Air Force gets creative to prepare for BYU freshman Heaps

True freshman quarterback Jake Heaps has only played half of a game for BYU, but he isn’t a complete mystery to the Air Force coaching staff.

The Falcons did plenty of scouting over the summer for the first five opponents of the season. When there wasn’t much film to watch on a key player like Heaps, one of the top recruits in the nation who splits time with starting quarterback Riley Nelson, coach Troy Calhoun got creative.

Calhoun and his staff hunted down high school video of Heaps, trying to find any tendencies that could help in preparation for Saturday’s game.

“I just don’t think you can leave anything to chance here, with how you prepare,” Calhoun said. “If you’re that thorough and vigilant, you give yourself a better chance.”

Calhoun said he tries to track down high school film of any opposing player who might play a lot as a true freshman. The game video of Heaps didn’t come from his high school, but from opponents. Calhoun said when he watches high school film of quarterbacks, he can try to look at his release, perhaps how he carries the ball or if he looks off defensive backs. He even watches to see how much responsibility he might have had in terms of calling out pass protections.

“Just see what’s expected of him that way,” Calhoun said.

Calhoun liked what he saw from Heaps on the film and gushed about Heaps this week. BYU has had Steve Young, Jim McMahon, Robbie Bosco, Ty Detmer and Max Hall among its quarterbacks, and Calhoun said he thinks Heaps is more talented than any of them.

“I think he’s the most talented quarterback they’ve had there, as a pure NFL pro-style quarterback, in terms of raw skills and ability, at that age,” Calhoun said. “And they’ve had some fair ones there.”  

BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall has had to prepare to face freshmen before, and freshmen quarterbacks. He said he didn’t spend much time picking apart their flaws on film, because he figured all freshmen are going to make mistakes.

“We didn’t even acknowledge what they were capable of physically,” Mendenhall said. “That might sound like an exaggeration, but we were more focusing on, they’re freshmen.”