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Provo • From afar, it looked like a story too good to pass up: UNLV starting quarterback Blake Decker, once a walk-on quarterback at BYU, returning to Provo to face his former team on Saturday.
Problem is, the returned missionary from Mesa, Ariz., never actually suited up for the Cougars, and was never on a BYU roster, despite a mention in his bio on UNLV's website that the junior "walked on and then redshirted the 2009 season" at BYU.
Still, it is an interesting side note to Saturday's 5 p.m. game at LaVell Edwards Stadium because Decker did try to make the BYU football team in that crazy winter of 2013 when coach Bronco Mendenhall was shaking up his entire offensive staff.
There's also the question of whether Decker will actually play on Saturday; he was injured while being sacked in the third quarter of UNLV's 48-21 loss to Air Force last week.
UNLV coach Bobby Hauck told the Las Vegas Review Journal that Decker wouldn't take any snaps until at least Wednesday. "He's banged up. That's an understatement. If we had to play [Monday], he wouldn't be able to go."
Decker's mother, Liz, clarified her son's history with BYU in an email recently.
"He was just there [at BYU] for winter/spring of 2013 [as a student without a scholarship], but wasn't given a chance to compete in spring ball," she noted.
Liz Decker said her son wanted to play for BYU after graduating from Mountain View High in Arizona in 2009, but never received a scholarship offer and instead played for Phoenix Community College that fall until a broken collarbone ended his season.
When he returned home from a church mission to Mexico, he had grown two inches and gained 35 pounds and still had that desire to play for BYU again, so he enrolled in classes for the 2013 winter semester. He worked out with the team in January and February, but was told to clean out his locker on the day pads and helmets were handed out for spring camp in March because "they had too many scholarship QBs going into spring," according to Liz Decker.
BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said Monday that he doesn't remember Decker and didn't know he was almost a Cougar until linebackers coach Paul Tidwell, who was the recruiting coordinator at the time, told him last week. Former offensive coordinator Brandon Doman, who was forced out in January of 2013, said he remembers that Decker was a good player, "But we didn't choose to offer him a scholarship."
Decker finished the semester at BYU, then transferred to Scottsdale CC and threw for 4,241 yards and 47 touchdowns with just 11 interceptions last fall.
He has thrown for 2,433 yards and 10 touchdowns for the 2-8 Rebels this season, with 10 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. He's rushed for 308 yards and five TDs.
"He's a good player, and he can really sling it," said BYU outside linebackers coach Kelly Poppinga. "He is a very capable quarterback, and has a good arm. He gives them a really good chance to compete in every game."
Briefly
UNLV's Hauck told the Review-Journal that BYU quarterback Christian Stewart doesn't run as well as injured starter Taysom Hill does, but is a better thrower. "If you're asking your quarterback to throw, they've got a better player in there right now than they had before," Hauck said. Hill's QB rating was 141.7 this season, while Stewart's is 120.2. … Mendenhall and Hauck are good friends because they worked together on the same staff at Northern Arizona and because their wives, Holly Mendenhall and Stacey Hauck, grew up together in Montana.
Twitter: @drewjay —
UNLV at BYU
O Saturday, 5 p.m.
TV • ESPNU