Greg McElroy names BYU QB with 'highest ceiling' to potentially become Jake Retzlaff's replacement 

BYU finds itself in the midst of uncertainty ahead of the 2025 season after Jake Retzlaff left the program. The quarterback entered the transfer portal late in June after the Cougars' officials informed him of a likely seven-game suspension for violating the school's honor code.

Retzlaff had a brilliant season with the Cougars in 2024, throwing for 2,947 yards and 19 touchdowns as they challenged for the Big 12 championship. With his service no longer available, the program now has to turn to the other options on its roster as the season approaches.

Greg McElroy offered his opinion on the quarterback situation at BYU on Monday on the “Always College Football” podcast. The analyst sees freshman Bear Bachmeier as the quarterback with the highest ceiling despite having two options ahead of him in the team's depth chart.

“McCae Hillstead, redshirt sophomore, he transferred from Utah State, does have starting experience at the FBS level,” McElroy said. “He's likely kind of the frontrunner alongside Treyson Bourguet, who transferred over from Western Michigan. Like I said, both guys have played.

“But the wild card is Bear Bachmeier, who, among all the quarterbacks in the stable for BYU, probably has the highest ceiling. So with the returning experience around them, Do they feel comfortable enough putting a young freshman quarterback out there in Bachmeier behind what should be one of the best offensive lines in the entire Big 12," he added.

(Timestamp: 32:43 onwards)

Greg McElroy believes BYU will challenge for Big 12 championship again

BYU was a top contender for the Big 12 championship last season, as the team narrowly missed out on the title game. Heading into the 2025 season, McElroy believes Kalani Sitake’s team has all that it takes to once again contend for the conference championship.

“The rest of the roster is ready-made and established to go and contend for the Big 12 title yet again," McElroy said. "This team has a lot of depth along the lines of scrimmage. They have really solid secondary play in the back end defensively.

“They should be pretty dang good at running back to at least take some pressure off what might be a somewhat inexperienced quarterback. But they have some options. So they went out and they've added a couple of guys the last few years in the portal. They did so again this year," he added.

(Timestamp: 32:18 onwards)

With an undefeated record until November, BYU led the Big 12 table for most of the 2024 season. However, two losses in the final month of the regular season made the Cougars miss out on the conference championship game on tie-breakers.