PROVO, Utah (ABC4 Sports) – Jake Retzlaff will start at quarterback for BYU Saturday night against West Virginia.
Kedon Slovis, who has struggled of late, is reportedly working through some injuries, and Retzlaff will make his first NCAA start against the Mountaineers.
The story was first reported by the BYU student newspaper, the Daily Universe, and later by the Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News.
Retzlaff was ranked as the top junior college quarterback in the country by ESPN after playing his first two collegiate seasons at Golden West College and Riverside City College, both in California.
In 2022, Retzlaff completed 312 of 493 passes for 4,596 yards and 44 touchdowns with an efficiency rating of 165.4.
Slovis has led BYU to a 5-3 start, but he took a beating against Texas last week in a 35-6 defeat, getting hit several times.
A transfer from USC and Pittsburgh, Slovis has completed 153 of 266 pass attempts this season for 1,716 yards, 12 touchdowns and six interceptions.
In his last three games, Slovis has failed to throw for over 200 yards, as the BYU offense has scored just three touchdowns total.
After BYU failed to find the end zone last week against Texas, head coach Kalani Sitake was asked if he ever considered a change at quarterback.
“I think everybody thinks the easy answer is just to get another quarterback in there,” Sitake said last Saturday. “How about let’s just protect for him first? And you know, give him a chance. When he is getting hit, that’s not his fault. We had issues in protection breakdown. He was managing the game the way we wanted him to.”
At his weekly Monday press conference, Sitake expressed some frustration with the offensive production.
“It’s go time now,” he said. “It’s been go time. They way that we’ve been doing it hasn’t been working the way that I want it to. We have very smart coaches and capable players that we can find different ways to try to get points on the board.”
It is unclear if this is a permanent change at quarterback, or just for the West Virginia game.
BYU and West Virginia kick off at 5:00 p.m. Saturday in Morgantown.
