Let's talk about BYU's QB Zach Wilson

Nov 3

When the college football season teetered on the brink earlier this year, BYU wasn’t sure how they would piece their schedule together. As most of the major conferences adopted conference-only schedules, BYU was losing opponents left and right. To save the season, the Cougars had to scramble to put together their current 11-game schedule.

Nobody is more thankful for that than junior QB Zach Wilson.

The Draper, UT native has lit up defense all season and ranking top-six in passing yards (2,152), passing touchdowns (19), completion percentage (74.6%), and yards per attempt (11.1). He finally threw his first interception since week one this weekend against Western Kentucky after 184 attempts without an interception. That’s just ridiculous stuff.

He has the ideal build for an NFL QB, standing 6-3 and 210 pounds, yet also the elusiveness to use his legs when he needs to and move around the pocket.

Look at this throw here, moving up in the pocket to evade the pass rush, not setting his feet and launching the ball down the field right into the hand of his receiver who drops it. Or this throw here, where Wilson does what QBs aren’t supposed to do, but throws a beautiful ball off without his feet set back across his body for a touchdown. You can see a little Aaron Rodgers or Patrick Mahomes in these throws.

BYU hasn’t played very good competition so far this year, but Wilson and Co. will get tested on Friday vs No. 21 Boise State, and plenty of NFL scouts are going to pay close attention to how Wilson plays in a true road game against a ranked opponent. If he thrives, his stock could skyrocket.

Wilson is playing himself right up draft boards into the top ten. At the beginning of the season, all we heard was Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, and NDSU QB Trey Lance. Now the BYU QB is playing his way right up into that conversation. There’s only one Lawrence in this draft, so teams are going to want to find that next best option, and that could be Wilson. 247Sports recently mocked Wilson at No. 28 to the Steelers, which could be a good fit.

I wouldn’t even be shocked to see Wilson slide into the QB2 spot behind Lawrence, but the draft is still very far away, so we won’t speculate yet, but Wilson is a guy to keep an eye on for the rest of the season, especially Friday at Boise State.