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Provo
LaVell Edwards looked down the line of former BYU quarterbacks assembled near the 10th tee at Riverside Country Club, marveling over how history played out in the stadium that's now named for him. For 11 seasons in a row during the 1970s and '80s, the Cougars had a future All-American quarterbacking them.
"For a while there," Edwards said Friday, "we were stamping them out like we knew what we were doing."
Except for the year when the talent overrun caused problems. Amid the celebration of Y Quarterback Weekend — which features the return of stars to campus in a major fundraising effort for scholarship endowments — comes a tale of trouble from 1978. Edwards and his staff went back and forth between Marc Wilson and Jim McMahon, which became complicated even if — or because — each would become an NFL first-round draft choice.
The legends' perspectives of being in that position add an intriguing twist to the Cougars' plans to play both junior Riley Nelson and freshman Jake Heaps in the opener against Washington.
This is what a former offensive teammate of Wilson and McMahon learned from that experience: "Never, ever, have a platoon system at quarterback."
That was Kyle Whittingham speaking, which requires a disclaimer that he was addressing Utah's quarterback situation at the time, not BYU's current one. Yet the statement by the one-time Cougar fullback (before he became a linebacker) illustrates the side effects of playing two QBs.
"It's not fun for either quarterback, I know that," McMahon said. "Marc wasn't happy. I know I wasn't happy. It's tough to do, when you've got to play two guys like that. You've got to have a No. 1, and if something happens to him, then the other guy plays."
McMahon and Wilson alternated partly because of injuries to each. But the pitching changes continued during a Holiday Bowl loss to Navy that soured a conference-championship season. BYU's coaches made three back-and-forth substitutions in that game, "which didn't work at all," Wilson said.
"I'm not going to question Bronco [Mendenhall], if that's the direction he takes," Wilson said. "I will just say it's a tricky proposition. It's difficult to do. That's not to say it can't work."
The quarterbacks themselves are only part of the dynamic.
"Probably the bigger issue," Wilson said, "is will [teammates] follow two guys? That's where it gets tricky. People are going to have their feelings about one or the other, and if the other is playing and it causes you to give just a little less effort, that is going to show up, and it's probably going to be interpreted as the success or failure of the quarterback."
That's some insight into everything that will come into play in Provo until Mendenhall picks one quarterback — or at least casts Nelson and Heaps in tailored roles, understood by everybody.
Edwards solved the problem the following year by redshirting McMahon, who came back with two outstanding seasons. So it all worked out well, even if that meant an extra year for McMahon in Provo.
Wearing plaid shorts, a floppy hat and sandals Friday as he prepared to interact with donors on the golf course, McMahon reflected on his time at BYU.
"Well, I had a great time on Saturdays," he said. "The rest of the week was a little rough, but playing on Saturday was fun."
Will Nelson and Heaps feel the same way after their first Saturday in prominent roles for the Cougars? One of them, maybe, but not necessarily the other.
On Twitter: @tribkurt —
Stellar run
BYU's primary quarterbacks from 1975 to 1985:
1975 • Gifford Nielsen
1976 • Gifford Nielsen
1977 • Marc Wilson
1978 • Jim McMahon
1979 • Marc Wilson
1980 • Jim McMahon
1981 • Jim McMahon
1982 • Steve Young
1983 • Steve Young
1984 • Robbie Bosco
1985 • Robbie Bosco