BYU football: Who will be BYU's starting quarterback this fall?

PROVO — For the first time in three years, there's a quarterback competition at BYU.

Spring practices get underway Monday afternoon for the Cougars, but the task of finding a replacement for three-year starter Max Hall probably won't be resolved anytime soon.

"In this particular quarterback battle, it might go all the way into fall camp," said coach Bronco Mendenhall.

Those competing for the starting job are junior Riley Nelson, sophomore James Lark and true freshman Jake Heaps. Nelson backed up Hall last season, Lark returned home from a mission in December, and true freshman Jake Heaps, is a high school All-American who enrolled in January.

The last time Mendenhall and his staff faced a quarterback quandary like this, in 2007, Hall beat out Cade Cooper and Brenden Gaskins, and took over for three-year starter John Beck.

Ideally, Mendenhall would like to have a clear-cut starter in place heading into summer workouts and fall camp again. But given the circumstances, that scenario is unlikely, said Mendenhall.

"I'd rather make sure in this particular case that it's the right player that's been evaluated thoroughly with the support of the staff and the team than to rush it for the sake of the leadership in the summer, which is what I've done before. This will probably be a longer battle than normal."

The coach added, "I might be surprised. It might be where there's just a clear leader. But that's probably premature to say that we'd be able to get it done this spring, and probably not even wise."

Though they have yet to participate in an official practice together, all three quarterback hopefuls have been impressive this winter, Mendenhall said.

"In the off-season workouts, where you can't use a ball, so it's just footwork and competitive spirit and conditioning, all three are just competing like mad. All have fantastic leadership skills. It's going to be a very, very intriguing and fun decision to make because they're all fantastic kids and really good players. Then you add Jason Munns coming off his mission. I've never been around four quality kids with this kind of leadership potential all at the same time. I really feel the responsibility to organize and orchestrate this in a fair and proper manner for all of them and for our team..."

When drills start today, the three quarterbacks will be, for the most part, on equal footing.

"I would say that they're equal as of right now. If you were to say, 'Who will probably get the first snap?' it would be Riley because he was simply here in the fall," said Mendenhall. "James and Jake weren't. Just in terms of knowledge of what to do, he's probably at a higher level. That does not mean that he's been designated the starter. Right now, it would only be based on knowledge. James and Jake are catching up."