Taking a cue from Austin Collie, the best receiver in BYU history: Relationships matter. The former Indianapolis Colts receiver points to his tenure at BYU, during which the program had incredible success under coach Bronco Mendenhall.
Collie and tight end Dennis Pitta forged strong connections with quarterback Max Hall, helping lead BYU to multiple conference championships. With a strong continuity in the program, BYU won 43 games over a four-year period beginning in 2006.
"That relationship between the receiver and the quarterback, that is a marriage that needs to be nourished and there is kind of like a sixth sense of thing," Collie said during an interview on The Zone. "The more you hang out, the more you start to read each other's minds, read each other's body language out on the field and can anticipate where each other is going to be."
Collie said the receivers spent significant time after practice and during the offseason working with the quarterbacks. He noted staying in the cycle of transfer quarterbacks could hinder the time it takes to make the necessary connections that includes getting together off the field, something he learned from Colts legend Peyton Manning.
"That off-the-field relationship is absolutely critical," he said. "That is the one downside that I don't think a lot of people anticipate with the transfer portal."
