Steve Young

Hey you historians refresh my memory--didn't Steve Young begin his starting career at GA throwing a boat load of picks? We lost (game was pretty close if I remember) but we were not afraid to put him up against the Dawgs and things turned out pretty all right eh? If we are too scared to start Jake Heaps because it is at FSU, then heaven help us. Our OLine will protect him...how does a pass blocking OLine prepare to block for a QB who is always running anyways?

Totally agree. How many times did Nelson trip over his own linemen that were oblivious to the fact he was once again running. I can just imagine the lineman thinking, "What! You're running again? That's my leg! Why am I even bothering to keep these guys at bay for you?"

Great analogy. A lot of wanna-be sports fans will look at throwing a lot of picks early on as a sign of stunted growth when in fact it is just he opposite.



I knew a lot of these kinds of "fans" in Utah back when Kobe first got started in the league. When the Jazz beat the Lakers in the playoffs Kobe missed like 3 or 4 threes late in the game (mostly airballs I think) and everyone mocked him for being overrated. I couldn't believe the stupidity of the fans. This kid was 19 or 20 years old and he was already taking the big shots for his team in the playoffs and somehow failing that one time was going to harm his career? Wow. Heaps will make mistakes for sure and but he has the drive to attain perfection. Let's give him the space and opportunity now to do it.

BoiseBYU wrote:
Hey you historians refresh my memory--didn't Steve Young begin his starting career at GA throwing a boat load of picks? We lost (game was pretty close if I remember) but we were not afraid to put him up against the Dawgs and things turned out pretty all right eh? If we are too scared to start Jake Heaps because it is at FSU, then heaven help us. Our OLine will protect him...how does a pass blocking OLine prepare to block for a QB who is always running anyways?

Steve Young got significant playing time in 1981, as a sophomore back up to Jim McMahon, notably starting and playing all the way in a 41-45 home loss to UNLV. To open up the 1982 season, Young and BYU started out with UNLV (27-0 win), and played at Hershel Walker's Georgia in week 2. Georgia won on a 44 yard field goal with 1:11 left, but I can find any game stats.



I think the better analogy to the current situation is the use of RS freshman Detmer in 1988. Detmer got significant playing time all season, from the opening loss to Wyoming to eventually coming off the bench to lead BYU in a bowl win over Colorado. It's hard to say in hindsight if giving Detmer about 1/3 of the reps to Covey's 2/3 throughout the season really helped or hindered Detmer's development, but I have the feeling the season wouldn't have been any worse with Detmer getting all the reps.