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Provo • The question drew the most laughter — uneasy laughter, really — at BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe's question-and-answer session Wednesday morning during Education Week.

How will sophomore Tanner Mangum handle it, the attendee wanted to know, when senior Taysom Hill is named BYU's starting quarterback for the 2016 season?

Ever the diplomat, Holmoe refrained from rebuking the question with the easy answer that a decision has not been made yet, and instead said "a lot of the success of our team this year will be determined by that relationship" between Hill and Mangum, and how they accept their roles.

After Thursday's scrimmage in which the quarterbacks evenly divided the playing time and led the offense on at least one long scoring drive each, head coach Kalani Sitake said both stood out and declined to name a favorite in the race. He acknowledged that "it will be beneficial for us to have a starting quarterback announced as soon as we can," and hinted that it could happen "in the next couple of days."

Don't be surprised if it happens on Monday. Hill has the edge, according to most outside observers, but it is not clear-cut because neither QB has out-performed the other in camp, and the decision could come down to which guy coaches believe gives them the chance to beat Arizona in the opener.

What is clear is that the competition has been intense, but friendly.

"You are probably not going to find two more competitive kids," Holmoe said Wednesday. "Both have had extraordinary success, but right now they are fighting for the [good of] team. If they can keep that together — I think they can — then there are a lot of factors that will come into play, and our team will be really successful."

Generally, Mangum has been more willing to talk about the competition, while Hill's answers have been short and to the point.

"He and I are both competitors, and more than anything, we are competing for the team, and regardless of who is in, we are going to go out there and give it the best we have and make sure we do our job and help the offense move the ball and score points," Mangum said. "We are both doing a good job of that."

Asked Thursday after the scrimmage if the reps were divided evenly, Hill gave a simple "yup" and offered no additional comments.

Back at media day in June, Hill asked and answered the question about his relationship with the sophomore in one roundtable chat with reporters before anyone had a chance to ask it.

"The next question, my guess, is about Tanner," he said, after talking about his health. "Tanner and I have a good relationship. He's a great quarterback. I think the combination of us two, we help make each other better. So yeah, no issue there."

Having graduated, Hill will be a graduate research assistant with a professor at BYU this fall as he works toward a master's degree and will continue to work for internship credit as an analyst at the same family trust fund, McCulley Financial Partners, that employed him this summer.

"I think from a media standpoint, you guys will take and write about whatever you want to write about this," Hill said in June. "I don't want to speak for everybody, but I will speak for myself, that when it comes to competition, the competition is always with yourself, right? … Currently, my focus is to be the best quarterback I can be, the best teammate and leader and so forth. The competition is with myself."

Teammates have said the competition, and any talk about it, hasn't bled into the locker room.

"There is a lot of competition going on, but overall I think that we are in a great position to be in, to have two great quarterbacks like that battling for a spot," receiver Nick Kurtz said.

"I have seen both of them with the ones and the twos, but I am not worried with either of them," linebacker Fred Warner said.

Asked on Monday what he is looking for in a starting quarterback, Sitake said "exactly" what both guys bring.

"It is not about who is better at starting. They both have experience. It is just about who is going to be the best fit for us right now," he said.

Twitter: @drewjay —

Career passing stats at BYU

Quarterback Year GP Comp-Att Pct. Yards TDs Effic.

Taysom Hill Sr. 25 387-675 57.3 4,606 31 123.9

Tanner Mangum Soph. 13 267-446 59.8 3,377 23 135.0