By Jeff Caves
Being a QB/Offensive Coordinator at Boise State seems like a great job. Especially in the last 4 years.
Until you switch places with Zak Hill.
And work 16 hour days for 12 weeks.
Hill has left Boise State for Arizona State. He is trading in one set of problems for another but odds are he will have a more traditional set of issues with only one star QB in Tempe to get ready to play. Consider his history at Boise State:
He was the man most responsible for massaging the up and down career of Brett Rypien. In 2017, Hill had to get a graduate transfer Qb Montell Cozart up to speed to run a different offense than the one Rypien played in a month. Cozart was used as a run-first weapon at QB and ultimately took over for Rypien when Rypien got hurt. Then, the offense gradually went back to Rypien and, by the Mountain West Championship game, it was Rypien’s team again.
The drama in 2019 was extra special.
Hill had to get 3 QB’s ready to play every game. Each guy had a special package or 2 and ultimately, Hill had to prepare 3 different Qb’s to start and play. He then had to manage the personalities of Cord and Bachmeier when they didn’t get to start or play again. Bachmeier went 7-0, threw 192 passes and then sat the rest of the 2019 season. Cord was passed over for the starting job, started in the BYU loss and won vs Wyoming week 8, and never played again.
And, then there is the scrutiny.
If Hill wasn’t hiding his cards over who would play at QB or explaining why the run game was spotty, he always could rely on the “twitiots” or his boss questioning his play-calling. After the close Wyoming win, Harsin said the play-calling needed to be better. I am sure Hill was ready to point at the offensive line not being able to run block or pass protect and he didn’t have many options. But, he used restraint and said these things happen, etc, etc. The offense was turned over to Jaylon Henderson after the Wyoming 20 point offensive game and averaged 40 points per game the rest of the way.
Work, work, work.
Now, Hill can tutor Jayden Daniels, a sophomore to be, who just threw for 2800 yards with 17 TD’s and only 2 interceptions. There is no QB controversy in Tempe, plenty of WR talent but spotty o line play. At least his head coach Herm Edwards is an eternal optimist.
Butttttt….
Edwards, a defensive-minded coach, is credited with making the decision to run the ball and not pass last season after 3 horrible games. It worked. Like I said, sometimes you are just trading in one problem for another. At least in Tempe, who play NAU, BYU, and UNLV in non-conference play in 2020, Hill will mostly just focus on one QB.
And maybe work 15 hour days for 12 weeks
