that we don't have a single QB in fall camp distinguishing themselves." It's too hard to win in the B12 without good QB play, and with neither QB standing out, I was worried we'd have another repeat of the 2023. We'd show signs of life, but rarely be able to score enough points to win games.

What I didn't consider, and I think most fans didn't consider, is Jake's up-side ceiling. Whether it's football or any other skill, the more experience you get doing something, the better you get at it. With Bohanon, he's in his 7th college year. He's as experienced as you'll ever get in college football. There isn't a ton of more room for growth with additional experience.

With Jake, on the other hand, he has some JUCO experience, then sat most of the year behind Slovis. He had very little actual FBS game experience outside the handful of games at the end of last year. He's never had the chance to grow into an FBS QB over time, and all the growth was in front of him. He's definitely improved between the end of 2023 and 2024. And he's better now in week 4 2024 than he was in week 1 2024.

Maybe that's what the coaches saw in Retzlaff and why they ended up going with him. Or maybe it wasn't as close as they made it out to be. Maybe it was at the start of camp, but Jake started growing during camp with the more experience and reps, and was already well ahead of Bohanon by the time camp ended.