Taysom Hill will lead the BYU offense on the field when they take on Arizona on Sept. 3.
With fall camp nearly wrapping up and the final scrimmage taking place on Thursday, the BYU coaching staff has announced a starter at the most looked upon position on the depth chart on Tuesday with Taysom Hill being named the starting quarterback.
“We talked as a staff his weekend and Taysom will be our starter,” offensive coordinator Ty Detmer said after Tuesday’s media session. “He is excited about that and we are excited to see him go again. He is 100 percent healthy and is a fifth-year senior … he has the experience and leadership of the group, and we feel comfortable with him in there and going full speed.”
That puts Mangum as the backup quarterback for the season, and Detmer was firm on that this will not be a two-quarterback system.
“Tanner handled it great, worked and made it a tough decision which was his job, and we feel really good with both of those guys and will be ready to go when called upon,” Detmer said. “We are excited to have both of them can go in and win games for us. I have never been a fan of (a two-quarterback system) and Taysom is our guy.”
Depth is key for any position but having experience at quarterback is an added benefit that not many teams have. BYU has that luxury of an experienced backup quarterback in Mangum who is already a known commodity as a player who can go in and win games as last year.
Thursday’s scrimmage will be the first chance for Hill to be in command of the first-team offense the entire scrimmage, and Mangum will be working with the second team.