An experienced quarterback is jumping into the transfer portal in late June.
Jake Retzlaff is leaving BYU to look for another school. He led the Cougars to an 11-2 straight-up record and a 9-4 against-the-spread mark in just their second season playing in the Big 12 Conference.
Retzlaff completed 213-of-368 passes (57.9%) for 2,947 yards with a 20/12 touchdown-to-interception ratio. The dual-threat signal caller had 417 rushing yards (536 before subtracting sack yardage) and six TDs with a 4.2 yards-per-carry average.
Retzlaff is staring at a suspension from BYU after admitting to premarital sex in his response to a civil lawsuit alleging he raped a woman in 2023. After media reports of Retzlaff transferring filtered out on Sunday, the woman dropped her civil lawsuit Monday morning.
Despite that turn of events, participating in premarital sex is a violation of the Mormon school’s honor code. According to a report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel and Kyle Bonagura, Retzlaff met with school officials on Friday and learned that he would likely be facing a seven-game suspension.
The woman filed the lawsuit last month, accusing Retzlaff of raping, strangling and biting her in November of 2023. Retzlaff’s lawyers filed their response to that lawsuit on Friday, denying the allegations while stating that he only had consensual sex with the woman.
The response revealed that Retzlaff and the woman continued to exchange friendly texts for months after the encounter. Only when Retzlaff became an NFL prospect a year later, the response asserted, did the woman file the lawsuit in an extortion attempt.
This isn’t the first time the school’s honor code has impacted BYU sports. During Jimmer Fredette’s senior season in 2011 when the Cougars were ranked third nationally and had a 27-2 record, starting center Brandon Davies was dismissed from the team when he admitted to school officials to having premarital sex with his girlfriend.
BYU still ended up making the Sweet 16 before losing to Florida in the South Region semifinals in New Orleans.
Per ESPN, Retzlaff informed teammates and members of the coaching staff about his plans to leave over the weekend. The Cougars have three backup QBs – Treyson Bourguet, McCae Hillstead and Bear Bachmeier – who will now compete for the starting job in August.
Bachmeier is an incoming freshman who arrived in Provo in May. He signed with Stanford and enrolled early this past January, but he and his brother, Tiger, elected to leave Palo Alto and transfer to BYU when Stanford coach Troy Taylor was fired in March.
According to the 247Sports Composite, Bachmeier is a four-star prospect in the 2025 class who was ranked as the #28 QB in the country and #34 prospect from the state of California.
Tiger Bachmeier has 24 games of playing experience as a wide receiver at Stanford. As a freshman in 2023, he had 36 receptions for 409 yards and two TDs. He also had 29 rushing yards and one TD on just two attempts.
Tiger Bachmeier had only 10 catches for 67 yards last season.
Whether Beau Bachmeier has a realistic chance of winning the BYU starting job remains to be seen. Nevertheless, we’ll point out how Hank Bachmeier did win Boise State’s starting QB gig as a true freshman in 2019.
In fact, he had a stellar debut. In Week 1 at Florida St., Hank Bachmeier led Boise St. to a 36-31 comeback win over the Seminoles. He completed 30-of-51 throws (58.8%) for 407 yards and one TD with one interception.
Hillstead did not play last year after transferring to BYU from Utah St., but he played in eight games for the Aggies in 2023. Hillstead connected on 94-of-158 throws (59.5%) for 1,062 yards with an 11/8 TD-INT ratio.
Bourguet also sat out last season after transferring from Western Michigan. He started eight games for the Broncos in 2022 and 2023.
In 2022, Bourguet played in four games, completing 54-of-109 passes (49.5%) for 601 yards with a 2/1 TD-INT ratio. He added 154 rushing yards and one TD on 43 attempts for a 3.6 YPC average.
In 2023 at Western Michigan, Bourguet connected on 57-of-103 throws (55.3%) for 713 yards with a 4/1 TD-INT ratio. He had 65 rushing yards and a 1.8 YPC average.
We’ll quickly find out what schools aren’t comfortable with their QB situations going into the 2025 campaign. Tennessee obviously comes to mind. Other possible spots could include Maryland, Missouri, Kentucky, UNLV and Stanford.
Circa has BYU’s season win total at 7.5 (‘over’ -130, ‘under’ +110).