Meet the quarterbacks in the running to be Jake Retzlaff’s backup
Utah State transfer McCae Hillstead and WMU transfer Treyson Bourguet relishing competition in spring camp
Although he accumulated various bumps and bruises, and was clearly not himself in the 17-13 loss to Kansas, Jake Retzlaff managed to start in all 13 of BYU’s games last season, leading the Cougars to a better-than-expected 11-2 record.
It was one of those rare situations in which a BYU quarterback remained relatively healthy an entire season. So what happens this year if the Cougars’ unquestioned starting quarterback suffers a setback like all of his most immediate predecessors — Kedon Slovis, Jaren Hall and Zach Wilson — did at one point or another in their BYU careers?
The answer to that question is to be determined, and is playing itself out, in BYU’s spring football camp, which began last week and will see its fourth of 15 scheduled practices on Friday.
Retzlaff’s backup in 2025 will be either Utah State transfer McCae Hillstead or Western Michigan transfer Treyson Bourguet, offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick has said. A fourth QB, Bountiful High’s Emerson Geilman, will join the program this summer
Is there a deadline to name a QB2?
Roderick said if the backup QB derby “resolves itself by the end of spring, that would be great, but if it doesn’t then we will take it into fall camp if we have to.”
Roderick said on Monday that there isn’t, although Hillstead seemed to look crisper in the media viewing portion of practice (about a half hour) on Monday. That, of course, is a very, very small sample size.
What is evident is that they both have starting experience at the Division I level — Hillstead started in four games for the Aggies, while Bourguet played in 10 games over the course of two seasons at Western Michigan — and they both believe in themselves and have always dreamed of being BYU’s starting quarterback.
Western Michigan transfer QB Treyson Bourguet talks to teammates during a spring practice March 5, 2025, in Provo.
Western Michigan transfer QB Treyson Bourguet talks to teammates during a spring practice March 5, 2025, in Provo. | Nate Edwards
“Both are good players. Both of those guys have played in real football games,” Roderick said. “They are not like your typical new players. And they were both with us all last season. They are moving the team pretty well when they have a good team around them.
“That’s the problem — sometimes when you are with the second unit or the third unit, you don’t always have guys around you that know what they are doing,” Roderick continued. “Every time those two guys have had a chance to play with people that know what they are doing they play pretty well.”
Who are these guys?
Physically, they are very different guys, from different places.
Bourguet is a 6-foot-2, 205-pound, bearded redshirt junior (yes, he has a beard card) from Tucson, Arizona, who describes himself as a Lutheran who was drawn to BYU because of the “religious aspect” of the school supported by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Fun fact from his profile on BYUCougars.com: He is named Treyson because he’s the third son in his family and his older brothers Trenton (quarterback) and Coben (receiver) played, or play, football for Arizona State.
“I had a lot of schools (reach out) when I entered the portal,” he said. “BYU was the closest to home for me, and the location was definitely a big thing, which is why I set my mind and my heart (on) BYU from the get go. … I am Christian. A lot of the morals, a lot of the beliefs are similar. I knew that this was a place where I could be the best person that I want to be, and I can definitely thrive outside of the classroom here.
