BYU's search for a starting quarterback begins

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Provo » The speculation, second-guessing and predicting has gone on all spring and summer.

Finally, the question on the minds of college football fans throughout Utah begins to get answered on BYU's football practice field as the Cougars start fall camp Saturday searching for the quarterback who will replace Max Hall.

Will it be junior Riley Nelson or hotshot freshman Jake Heaps? Or will BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall stun college football observers everywhere and hand the reins to sophomore James Lark or a guy who was on a church mission just a few months ago, Jason Munns?

One things is for certain. The Cougars will scrimmage more -- and hit more -- than they have in past camps as coaches replicate live football situations as much as possible in their quest to determine the player best suited to be the starting quarterback.

"My intent is to bring in as many linemen into camp as we can, from [the maximum] 105 players, so we can do as much team [scrimmaging] work as possible, to get as much experience as possible, but also to evaluate -- get as many live settings as I possibly can, to make the best decision," Mendenhall said.

While the lack of healthy linemen kept the Cougars from having a full-scale spring game, that won't be the case this month.

"On the defensive line, I think we will be able to go five deep, not necessarily in terms of quality players, but five deep in terms of bodies," Mendenhall said. "At offensive line, we are three deep at least at every spot, four in some spots, so that should give us the chance to have as many team settings as we need -- probably more than any other camp we've had so far."

Five questions the Cougars will look to answer at fall camp:

1: Which quarterback will take the first snap against Washington?

For the first time in his tenure as head coach, Mendenhall has a quarterback battle to decide during fall camp. Arguably, this is the biggest question facing the coach in years, with junior Riley Nelson and freshman Jake Heaps seemingly neck-and-neck for the lead. Sophomore James Lark and freshman Jason Munns are also in the mix, at Mendenhall's insistence.

But whichever quarterback gets the call at 5 p.m. four weeks from today, Mendenhall has already made it clear that it might not last, saying at the Mountain West Conference media days that he might use two quarterbacks this season, or more.

"So I am basically going to leave every option open that I can, and see if there becomes a clear starter," Mendenhall said. "And I would rather wait a week too long than name one a week too early to make sure that there has been enough time and enough reps to show who really is the starter."

2: Q: Will the tight end tradition continue?

Replacing the pass-catching tight end tandem of Dennis Pitta and Andrew George will be difficult because the freshman who wins the job has never caught a pass in a college football game.

Mike Muehlmann seemed to get the most repetitions with the first team in spring camp, but Devin Mahina also showed flashes of brilliance. Then there's Spanish Fork High product Richard Wilson and recently returned missionary Austin Holt, a highly recruited, prep All-American from Bingham High.

Coaches insist the talent is there; now they are hoping to find the best playmaker in the bunch, a guy who can make the big third-down catch.

3: Are they solid up the middle?

As in baseball, the middle positions -- quarterback, center, middle linebacker and safety -- are crucial in football, Mendenhall believes. The Cougars are inexperienced at all four spots as they look to replace quarterback Max Hall, center R.J. Willing, linebacker Matt Bauman and free safety Scott Johnson.

Starting offensive lineman Terence Brown will likely move over to center, but he struggled snapping the ball in the shotgun formation all spring, and backup Houston Reynolds or even Braden Hansen could be asked to step in there, if needed. Almost every other position on the offensive line will be determined after a starting center is chosen.

Travis Uale, Steven Thomas and Landon Jaussi are the candidates at free safety, but if they don't prove adequate, all-conference strong safety Andrew Rich may slide over. At MLB, look for senior Shane Hunter, sophomore Brandon Ogletree or perhaps even true freshman Zac Stout to start in what should be one of the better position battles in fall camp.

4: Can the Cougars replace Harvey Unga?

The all-time BYU rushing leader is trying to make the Chicago Bears' roster, after it appeared throughout spring camp that he would be a Cougar for one more year.

Mendenhall has gone out of his way to express confidence in juniors Bryan Kariya and J.J. DiLuigi, and both were solid contributors last year. But neither has shown that he can carry the load like Unga did, and freshman Joshua Quezada is listed as a "true freshman to watch" on the depth chart for a reason: he was the flashiest back in spring camp.

5: Will the new guys live up to the hype?

The Cougars signed perhaps their most talented class in school history last February, and several of those players graduated high school early so they could participate in spring ball.

Of course, Heaps leads the contingent of newcomers, which also includes the aforementioned Stout at linebacker, Quezada at running back and receiver Ross Apo. Several veterans said they have been especially impressed by Apo's play in the summer 7-on-7 workouts.

Speedy running back Drew Phillips of Boaz, Ala., could also play his way into a role, at some point.

"You guys are going to be surprised at how game-ready some of these news guys are," said Rich.