Three Objectives for BYU Quarterback Bear Bachmeier in Debut
Week one is underway and BYU football is just one day from kicking off the 2025 season. BYU is the heavy favorite over Portland State, but BYU fans are eager to see the 2025 version of the BYU football team. The game is sold out, the program announced on Thursday.
On Saturday night, all eyes will be on BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier. Bachmeier will be the first true freshman quarterback to start the season opener in BYU history. Today, we’re outlining three objectives for Bear in his first game as BYU’s quarterback.
1. Make the Layups
BYU has more talent than Portland State at every position. There will be multiple throws in this game where Bachmeier will have easy short and intermediate throws. The first objective is to make those throws.
Bachmeier has been very sharp and accurate throughout Fall Camp. Aaron Roderick noted that Bear has had a high completion percentage and has made a lot of completions in camp. It’s more difficult to be consistently accurate when the green protective jersey comes off.
So for the first objective, Bachmeier just needs to make the layups. Take the easy throws and convert on them.
That was an area where Jake Retzlaff really struggled early in his career, and it’s an area where Bear has shown better in camp than Retzlaff did. Making the layups will help Bachmeier gain some confidence and it will help BYU move the chains.
2. Show Glimpses of the High Upside
Bachmeier’s recruiting profile has been well documented. He was recruited by practically all the high-profile programs in the country. He was recruited by so many schools because his upside is so high.
Bachmeier has flashed his high upside in camp, now it’s time to show glimpses of it in a game. You can see a few of his highlight plays from camp in the video at the top of this article.
Whether it’s a scramble that goes for big yardage or a tight-window throw for a big gain, Bachmeier needs to gain the confidence that his skills will translate to real games.
BYU won’t contend for the Big 12 title with a game manager at quarterback, but they could go on another run with a quarterback that can make big plays. Making plays and moving the chains was Jake Retzlaff’s chief strength. Retzlaff wasn’t a quarterback that protected the football and made the easy throws. He was a volatile quarterback that made enough big plays to outweigh his deficiencies.
If Bachmeier can make chunk-yard plays in 2025 like Retzlaff did in 2024, BYU can win a lot of games even when the inevitable mistakes surface.
3. Protect the Football
The area where true freshmen typically struggle the most? Taking care of the football. Protecting the football has been a strength of Bear’s in camp, at least compared to the other quarterbacks. Bachmeier threw the fewest interceptions of the three quarterbacks that competed for the starting job.
Now, Bachmeier can put those abilities to the test.
This is third on the list because we don’t believe it’s the most important. Mistakes will happen, they do for every quarterback. Bachmeier will still need to take shots and be aggressive at times. Moving the chains and gaining chunk yardage is more important than avoiding mistakes for the sake of avoiding mistakes. But against a defense of Portland State’s caliber, BYU’s offense is hoping to play a clean game. That starts with Bachmeier
