BYU football: Quarterback battle still in early stages

PROVO — Since he was hired as BYU's quarterbacks coach a little more than five years ago, Brandon Doman has been blessed to manage a pair of three-year starting QBs, John Beck and Max Hall.

It was a rare and ideal scenario for Doman and the Cougars.

But while Doman was working with Beck and Hall, he labored just as hard behind the scenes recruiting quarterbacks for the future.

Come August, four prized QBs — junior Riley Nelson, sophomore James Lark, redshirt freshman Jason Munns (who's returning from a mission in May) and true freshman Jake Heaps — will be in fall camp, under the microscope, battling for the starting job at Quarterback U.

"Hopefully we'll reap the fruits of our labor with all these young guys," Doman said. "They're very talented. We're in a great spot."

So what, exactly, is Doman looking for in his next starting quarterback?

"I want to see every quarterback be efficient in moving this offense up and down the field," he said. "Completions equal first downs, which equal touchdowns. If they learn that concept, in this offense, they can be very successful as a young quarterback. That might mean the running backs are going to catch a ton of balls this year. That might mean we'll have to do more play-action this year. But if we can learn to continue to complete passes at a high percentage, and that helps us be efficient, goodness, we have a lot of other weapons in this offense. Those quarterbacks don't have to be the weapon this year. They just have to be efficient."

Doman said that for the quarterbacks, spring ball was not about competition, but development, and a starter isn't expected to be named until deep into fall camp. A lot can happen between now and the opening of the 2010 season on Sept. 4 against Washington.

Here's what we learned about the BYU quarterback situation during the recently concluded spring drills.

The freshman phenom

Considering all the hype associated with Heaps, there's a heap of pressure on him to deliver.

Deliver he did during spring practices.

When competing in seven-on-seven drills, Heaps played like a seasoned veteran, throwing tight spirals with laser-like precision, moving the chains and leading the offense to the end zone.