He's a competitive dude. He also notices what's said about him and makes no secret about that. The meme (which I found hilarious) about him and the red zone that was on Cougarboard today will find its way to JR's gaze and probably has already.
BYU had a monumental victory that caught the eyes of the nation and made us the talk of the town for a couple days. And NONE of that talk has been about Retzlaff unless one is to count the internal discussion of his maddening, ongoing habit of awful redzone turnovers.
He'll have seen his film and likely received a grade. Having now begun another offseason, Jake knows the score.
He won't be ranked dead last among QBs in the Big 12 again, but he'll know that there's plenty of talk of him as the X factor, even the weak link between BYU winning some games next year and contending for a Big 12 championship. He improved between his debut season and this year although he maintained too much of the recklessness that threatens to define him. BYU's chances in 2025 probably depend on more improvement.
Jake has all the motivation he needs. He's a guy that cares and works hard. He has resources and opportunities in spades to improve himself. Let's see what he can do with them.