Sitake, Mangum Open Up About BYU’s Quarterback Competition

PROVO, Utah – Now that the starting quarterback question has been answered for BYU, head coach Kalani Sitake and the chosen starter Tanner Mangum have opened up about how competitive it was between the senior and freshman Zack Wilson.

As he said earlier in the week, Sitake reiterated on his radio show that it was, “a huge sense of urgency” that propelled Mangum to winning the job.

“He knew going into it that I was comfortable naming a true freshman as a starting quarterback,” said Sitake of Mangum. “That put a lot of pressure on him.”

Wilson graduated early from Corner Canyon High School this year, and impressed the coaching staff with his work in spring ball and fall camps.

Mangum too, was impressed with the youngster.

“Zach’s an incredible player, really good quarterback,” said Mangum. “If I were to think that I deserved it because I was older or more experienced, that’d be a mistake on my part.”

Sitake is pleased that the controversy of sorts is over and admitted that he may have had to make a drastic decision at the position had there not been a clear stand-out.

“Nobody wants to go into the season not having a quarterback named,” said Sitake. “But if we weren’t able to get one, we’d have to play with two. I’m just glad that Tanner stepped up and proved that he was the starting quarterback.”

The key to winning the job, according to Mangum, was that he maintained a positive attitude and avoided any sense of entitlement, especially after coming off a disappointing year.

“You have to earn it every day and especially after last season where I didn’t play well,” said Mangum. “I didn’t play my best and I think it would be foolish of me to think that I deserve it because I definitely didn’t play well enough that I was deserving of it.”