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Skipping to the end of this story is tempting.
Everybody would love to know how the 2015 football season will play out for quarterbacks Chuckie Keeton of Utah State, Taysom Hill of BYU and Travis Wilson of Utah as they finish their college careers. In a rare convergence, made possible by Keeton's medical exemption as a fifth-year player, all three of the state's FBS schools will launch the season with senior quarterbacks. The only time that happened in the past 60-plus years was in 1986, when BYU starter Steve Lindsley lost his job late in the season.
So if Keeton, Hill and Wilson can start every game, they will have teamed up for a history-making year in the modern era of college football in Utah. Everything they've overcome individually has made each of them a compelling figure. Blend them together, and it gets even more interesting.
They don't know one another well, but they're familiar enough with all of their stories to share a bond. "It's been a long journey for all of us," Keeton said. "It should be a lot of fun. We've just got to finish out the best way possible."
Keeton is the only one who will oppose the other two, with the Aggies visiting Utah on Sept. 11 and hosting BYU on Nov. 28. Considering that either Hill or Keeton sustained a season-ending injury in the past three BYU-USU games in early October, some irony is attached to that last date of the 2015 regular season.
The same day, Wilson hopes he'll have a shot at a fourth straight victory over Colorado, completing a season when he becomes Utah's first four-year starting quarterback.
Yet nothing about Wilson's career — or Hill's or Keeton's — has fit into a tidy package. Wilson missed the last three games of the 2013 season with a concussion, leading to a diagnosis of a pre-existing brain condition that threatened to end his career.
Even during Utah's breakthrough season as a Pac-12 member in 2014, Wilson twice lost his starting job to Kendal Thompson, regaining it only after Thompson's season ended with a knee injury. Thompson, now a senior after transferring to Utah from Oklahoma, again is competing for playing time.
With eight wins this season, Wilson would move ahead of Alex Smith for No. 2 on Utah's all-time list of quarterbacking victories. Wilson beat BYU in his only start in the rivalry game and fans carried him off the field after wins over Stanford and USC, but his career in many ways remains undefined.
"I've definitely gone through a lot, definitely had a lot of adversity," Wilson said, "but I think each year I've gotten better and better."
Ute co-offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick said, "I think everybody who has watched him play has witnessed what a great competitor he is."
The same is true of Keeton and Hill, amid their injuries. Keeton took the field at Auburn as a USU freshman in 2011. He has started and finished 26 of a possible 53 games since then, including two of the Aggies' last 23 games, due to a knee injury. Hill has missed 15 of BYU's last 33 games, thanks to his knee injury as a freshman and broken leg as a junior.
Asked what he's learned through it all, Hill said, "I'm capable of doing a lot of hard things. I'm capable of working through difficult situations … and leading guys, based on how hard I work."
Like Roderick and USU's Josh Heupel, BYU offensive coordinator Robert Anae welcomes having a veteran QB. "When something goes wrong, it just doesn't all fall down the sinkhole," he said. "I'm enjoying having a senior quarterback, because that doesn't last for more than one year, and then you're right back to the drawing board."
Heupel arrived in Logan this past winter, inheriting Keeton. "He's everything that you want," Heupel said. "He's smart, he's competitive, he puts in a ton of work, he's a great leader on and off the field. So he's got all of those intangible things you look for in a great quarterback."
In 1986, Utah's Larry Egger and USU's Tom Ponich were in their second seasons in Division I as junior college transfers. Lindsley, also a transfer, was a first-year starter. BYU (8-5) fell off that season after going 35-4 the previous three years. Utah finished 2-9 and USU went 3-8.
The schools' prospects are better overall in 2015. Keeton is 19-11 as a starter over four seasons; the Aggies have gone 18-6 without him. Yet his value to the program is unquestioned. Keeton will join Tulsa's T.J. Rubley (1987-91) as the only college quarterbacks to start five season openers. He needs four victories to top Tony Adams as USU's winningest quarterback, with several big opportunities to secure his legacy in Logan — including games vs. Utah, Washington, Boise State and then BYU on a Senior Day when Keeton, Hill and Wilson all hope to finish in style.
Twitter: @tribkurt Utah's winningest quarterbacks
Player Years Wins
Brian Johnson 2005-08 26
Alex Smith 2003-04 21
Mike McCoy 1992-94 18
Mike Fouts 1995-96 15
Travis Wilson 2012-14 15 Looking back • Freshman memories of the three QBs
Keeton • His mind goes to a moment of lying in a hospital bed in Honolulu with a neck injury and hearing updates of USU's second-half comeback vs. Hawaii, then flying home to Logan a day later and reliving the "incredible story" of the 35-31 win with his teammates.
Hill • Having been inserted into a game at Boise State with BYU trailing 7-0 in the second half, Hill started a drive from BYU's 5-yard line with a 21-yard completion to Richard Wilson on a corner route, with a 15-yard penalty added to the play. "It really jump-started us," he said. Hill completed the 95-yard drive by running for a touchdown, but his pass was incomplete on a two-point conversion attempt.
Wilson • Assigned a package of plays vs. Northern Colorado in the season opener, Wilson ran 3 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter. "To score my first touchdown was unbelievable," he said. "It's definitely a memory I won't forget."