In other words, Roderick would like Bachmeier to complete 70% of his passes, throw for 30 touchdowns<\/a> and have fewer than 10 interceptions. <\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re running the football well, throwing it efficiently, getting those explosive plays, that\u2019s where the points come, and so I do expect us to take a step forward,\u201d Roderick said. \u201cWe were good on offense last year. I expect us to be better this year, and I\u2019m gonna be disappointed if we\u2019re not.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 \u00a0BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick<\/p>\n \u201cThose (benchmarks) have been the years when we\u2019ve been really great on offense. Zach did it. Jaren did it,\u201d Roderick said in an April 2 news conference wrapping up the 11th spring camp under head coach Kalani Sitake. \u201cWhen we\u2019ve had our best years on offense, those have been the benchmarks, right around 70% completion range, 30 TD passes, single-digit picks.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you are doing that, and you have a solid run game, and you\u2019re taking care of the football, you are going to score a lot of points.\u201d<\/p>\n In his junior year, Wilson completed 73.5% of his passes (247 of 336) for 3,692 yards and 33 touchdowns, with just three interceptions as BYU went 11-1 against a pandemic-diluted schedule that did not include a single Power Five opponent at the time. Those stats, and a spectacular performance at BYU\u2019s pro day<\/a>, vaulted Wilson into being the No. 2 pick of the 2021 NFL draft.<\/p>\n In his fifth year in the program<\/a>, the 2022 season, Hall completed 66% of his passes (257 for 393) for 3,171 yards and 31 touchdowns, with just six interceptions as the Cougars went 8-5 and beat SMU in the New Mexico Bowl (Hall did not play in that game).<\/p>\n The 2026 season will be Bachmeier\u2019s second in the program, but clearly Roderick is setting the bar high for a second-year quarterback, based on how well the Southern Californian played as a freshman and without the benefit of having participated<\/a> in spring camp in 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t make a lot of statistical goals (because) sometimes stats can be misleading,\u201d Roderick acknowledged. \u201cThere are definitely a lot of coaches and players who kind of use stats to sell something that may hide some deficiencies, or whatever.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2020 and 2022, Wilson and Hall benefited from strong rushing attacks.<\/p>\n In 2020, Tyler Allgeier <\/a>ran for 1,130 yards, Lopini Katoa had 444 and Wilson himself added 254 as the Cougars put together one of the most potent attacks in the country against an array of Group of Five schools that gave up video game-like numbers. BYU\u2019s only loss in 2020 was a hastily arranged game at Coastal Carolina.<\/p>\n In 2022, Hall relied on his own legs and the rushing ability of Chris Brooks, Lopini Katoa and Miles Davis. Even Puka Nacua had 25 carries that year, for 209 yards.<\/p>\n Which brings us to 2026. Bachmeier\u2019s best friend will be a rushing attack<\/a>, keyed by Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year LJ Martin.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat makes us an elite offense is \u2026 taking care of the football,\u201d Roderick said, referring to the way Jake Retzlaff figured that out in his second year and helped the Cougars go 11-2 in 2024 after they had gone 5-7 in 2023 with a combination of Kedon Slovis and Retzlaff. \u201cIf we do that every week, and we do it the way we\u2019ve done it the last couple years, that gives (us) a chance every week.\u201d<\/p>\n Last year, in leading BYU to a 12-2 record, Bachmeier completed 65% of his passes (251 for 387) for 3,033 yards and 15 touchdowns, with seven interceptions. He also rushed for 527 yards<\/a> and 11 touchdowns. Roderick said the rising sophomore is capable of even better numbers in 2026.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re running the football well, throwing it efficiently, getting those explosive plays, that\u2019s where the points come, and so I do expect us to take a step forward,\u201d Roderick said. \u201cWe were good on offense last year. I expect us to be better this year, and I\u2019m gonna be disappointed if we\u2019re not.<\/p>\n \u201cI promise you, nobody, no fan, nobody out there has higher expectations than I do, and I\u2019m expecting us to take a big step, and that starts with Bear,\u201d Roderick continued. \u201cBear had a great year last year, and we\u2019re expecting them to be even better this year.\u201d<\/p>\n A day after Roderick, new defensive coordinator Kelly Poppinga and Sitake spoke to reporters after the final practice of spring camp<\/a>, Bachmeier and several of his teammates participated in interviews at LaVell Edwards Stadium ahead of the annual alumni game, and the quarterback addressed those lofty expectations for him in 2026.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, I hope those numbers (are attainable),\u201d Bachmeier said. \u201cYou always want to think those are possible. But statistics aside, we just want to see the win column go up.\u201d<\/p>\n One of his expected weapons this season, junior receiver Cody Hagen, had not officially announced his medical retirement from football back then, but Bachmeier spoke confidently about the other returning receivers and newcomers, guys such as JoJo Phillips, Tiger Bachmeier, Oregon transfer Kyler Kasper <\/a>and USC transfer tight end Walker Lyons.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are going to be a very balanced offense,\u201d Bear Bachmeier said. \u201cWe have a great offensive line and obviously, with LJ and Sione (Moa) in the backfield and looking good, we will have a strong rushing attack. And we have got guys on the perimeter that can go. It is a multifaceted (attack) because we are going to be good everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/3WXSINCEDVGQDO5DSIZGLLAZDU.jpg\")
BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick fields questions during Signing Day media availability in Provo, Feb. 4, 2026. | BYU Photo <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"About 35 years ago, Gatorade began airing a series of commercials urging consumers to follow the lead of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":701367,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,3125,99],"class_list":["post-701366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-football","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-news-feed-local","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=701366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/701367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}