Alright, let's hear your Heaps assessments

[Eddie]

Somebody else already said something like this, but who cares? I wish Heaps had stayed; I really do. But he didn't. I will be curious to see how he does, and I hope he does well in the way you might wish any young man do well, but otherwise I don't really care.

This is me too.

I was optimistic with how Heaps played to end last season and was glad he was the starter going into spring, fall, and the 2011 season.

With Heaps at the helm, BYU struggled. I don't know why, they just did. With Nelson at the helm they seemed to do better. I don't know why, they just did.

I thought that the coaches were smart to bring in Nelson to finish the USU game. Heaps was just getting killed out there. I also thought that they should've still had Heaps start the next game, but they chose to go with Nelson. Oh well.

In the end, I was hopeful that Heaps would stay, Nelson would start next year with Heaps RS'ing, and Heaps would tear it up his last two years.

But Heaps decided to leave. C'est la vie. I wish him well as I would wish any good young man well, but I don't know that I'll follow his career much.

In the end Heaps came with a ton of potential and hype that due to whatever reason he was unable to demonstrate with any kind of consistency at BYU.

I believe that the coaches job is to win as many games as they can. Not just next year, but now as well. While I like the idea of developing players and getting subs in at the end of games - which I'm not sure they do enough of - I am not one to agree with the concept of throwing away a season for development for next year.

How do you sell that to the other players? Particularly the seniors? "Hey, we're going to go ahead and suck this year, throwing a game or two, so that next and the year after that can be really awesome and THOSE guys can have a great season. Thanks for 4 years of your life!"

Bull. The coaches owe it to the players to coach to win NOW. If they think that means sitting Jake and playing Nelson, so be it.

[Surfah]

This is me too.

I was optimistic with how Heaps played to end last season and was glad he was the starter going into spring, fall, and the 2011 season.

With Heaps at the helm, BYU struggled. I don't know why, they just did. With Nelson at the helm they seemed to do better. I don't know why, they just did.

I thought that the coaches were smart to bring in Nelson to finish the USU game. Heaps was just getting killed out there. I also thought that they should've still had Heaps start the next game, but they chose to go with Nelson. Oh well.

In the end, I was hopeful that Heaps would stay, Nelson would start next year with Heaps RS'ing, and Heaps would tear it up his last two years.

But Heaps decided to leave. C'est la vie. I wish him well as I would wish any good young man well, but I don't know that I'll follow his career much.

In the end Heaps came with a ton of potential and hype that due to whatever reason he was unable to demonstrate with any kind of consistency at BYU.

I believe that the coaches job is to win as many games as they can. Not just next year, but now as well. While I like the idea of developing players and getting subs in at the end of games - which I'm not sure they do enough of - I am not one to agree with the concept of throwing away a season for development for next year.

How do you sell that to the other players? Particularly the seniors? "Hey, we're going to go ahead and suck this year, throwing a game or two, so that next and the year after that can be really awesome and THOSE guys can have a great season. Thanks for 4 years of your life!"

Bull. The coaches owe it to the players to coach to win NOW. If they think that means sitting Jake and playing Nelson, so be it.

I agree. But our schedule was sorry enough that we wouldn't have lost those games no matter who was QB evidenced by Heaps' play when he came in for injured Riley.

[Eddie]

I agree. But our schedule was sorry enough that we wouldn't have lost those games no matter who was QB evidenced by Heaps' play when he came in for injured Riley.

True. I can agree with that.

I guess part of me also thinks that if Heaps wasn't quite ready for prime time, maybe it was OK to ask him to RS for a year and let Nelson play.

I'll be honest - I had as many stars in my eyes as the next guy about Heaps potential to be the next Detmer/McMahon/Young/Etc. and leading BYU to BCS games in 2012 and 2013, but it just wasn't panning out.

Nelson is working just as hard and dedicating himself just as much to the team's progress - and if he is being somewhat more successful, why not let the kid play? It isn't like Heaps was showing progress or even his past promise.

I guess my final thought I have used to convince myself that I'm OK with the way things turned out is that Heaps hadn't necessarily done anything special to win the spot - so why not Riley?

