BYU football: RB Josh Quezada starting to pay off on potential too

PROVO — After then five-star quarterback recruit Jake Heaps committed to play for BYU, he spent the next several months trying to woo others to join him.

Talented running back Josh Quezada from La Habra, Calif., was one of those guys, but as time passed and BYU waged a head-to-head recruiting battle with rival Utah for his services, Heaps wasn't sure his future school was going to ultimately land him.

"I'll tell you what," said Heaps. "He was one of the guys that I was kind of a little scared about whether he was gonna come or not. I was calling and calling."

In the end, Quezada decided to follow Heaps to BYU, and 11 months later, the two are starting to do what they set out to do — lead BYU to victories.

They certainly helped lead BYU to a victory against a struggling UNLV on Saturday inside LaVell Edwards Stadium. Heaps enjoyed the best outing of his young career, throwing for 294 yards and two TDs, and Quezada rushed for 65 yards on 13 carries and found the end zone three times as BYU rolled to a 55-7 win.

"He's such a good kid, such a great guy," Heaps said of Quezada. "It was so much fun being able to come here and play with him and be here since January with him — us getting after it and improving. For him to go in there and have a performance like that, I think there's a lot more coming from him in that regard.

"I'm excited about it."

So are a lot of others, including BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall.

"The way he runs the football, he's physical," said Mendenhall. "He runs hard, and he's very humble. He's a complete team player, absolutely unselfish — just a great man. He's got a bright future here."

On Saturday against a one-win UNLV club, the future was now for Quezada.

He scored BYU's first touchdown of the game in the first quarter — a 13-yard scamper off right tackle — then added a second in the second quarter — another 13-yard score — and then capped his stellar day with a third touchdown in the third quarter — this time a burst from 4 yards.

"I feel real grateful for the opportunity that I had," he said. "It was good. I had a lot of opportunities, and the hole was just beautiful. My linemen and Bryan (Kariya), I thank them a lot for being real consistent.

"It was awesome," he added. "It was a great experience, and I didn't realize how many touchdowns I scored until afterward."

For the season, Quezada has rushed the ball 50 times for 229 yards and three TDs. He has also caught five passes for 29 yards and a score.

"It's been great, getting a lot of playing time," Quezada said of his BYU experience. "I'm real grateful for the opportunities that I have, and I'm taking full advantage of those. Every rep I get — I just make sure they count."

e-mail: drasmussen@desnews.com