All Three BYU Football QBs ‘In Contention’ To Play Against Boise State

PROVO, Utah – The big storyline for No. 10 BYU football heading into their game against Boise State is the quarterback position.

Both upperclassmen Jaren Hall and Baylor Romney are injured right now. Hall is dealing with an injury to his ribs that he suffered against Arizona State, while Romney is working through a head injury sustained during the first half of the win over Utah State.

Kalani Sitake said all three of #BYU's QBs are "in contention to play" this Saturday against Boise State. #BYUFootball #GoCougs

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) October 4, 2021

Will freshman Jacob Conover get his first career start on Saturday afternoon in front of a network audience? Head coach Kalani Sitake is keeping the quarterback situation close to the vest.

All three BYU Football QBs “in contention” for Boise State

“As far as right now, they’re all still in contention to play this Saturday,” said BYU coach Kalani Sitake. “So until we practice and get a look at them, no one’s been taken off. As of today. everyone’s still available to play.”

BYU lists Jaren Hall atop the quarterback room with Romney as the backup and Conover in the third spot on this week’s depth chart. After Friday night’s win over Utah State, Sitake said Hall is “close” to coming back to play. But noted he didn’t feel like Hall was “good enough yet,” so he didn’t dress.

When asked about how often Hall has practiced with the first-team offense since the Arizona State game, Sitake replied, “Not enough to where I feel comfortable that he can go out and play in the game and feel like he’s in a position to protect himself.”

Romney was seen last week after the win in Logan wearing Pit Viper sunglasses with earplugs in his ears, a sign that he was immediately in concussion protocol. Two years ago, Hall missed the last Boise State game in Provo due to a concussion he suffered in a loss to USF. He didn’t return until two weeks later against Utah State.

Baylor Romney after the game with #BYU OC Aaron Roderick pic.twitter.com/s4nwsaRzB9

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) October 2, 2021

Leading up to this season, Sitake and BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick felt they had three quarterbacks that could win games. The confidence in freshman Conover was on display in the second half versus Utah State, with Roderick dialing up a pass play for the former four-star recruit’s first game action.

BYU Special Teams Coordinator Ed Lamb on the Coordinators’ Corner praised what the freshman signal-caller did in the Utah State game.

“Jacob won the game. Tyler Allgeier was a hero of the game, but I think it’s important for everybody to recognize on our team and in Cougar Nation that, you know, Jacob came in with an 11-point lead and we extended it to a 14-point lead,” Lamb said. “We won the second half with our third-string quarterback and Jacob protected the football, got it to the right guys, put us in the right checks. He did a tremendous job.”

#BYU QB @JacobConover17 on the chance to play for the first time in his college career.

“It was awesome!”#BYUFootball #GoCougs pic.twitter.com/J12kNo5Lor

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) October 2, 2021

If BYU does turn to Conover, it would be the second time in three meetings that the Cougars have a third-string quarterback starting against Boise State. Baylor Romney did it in 2019 and led BYU to an upset win over a nationally-ranked and undefeated Boise squad.

The rest of the QB room after Conover

After Conover, BYU has Sol-Jay Maiava-Peters, who has been given first-team reps in the past two training camps, to allow coaches to see what they have in the dual-threat athlete. Former Boise State transfer Cade Fennegan is not eligible to play this season due to arriving in the Transfer Portal after the July 1 cutoff. So if BYU digs any deeper into the quarterback depth, it would be Utah transfer Nick Billoups or Rhett Reilly after Maiava-Peters.

No. 10 BYU football hosts Boise State at 1:30 p.m. on ABC. You can listen to pregame coverage of the Cougars and Broncos starting at 9 a.m. this Saturday on KSL NewsRadio (102.7 FM, 1160 AM), your legacy home of the BYU Cougars.

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for KSLsports.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12-3 pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.