Gerry Bohanon, a rookie, is recovering from a shoulder injury. BYU’s starting quarterback contest
The new quarterback for BYU isn’t worried about starting QB Derby; instead, he is still focused on getting well and understanding the plays.
When spring practices started in late February, one of the first things asked of BYU rookie quarterback Gerry Bohanon was how much he wanted to start for the Cougars this fall.
“You are aware that you can always improve it. Years had passed since I had developed that arm strength, and then football was taken away from me. You still need to keep maintaining and building it.
– Gerry Bohanon, quarterback for BYU
Subsequently, Bohanon questioned out loud whether the reporter was aware of the 16 months he had been going through. But that day, standing on the BYU practice pitch, he responded simply.
Oh, really terribly, he exclaimed. We spend our whole lives preparing for this. When you’re a little child, your dream is to start quarterback in college and then become a starter in the NFL. That is the ultimate objective.
Since then, Bohanon has demonstrated through 15 spring camp drills and scrimmages that he is ready for BYU offensive coach Aaron Roderick to continue having faith in him due to his surgically healed right shoulder. After watching Bohanon throw in person in December of last year, Roderick and Matt Mitchell, the offensive analyst for BYU, decided to give the former South Florida and Baylor quarterback an opportunity to challenge incumbent Jake Retzlaff for the starting job this autumn.
Bohanon demonstrated he had nearly fully recovered from the November 2022 surgery on that particular day when he uncorked a 60-yard bomb that fell a good five yards in ahead of his intended recipient during one of the last practices of camp.
“It felt good,” he remarked during BYU’s last spring practice on 30 March at a press conference. To tell the truth, that was a hint that I was returning—sort of, but not really. I want to be able to effortlessly perform that action again and over again, as well as to be able to do it every day.
Thus, he said, “I have experienced times when I feel like, ‘Well, I am feeling like myself.'” “There are times when you think you can make every throw right now. Knowing that I can tear a deep ball down the pitch gives me a nice sensation. But are you able to perform that repeatedly and keep doing so during a practice or a game?
Bohanon reported that his shoulder “got a little sore” at the beginning of camp, but as he packed sessions and workouts, the stiffness lessened until it was barely felt in the last few weeks of March.
Regarding the rehabilitation procedure, he declared, “I am done, I am good now.” But you are aware that you can always improve it. .. Years had passed since I had developed that arm strength, and then football was taken away from me. You still need to keep maintaining and building it.
Maintaining the damage and starting treatment
On October 15, 2022, Bohanon’s South Florida squad was playing Tulane at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa for their homecoming. Bohanon’s shoulder became lodged in the ground by a Tulane linebacker as he attempted to gain additional yards with his feet. He realised right away that his season was ended. He was unaware that he wouldn’t be playing in any games during the 2023 season either.
After losing 50–21 to BYU in the season opener, in which Bohanon completed 17 of 30 passes for 172 yards and no touchdowns with one interception, South Florida would end up with a 1–11 record and lose all of its coaching staff.
Bohanon would meet the knife of a physician; in November, a ruptured labrum required surgery on his shoulder.
“I was away from the ball for half a year. That was challenging. Extremely challenging,” he remarked. However, I knew I was capable of it. I so began tossing a tennis ball when I returned after a six-month absence. On my first try, I was unable to throw a tennis ball ten yards.
When he could throw a football, he could only manage around twenty tosses in a day before experiencing shoulder pain and fatigue.
“I was mentally dying,” he declared. “I recall thinking, ‘Hold on now, that is quite a bit, now,’ when I attempted to move up to 40. However, it seems like the more you practise, the more you discover that you are capable of doing it.
Bohanon reported that for the past five months, he has been throwing every day while according to his doctors’ orders and not overdoing it.”
The offensive coaches at BYU desired firsthand observation.
After the 2023 season concluded, Roderick told the Deseret News, he realised the team needed an experienced quarterback, but not just any quarterback. It needed to fit perfectly. He felt Bohanon might fit in at BYU thanks to industry friends like former Baylor and BYU offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes.
It was now only a question of whether Bohanon could complete all of the throws required by BYU’s offensive scheme. A day or two after reaching out to the former Arkansas four-star prospect, he and Mitchell boarded an aircraft headed for Florida.
“We attempted to recruit Gerry to come serve as Jaren Hall’s backup the year before he transferred from Baylor to South Florida,” Roderick remarked. “He chose USF because he anticipated being the starting quarterback right away.”
Bohanon claims that while in Florida, he was throwing roughly 60 times a week in October and increased it to 60 or 70 times a day in November because he was aware that he would be participating in tryouts for other schools in December. He claimed that Mitchell and Roderick had asked him to make numerous throws, and that they had made the offer soon after, indicating that he had evidently satisfied their requests.
He remarked, “I feel like I was able to pull it together and show them that I could do it.”
Let the quarterback competition begin.
On the last day of spring training, Roderick said that Treyson Bourguet, a transfer from Western Michigan, had made the greatest progress towards securing the No. 3 spot, with Bohanon and Retzlaff still tied for first place.
Since then, BYU has received commitments from Utah State transfer McCae Hillstead and Nick Billoups and Ryder Burton, who both hit the transfer portal.
Speaking on March 30, Bohanon compared the quarterback rivalry to his experiences at Baylor, where he eventually started alongside Blake Shapen, and South Florida, where he was hired in 2022.
Equal reps, one- and two-man rotations, a different centre, and a different offensive line have all been the same, according to Bohanon. It has resembled everyone else’s previous competition that I have participated in somewhat.
They are ensuring that they are carrying out the task correctly. We receive equivalent reps. There is no one receiving more reps than the other. We have the exact same opportunity.
Bohanon expressed his satisfaction that the rivalry is continuing over the summer and heading into autumn camp.
“I am happy that I can still compete and demonstrate to them that I will keep improving as a player and learning the offence,” he remarked.
He intends to continue perfecting the phrase over the following four months. The language and vocabulary of the plays are different from what he ran at Baylor under Grimes, the former BYU OC. He also intended to spend a lot of time working with Southern California’s 3DQB academy, run by former BYU quarterback John Beck.
Bohanon remarked, “I had a job with John before spring ball.” That concluded it. He is incredibly talented. I intend to reconnect with him frequently.
Bohanon starts to fit in at BYU.
Provo and BYU are very different from Bohanon’s hometown of Earle, Arkansas, Baylor and Waco, and USF and Tampa. However, Bohanon claimed that his first three months in Utah proved to him that, both on and off the pitch, he had made the right choice.
“There’s nothing more inviting than this. You are family if you attend BYU. Despite moving across the entire country, I feel at home here. Here, I feel secure. Thus, for me, the most crucial aspect was simply interacting with everyone,” he stated.
“Everyone has been incredibly kind and kind. When you walk into the store, everyone greets you with a wave and a “how are you doing?”
Bohanon claimed that in addition to Retzlaff, he has quickly made friends with all of the quarterbacks present, including receivers Darius Lassiter and Keelan Marion.
“This location exudes a positive energy,” he remarked. “You want to act morally. You wish to lend a hand. Everyone is in the same manner. It isn’t the same (alterations). Everyone is the same anywhere you go, whether it’s the supermarket or the college. You want to be in a location like that.