And I say that knowing in my heart that I am all kinds of nervous for next year. Nelson seems to be all or nothing - a TD or an Int. A first down or a loss of yards. A great pass or a sack. I'm more nervous with him behind center than I am excited. And I'm not convinced that he is teachable, all we seem to hear is that "Riley has to do what Riley does, that's what makes him effective." I don't buy that. Dude has to learn to step up in the pocket instead of running outside and putting his OL in a bad position. Dude has to learn that some plays are positive simply by throwing the ball away and not risking the loss of yards or turnover - you don't have to make the home run every play - but don't make things more difficult for your team on the next play. I want him to learn and become better, not just be who he is. I'm nervous that in telling the press and fans that he is who he is and has to play that way the coaches have given Nelson permission to not listen in team meetings and not improve. In which case we're looking at another lackluster year.

But I'm OK with Heaps leaving. Sure, he had promise. But he needed to develop it. And apparently either the coaches didn't know how or he wasn't willing to stick around and do it. Either way, it doesn't help BYU.

[Jeff Lebowski]

That is the higher priority, unless of course the color blindness leads to points for the opponent. From my recollection the opponents got more points of TO from Jake than Riley, but clearly the disparity in athletic ability from the opponents Jake faced than Riley had more than a little to do with that unfortunate statistical loss for the Jakester.

Did you read the article linked above? He debunked the notion that the disparity in stats is a result of different competition. Heaps underperformed (relative to Riley) against every type of opponent, pretty much any way you look at the data. That's one of the things I found to be interesting about the article. People are always claiming that Riley benefited from poor opponents. That argument just doesn't hold up.

Of course, there could be major flaws in his statistical analysis. If so, I am sure Indy could clear it up for us.

[Indy Coug]

Did you read the article linked above? He debunked the notion that the disparity in stats is a result of different competition. Heaps underperformed (relative to Riley) against every type of opponent, pretty much any way you look at the data. That's one of the things I found to be interesting about the article. People are always claiming that Riley benefited from poor opponents. That argument just doesn't hold up.

Of course, there could be major flaws in his statistical analysis. If so, I am sure Indy could clear it up for us.

I really don't care enough to read the analysis. Heaps is gone. The issues surrounding his demise and departure are much deeper than comparative on-the-field performance.

The only thing left is to tweak people on both sides of the Heaps/Nelson fence.

[Surfah]

True. I can agree with that.

I guess part of me also thinks that if Heaps wasn't quite ready for prime time, maybe it was OK to ask him to RS for a year and let Nelson play.

I'll be honest - I had as many stars in my eyes as the next guy about Heaps potential to be the next Detmer/McMahon/Young/Etc. and leading BYU to BCS games in 2012 and 2013, but it just wasn't panning out.

Nelson is working just as hard and dedicating himself just as much to the team's progress - and if he is being somewhat more successful, why not let the kid play? It isn't like Heaps was showing progress or even his past promise.

I guess my final thought I have used to convince myself that I'm OK with the way things turned out is that Heaps hadn't necessarily done anything special to win the spot - so why not Riley?

And I say that knowing in my heart that I am all kinds of nervous for next year. Nelson seems to be all or nothing - a TD or an Int. A first down or a loss of yards. A great pass or a sack. I'm more nervous with him behind center than I am excited. And I'm not convinced that he is teachable, all we seem to hear is that "Riley has to do what Riley does, that's what makes him effective." I don't buy that. Dude has to learn to step up in the pocket instead of running outside and putting his OL in a bad position. Dude has to learn that some plays are positive simply by throwing the ball away and not risking the loss of yards or turnover - you don't have to make the home run every play - but don't make things more difficult for your team on the next play. I want him to learn and become better, not just be who he is. I'm nervous that in telling the press and fans that he is who he is and has to play that way the coaches have given Nelson permission to not listen in team meetings and not improve. In which case we're looking at another lackluster year.

But I'm OK with Heaps leaving. Sure, he had promise. But he needed to develop it. And apparently either the coaches didn't know how or he wasn't willing to stick around and do it. Either way, it doesn't help BYU.

I agree with everything you said. The last part of it is certainly true and fault can be shared between both coaching staff and Heaps.

[Flystripper]

Honestly I only care about this mess anymore to the extent that it sheds light on our coaching problems which i think are significant. From my perspective, Heaps just isn't important to Byu anymore, but our coaches obviously are. I hope our coaching staff has learned from this, but I am worried that to Bronco it will just reinforce his preconceived notions with respect to 4 and 5 star athletes. I am also worried that Doman will continue to think he can handle all of the offensive duties. Developing young QBs need lots of attention and Doman was busy trying to figure out what he wanted to do with an entire offense.

With the way that Lark, Munns, and Heaps failed to progress the coaching staff should take a good long hard look at themselves. I think losing Anae and promoting Doman without qb coaching support was the worst possible thing that happened to our group of qbs.