Is the QB room better at BYU, Utah or Utah State?

If you dig into offseason analysis of quarterbacks across college football, you’ll find regular praise of Utah’s Cam Rising.

Look a little harder and you may find mention of BYU’s Jake Retzlaff or Gerry Bohanon, though usually the conversation surrounding them involves more questions than answers.

If you truly do some investigative work, you’ll find a little commentary on Utah State’s Spencer Petras and Bryson Barnes.

That has all changed today though, with ESPN’s latest offering.

Staff writer David Hale broke down every QB situation at the FBS level — analyzing all 134 teams — and organizing their quarterback rooms into 19 tiers (actually 21, since he had multiple A and B tiers).

Tier 1 is called “Cream of a questionable crop.”

Tier 6 is “You might not know us yet but …”

Tier 10 is “Looking for a reboot.”

And well, you get the idea.

Where do BYU, Utah and Utah State fall? Is their placement fair?

Utah quarterbacks

The Utes lead the way by far among the three FBS in-state teams.

With Rising and former five-star recruit Sam Huard in the fold, Hale rates Utah’s QB situation as one of the best in the country, putting it in Tier 2.

Utah’s QB group comes in the same grouping as Arizona’s with Noah Fifita, Colorado’s with Shedeur Sanders, Kansas’ with Jalon Daniels and Miami’s with Cam Ward.

Writes Hale: “Numbers-wise, you could make a compelling case for any of these starting QBs to reside in our top tier. Frankly, you could flip this group with the one above, and it would only garner a few ugly looks.”

On Rising specifically, Hale noted that injury recovery is the only question mark. Rising’s production on the field is very hard to assail.

“It’s pretty easy to quantify just how much Rising means to Utah statistically,” he writes. “Over the past three years with Rising at QB, the Utes averaged 6.6 yard per play, 7.6 yards per dropback, posted an 83.9 QBR and scored 39.1 points per game in his starts. With anyone else at QB, 5.3 yards per play, 5.7 yards per dropback, a 51.3 QBR and they averaged 24.2 points per game. How many other QBs in the country are worth 15 points per game to their teams?”

Is Utah’s placement fair?

It is hard to argue with Hale when it comes to Rising and his value. With him as the the starting QB, the Utes won back-to-back Pac-12 titles, and the conference wasn’t down by any means during that time. Rising has been a ceiling-altering QB since taking over as the full-time starter in 2021.

Does that warrant placement among the 15 best quarterback situations in the country? With the possibility that Utah could have been even higher if Rising weren’t coming off such a devastating injury?

Given that the Utes are regularly being ranked in the top 15 in preseason polls and that college football is more QB-driven than ever, it feels appropriate for Utah to be rated so highly.

There are questions, of course. If Rising gets hurt at any point, Utah has no real proven talent behind him. Huard was a five-star recruit coming out of high school and did well at Cal Poly after transferring from Washington, but he is unproven at the FBS level.

The same holds true for sophomore Brandon Rose and true freshman Isaac Wilson. Both are clearly talented and Rose has now been in the program for two seasons, but neither has proven anything in college football.

Could any of the three fill in adequately? It is possible, but a healthy Rising will likely make or break Utah’s season.

Utah State quarterbacks

Utah State actually comes in second among Utah-based FBS programs in the QB tiers, despite the fact that the Aggies have lost three QBs who started multiple games for them last season in Cooper Legas, McCae Hillstead and Levi Williams.

Legas transferred to Tulsa, Hillstead to BYU and Williams ended his football career to pursue a career as a Navy SEAL.

Thus, USU has a completely rebuilt QB room, led by the Iowa transfer Petras. Utah transfer Barnes, ASU transfer Jacob Conover and Boise State transfer CJ Tiller round out the group.

The Aggies’ group appears in Tier 11b, which is entitled “Movin’ on … down.” The tier includes Boise State with USC transfer Malachi Nelson and Utah prep standout Maddux Madsen. There is also James Madison with Dylan Morris, Brett Griffis and Alonza Barnett II, and North Texas with Chandler Morris and Stone Earle.

