This is the last column I’ll ever write about Jake Retzlaff.
That’s a promise.*
I’ve grown weary of Mr. Retzlaff, about hearing about him, and it’s a good bet many of you have, too.
The quarterback who gained renown at BYU and, next thing, turned that fame into infamy — at a minimum by way of a broken promise to the school that granted him so much football opportunity and then took it away — has worn me and a lot of others thin. Maybe you like and agree with BYU’s Honor Code, like and agree with the way it is sometimes applied and enforced and maybe you don’t. I don’t.
Either way, with the manner in which circumstances occurred, Retzlaff threw away his senior season at BYU, just as he threw away a couple of games with bad passes that might otherwise have been victories last season. Which is to say, the Cougars were talented enough to finish 11-2, and to ask: Was that because of Retzlaff or in spite of him?
The authentic answer: A little of both.
After so much hubbub over he quarterback’s case, so many headlines and, for BYU fans, so much handwringing, there is a conclusion to draw:
Jake Retzlaff’s not that good. He’s not bad. He’s just OK. He’s nothing to cry over.
He’s the QB equivalent of you being really thirsty after running a 10K and having to quench your thirst with a previously opened can of Diet Coke you left in the fridge the night before. Stale soda. That’s what Retzlaff is.
This is not an example, an episode of an angry local ink-stained wretch ripping a guy as he walks out the door for Green Wavier pastures in uptown New Orleans. No, anybody who watched Retzlaff play last season knows what the quarterback is and what he isn’t.
Coaches around the country know this. Big 12 coaches know he was a middle-of-the-pack quarterback in the league, nothing terrible, nothing terrific. That’s one of the reasons he ended up at Tulane instead of a major program in a P4 conference.
He had interest from some bigger programs, sure. And maybe Tulane offered the biggest payday.
Regardless of how much the Green Wave folks are paying him, there are others at bigger programs who could have paid him more, had they really wanted him. They did not.
Granted, his was a weird circumstance complicated further by bad timing.
It was complicated further by moments of bad football.
We don’t have to review the ill-timed interceptions at home against Kansas and on the road against Arizona State that cost BYU a shot at a league championship. There were stellar moments, as well. The familiar stat line goes like this: 213 completions over 368 attempts for a 57.9 percentage, 2,947 yards, 20 touchdowns and 12 picks. He also ran the ball effectively at times.
But even in memorable games when BYU surprised most everyone, like in the Alamo Bowl against Colorado, Retzlaff had his signature weak plays when he was careless with the ball. He finished 12 of 21 for 151 yards, 0 TDs and 2 interceptions. And BYU won, 36-14.
Now that Retzlaff is gone, the Cougars are bound this time to finish south of their record and results of 2024, but that would have been the case had he returned. Last season had too much magic in it to be repeated. A concession here: Having a senior quarterback return usually works out well for BYU — on account of the experience and the confidence that comes alongside being of notable value. But it’s not as though the Cougars have lost an NFL guy. They’ve lost a Tulane guy.
So, why so much angst over the quarterback’s absence, why are prognosticators downgrading BYU from a Big 12 contender to an also-ran?
It’s not because Retzlaff was so gifted that he couldn’t be properly replaced. It’s more because BYU did a lousy of job of plugging in a suitable replacement in the unfortunate circumstance that the starter wouldn’t be available. It didn’t have to be an Honor Code violation. It could have been an injury. At BYU, injuries happen. At BYU, suspensions happen.
What did the Cougars have in reserve? This is where the real problem exists.
They have a 5-foot-8 former Aggie. They have a stationary pocket passer from Western Michigan. They have a kid who signed with and then transferred away from Stanford inside of five months this past offseason, a kid who has no college experience.
Maybe they have a cloaked mystery talent who has yet to emerge from the backend of the depth chart. Beats me. Prep prospect Ryder Lyons is still a couple of years out from doing anything at BYU.
That’s why Retzlaff’s departure is difficult, not because he was a great quarterback. He was rarely that. It’s that they have, as of the moment, no legitimate Plan B. Perhaps that’s too much to ask. A lot of schools have no top-drawer quarterback in reserve. Some do. LaVell Edwards made a living off of the first guy, then the next guy up. That’s why his name is on the side of the stadium.
Whose name is on Tulane’s stadium? Richard Yulman, the Serta mattress king who donated $15 million for the facility. Here’s a certainty: Current coach Jon Sumrall is no closer to replacing him on the stadium wall one day because Jake Retzlaff is his new quarterback.
*Unless he wins the Heisman, runs for U.S. president or beats BYU in a bowl game.