It’s hard to imagine that roughly a year ago today, true freshman Bear Bachmeier shocked everyone by winning the starting quarterback at BYU after arriving on campus in June. We were even more shocked that he produced one of the best true freshmen seasons of the last 25 years en route to a 12 win season and a conference championship game appearance. What can we possibly expect for an encore?While Bear was everything BYU fans could have asked for a season ago, there are still areas in his game where Bear needs to grow for BYU to go from fun underdog story, to a true contender, to winning a playoff game. Let's revisit where BYU’s quarterback room excels before charting a path for improvement. Projected Depth Chart1. Bear Bachmeier2. Treyson BourgetStrengths: Everything 20 yards and inBYU QB Bear Bachmeier against UCF | BYU PhotoBear Bachmeier was awesome at just about everything 20 yards and in. As a passer, Bachmeier threw for the second most yards in the country on throws between 10-20 yards down field behind only North Texas turned Oklahoma State quarterback Drew Mestemaker. He was also the 18th most accurate QB on those throws with a 63.6% completion percentage and 17th in yards per attempt (11.5). As a runner, Bachmeier ranked 27th in rushing yards, 22nd in explosive runs, and 12th in touchdowns among quarterbacks despite his longest run being only 22 yards on the season. His EPA per rush ranked 7th among Power 4 quarterbacks, which should not come as a surprise given the number of clutch 3rd-and-longs he converted with his legs. BYU really has one in Bear Bachmeier they’re on an unbelievable run of QB’s latelyI think he’s a top 25 QB in the nationCan really hurt you with his arms or legs Just hate that he’s #47 at QB 😭 pic.twitter.com/NMog3VbFyS— CFBTalkDaily (@CFBTalkDaily) April 2, 2026For a true freshman, Bachmeier also performed surprisingly well under pressure, ranking 18th in completion percentage on a respectable 9.2 yard average depth of target while ranking 24th best at avoiding sacks when pressured. He also orchestrated double-digit comebacks in his first 3 road starts against Power 4 competition largely on his own heroics. Overall, Bachmeier was elite for a true freshman and pretty solid for a QB overall. Bachmeier ranked 20th in total QBR last season and 12th among returning quarterbacks this season. Compared to last year’s trio of 5-star true freshmen starters, Bachmeier finished 8 spots ahead of Michigan’s Bryce Underwood, 55 spots ahead of Maryland’s Malik Washington, and 68 spots ahead of Cal’s Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele. We truly do not appreciate that Bachmeier put together one of the greatest true freshmen seasons in history. Areas to prove: Everything 20 yards and in (RedZone)BYU QB Bear Bachmeier against Arizona | BYU PhotoJust about every preview you will read about Bear Bachmeier this season will likely mention that his biggest struggle as a passer was on throws 20+ yards outside the numbers. What they might not include was his biggest struggles were actually in the redzone. Bachmeier held the third lowest redzone pass efficiency rating of any starting quarterback in the Big 12 and the lowest redzone completion to touchdown ratio. Bachmeier completed one fewer redzone pass (28) than Josh Hoover and Devon Dampier (29). Bachmeier threw 8 redzone touchdowns compared to 17 and 14 from Hoover and Dampier, respectively. Those struggles are not unusual for a first year starter, but Bachmeier needs to be better when the windows get tighter and the game gets faster. Bear Bachmeier finds Kyler Kasper for the score. Bachmeier put it up where only the 6'6 Kasper could get it. pic.twitter.com/9mop9NkWKt— Casey Lundquist (@casey_lundquist) August 15, 2026The good news is BYU recruited the offseason portal with the redzone in mind. BYU’s top 3 pass-catchers last season averaged just over 6’1. BYU’s top 5 projected pass catchers this season average nearly 6’5. Chase Roberts was really the only reliable redzone target for BYU last season, garnering nearly half of redzone targets and 6 of the 8 red zone touchdowns. This year, BYU can field a line up of 6’6 Kyler Kasper, 6’4 Walker Lyons, 6’4 Roger Saleapaga, and 6’5 Jojo Phillips without ever tipping off the run/pass play call by personnel grouping. This does not include 6'4 Reggie Frischknecht who has also shown to be a red zone weapon. That is a massive benefit to Bachmeier relative to what he had last season. There’s a difference between making a jump and making progress. The clips from the scrimmage shows Bear made progress. This throw is 100% a jump pic.twitter.com/qsm3RIEiWb— Joe Wheat (@joewheat27) August 21, 2026From the fall camp highlights posted by BYU, we have seen marked improvement in redzone efficiency from Bachmeier to all of the targets in question, particularly Lyons and Kasper who appear to be reliable safety blankets at their size. Position ranking: #4While Bachmeier is viewed nationally as a top 20 quarterback this season, there is an argument to be made that he is still underrated. Given that he’s only 4th on our positions rankings might mean he’s underrated by us. Bachmeier was one of ten quarterbacks last season to account for over 3,600 yards, 26 touchdowns, 64% completion rate, and throw fewer than 8 interceptions. If Bachmeier merely repeats that production in 2026, there is an argument he will be in day one NFL draft discussions going into his junior season. The reason he’s not higher on our list is that we need to see more big-time throws down the field and in the redzone before we can put him with the other 3 groups with surefire early round draft picks. This is is a big time throw pic.twitter.com/P2UiQmDa4V— Joe Wheat (@joewheat27) August 12, 2026That said, we love what we’ve seen from Bachmeier in both areas throughout camp. Between his first full offseason in the program and a reloaded stable of redzone targets, we expect Bear Bachmeier to be a top 10-15 quarterback in the country by seasons end. Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on X and Facebook for the latest news.Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow