Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
PROVO — In simple terms, as noted by a leading authority, BYU’s success in football is predicated on solid play from the quarterback.
Without it, as two of the last three years have proven, the season ends with a sense of bitter disappointment. But with a great quarterback making plays, the Cougars end up being nationally ranked.
“You can do a lot of things wrong at BYU,” said Steve Young, “but the thing you’ve got to get right is the quarterback. That’s historical.”
The former BYU star and NFL legend makes a compelling case. As he points out, former coach LaVell Edwards most often got the quarterback right.
As has been covered in excruciating detail, Bronco Mendenhall got the quarterback wrong last season. And as a result, the coach made wholesale changes to the offensive coaching staff and basically wasted a great defense.
“When you don’t get it right, it really hurts the program,” Young said. “It doesn’t get it where it needs to be.”
But all that is old news. BYU is ready to usher in a new era, with veteran Robert Anae returning to the program in which he gained valuable experience as the offensive coordinator.
Young is confident the boss will make the right choice this time.
“Bronco is a phenomenal coach,” Young said. “He gets most everything right.
“As far as Bronco being the guy that can get it done, I think that if we have the quarterback, Bronco absolutely can do all the other things.”
With training camp less than two weeks away, the choice is between Taysom Hill and Ammon Olsen. Mendenhall tabbed Hill as the starter coming out of spring practice, with Olsen running a close second.
Hill has an impressive list of recommendations, which includes Young and San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh, who signed Hill when he was coaching at Stanford (Hill enrolled at BYU after serving a church mission). Maintaining close ties to the program 30 years removed from playing, Young labels Hill as a heady player with the ability to run and pass.
The key, Young said, is to get Hill quickly acclimated to Anae’s offense.
“I don’t want to spend this year training him,” Young said. “I think he’s got enough to maybe make the leap.”
Hill goes into his sophomore season having played in six games last season, including going 2-0 as a starter against Hawaii and Utah State. Young doesn’t believe the season-ending knee injury Hill suffered on a running play will carry over to this year.
“The injury that he had will help because it brings religion to that whole process,” Young said. “You get a sense that you are not indestructible and that the team really does need to have you deliver the ball from the pocket.”
In keeping with BYU’s questionable philosophy of creating catch phrases — we all remember the ill-fated “quest for perfection” — Anae immediately spoke of the offense playing “hard and fast.” But more tangible is the fact that he likes a running quarterback, a facet he picked up from coaching under Rich Rodriguez last season at Arizona.
Ranking among the great running quarterbacks of all time, Young has no problem with Hill taking off as long as he’s smart about it.
“You do have to have an extra sensory kind of ability to know how to get done and how to get out of the way,” he said.
Recognizing that football is a team game, Young isn’t willing to dump everything on Hill. For all the shortcomings at the game’s most important position, BYU also was weak along the offensive line, and the place-kicking was atrocious.
Still, the quarterback can be a great eraser.
“I saw better defense at BYU last year than I’ve ever seen my whole life,” Young said, “but we had other elements that we were missing.”