Hale is not exactly enthused about the Aggies’ selection of signal callers.

He writes, “Petras and Barnes have combined to start 22 games at Iowa and Utah over the past two years. Their teams scored 21 or less in half of them and topped 30 just four times. They’ve thrown just 18 touchdowns with 15 picks.”

If you include Conover in that group, the numbers get worse. The former BYU Cougar hasn’t thrown a touchdown in his collegiate career, but he threw three interceptions with ASU last year.

Is Utah State’s placement fair?

Hale isn’t exactly wrong about what Utah State is working with. On paper, Petras was a pretty dismal Power Five quarterback at Iowa and Barnes was a backup at Utah — sometimes the third string — thrust into playing because of injuries. Conover was a four-star prospect coming out of high school but failed to pan out in two stops. Tiller is a young and unproven commodity.

Right now, Utah State doesn’t have a proven signal caller that can elevate the offense.

That being said, under Blake Anderson, the Aggies have routinely been electric offensively. Logan Bonner was a record-breaking QB in 2021, after showing flashes at Arkansas State amid some injury woes.

Legas, meanwhile, was statistically one of the better QBs Utah State has ever had over three years of starts, even with some turnover woes.

Last season, with three different starting QBs, Utah State still ranked No. 43 in the country in passing offense, with over 3,000 passing yards and 35 touchdowns.

If ever there were an offense that could get the most out of a quarterback, it is Anderson and Utah State’s.

BYU quarterbacks

Of the three in-state FBS programs, BYU comes in the lowest in regards to quarterbacks.

Hale slots BYU in Tier 16, a grouping he called “Hello darkness, my old friend.”

The Cougars, with Retzlaff, Bohanon and Hillstead, were put alongside the likes of Arizona State with Jeff Sims, Trenton Bourguet and Sam Leavitt, Northwestern with Jack Lausch, Ryan Hilinski and Mike Wright, Rutgers with Athan Kaliakmanis, Stanford with Ashton Daniels, Justin Lamson and Elijah Brown, and Washington State with John Mateer and Zevi Eckhaus.

Hale starts off the tier with this little descriptor, in case optimism prevailed despite the low tier: “Last year, Iowa’s Total QBR was 19.4 — twice as bad as the next-worst Power 5 team. And yet, Iowa won 10 games. So even if the teams in this tier have some particularly concerning depth charts at the game’s most important position, there’s still a formula for success.”

But wait, there’s more, in poem form no less.

Writes Hale:

“First down is a power run up the middle.

Every second down is also a power run up the middle.

Relax, third down is just a gateway to punting.

Expect your defense to score at least twice.

Never stop punting.

Tell your dad you’ve got the whole thing under control.

Zebras will still work against you in Minnesota.

Rinse, repeat.”

In his reflection on BYU, Hale noted that optimism regarding Bohanon may be a bit misplaced.

“This will be Bohanon’s seventh year in college football,” Hale writes. “He has thrown more than six touchdowns in just one of them.”

Is BYU’s placement fair?

At first glance, it may seem that the Cougars’ placement is a tad harsh. After all, Retzlaff maybe didn’t get a fair shake last season and was a highly rated junior college prospect for a reason. He was highly competitive in two of his four starts, though BYU lost all four games.

Bohanon, meanwhile, was a stud for Baylor in 2021.

And Hillstead showed flashes of real potential with the Aggies, unseating Legas as the starter before injuries did him in/sapped his confidence.

Of course, between the three, only Bohanon has had any real success at the P5 level, let alone the FBS level, and Bohanon was a shell of himself last season while at USF.

Is there a path for BYU to get better QB play than expected? Offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick has proven capable of mentoring elite QBs — think Zach Wilson and Jaren Hall.

The Cougars also have a talented receiving corps, a welcome sight to any quarterback.

Given questions on the offensive line, though, to say nothing of Retzlaff, Bohanon and Hillstead, BYU will enter the season with one of the more questionable QB situations in the sport. A frightening reality in a sport so QB reliant.