PROVO — Bear Bachmeier’s explosive play as a true freshman starting quarterback at BYU has turned plenty of heads through the 10th-ranked Cougars’ 8-0 start.

Two of those heads include his head coach and the five-star signal caller who may be tasked as his succession act.

The five-time Big 12 freshman of the week was named the Manning Award quarterback of the week Wednesday by the Allstate Sugar Bowl and a Great 8 quarterback by the Davey O’Brien Award foundation after the 6-foot-2, 230-pound QB threw for 307 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 49 yards and another score in the Cougars’ 41-27 win over Iowa State.

Through eight games, Bachmeier is completing 62.7% of his passes for 1,693 yards and 11 touchdowns, with an average of 211.6 passing yards per game and an efficiency rating of 148.5.

He’s the first true freshman to start his college career 8-0 since Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence in 2018 — when the Tigers went 15-0 and won a national championship. ESPN.com ranks Bachmeier as the third-best true freshman in the country, behind Miami wide receiver Malachi Toney and Maryland quarterback Malik Washington.

“The composure that he has, the poise, it’s something special,” said BYU coach Kalani Sitake, crediting offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick and assistant quarterbacks coach Matt Mitchell as well as Bachmeier’s family. “But how are you going to simulate practices to see that? We tried as much as we could, and we thought he would respond really well to it. But to be honest, I’ve been very impressed with the way he’s worked through the system”

He’s also caught the attention of the five-star high school senior with a BYU commitment who is likely to succeed Bachmeier in a few years.

“I’ve been able to congratulate him and how well he’s been playing. It’s honestly super impressive,” quarterback Ryder Lyons told KSL.com after Bachmeier’s most recent performance. “The whole team has been playing really well.”

Lyons was in Utah hosting a skill development camp for youth football players with Alpha Recruits and Skyridge High, where he spoke to a crowd of 50-plus youth football players and stayed after to sign autographs and take photos with the recruits.

The quick trip marked back-to-back weekends in Utah for Lyons, who was also one of several highly regarded recruits among the sellout crowd for BYU’s 24-21 win over rival Utah.

The 6-foot-4, 205-pound dual-threat hurler has topped 3,000 passing yards in each of his first two seasons as Folsom’s starter, and is currently completing 74.9% of his passes for 2,127 yards and 21 touchdowns with just five interceptions for the 8-1 Bulldogs, who can finish league play unbeaten Friday against Granite Bay.

Then it’s off to the playoffs before a December graduation and a mission call for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Lyons, who recently met with his church leaders to submit his mission papers, is hopeful to embark on his mission shortly after the Navy All-American Bowl on Jan. 10 in San Antonio so that he can return in time for spring ball at BYU.

When he does, he’ll join a team that has amassed an impressive 19-2 record over the past two seasons under Sitake, including last year’s 11-2 season.

The Cougars are also recruiting at a top level, with a current class of prospects that ranks 22nd nationally by 247Sports — led four-star offensive lineman Bott Mulitalo of Lone Peak, 4-star tight end Brock Harris of Pine View, and 4-star tight end Ty Goettsche of Colorado’s Cherry Creek.

And, of course, the five-star signal caller from the Sacramento area who describes himself as “thoughtful, caring and loyal.”

“But I don’t like to lose,” he added. “I’ll do anything I can not to lose. I’m going to work hard.

“I’m not focused on other stuff. There’s a lot of talk out there, but I’m just focused on me being the best version of me.”

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.