Is BYU Quarterback Tanner Mangum the Most Likable Gunslinger in the Country?

In a world of 24/7 recruiting coverage and the ability to pull up any depth chart at a moment’s notice, there are precious few stories on the national radar that simply materialize out of thin air. In contrast to even just a few years ago, the stars of tomorrow in college football all appear to be both well-known and well-debated long before they step out onto the field.

Perhaps that is what has made the emergence of BYU quarterback Tanner Mangum so refreshing.

In a span of just two weeks, he has gone from unknown backup to a full-time folk hero for the Cougars faithful and legions of others across the country. Following a pair of memorable Hail Marys to help the team start 2-0 in 2015, Mangum has guided BYU into the Top 25 and continued national relevance.

Not bad for a guy who has only been on his college campus for three months.

Nati Harnik/Associated Press

"He's got kind of those Johnny Manziel qualities. He runs around and slings it and they come up with it,” UCLA head coach Jim Mora said Tuesday after practice, ahead of his Week 3 matchup with Mangum. “He's a guy who can force you to cover for a long time. You have to keep him in the pocket. When he gets out of the pocket, he makes plays down the field."

Mangum, in contrast to recent players who developed a reputation for being gunslingers on and off the field, such as Manziel and even Florida State’s Jameis Winston, appears to be following a different path. While those two Heisman winners had their fair share of detractors, with Mangum, you’re bound to even find a few Nebraska and Boise State fans following the BYU signal-caller and silently rooting for him to succeed, despite the painful losses he inflicted on their teams.

The question now is this: Is Mangum this season’s version of Kenny Hill, who saw success early at Texas A&M before fading into irrelevance as the season went on? Or is he the budding star who justifies a rare title in today’s social-media-fueled, "hot take"-heavy college football coverage—that of the most likable quarterback in the country?

Early Beginnings

Mangum may be the most popular member of his family tree at the moment, but he is far from being the best athlete in his own household. In fact, he may just be the worst athlete of the group, despite being an FBS starting quarterback.

Older brother Parker, who now works at Nike, was an accomplished signal-caller in high school and started at quarterback for St. Mary’s College before the school eventually dropped football. Caught without a program to play for, the biggest and strongest of the three Mangum brothers transferred to BYU, where he saw action as a tight end and wide receiver.

Even older sister Meredith played soccer at Boise State, and Tanner’s younger sister, Abigail, is a regular name in the local high school sports section back in Boise, Idaho.

Madison Mangum, two-and-a-half years older than Tanner, made SportsCenter’s top-10 list earlier this month on his own merits. Now a senior at Idaho State after previously walking on at BYU, the veteran wide receiver hauled in a twisting, one-handed touchdown grab in a Week 1 blowout win over Black Hills State.

That is far from the only memorable moment he has had on the football field. In fact, the highlights of his time in pads started several years ago when he shared the field with Tanner at Timberline High School.

“I was a senior and he was our starting quarterback as a freshman. That was probably the most fun year of football I ever played, playing with my little brother. Just a ton of fun,” Madison told Bleacher Report in a phone interview. “Our favorite play was the fade down in the red zone. Other than that, we threw a lot of deep balls and we completed a lot of them back in high school. He’s been (throwing Hail Marys) for a while.”

The two only spent a season together throwing bombs down the field before Madison left for college, but even in that short time frame, he could tell that there was something special brewing in his younger sibling. Even prior to Tanner being named an all-state quarterback, he displayed many of the traits that the entire country caught a glimpse of the past two weeks.

“As a freshman, he was already 6'1" with a strong arm. He was definitely a gunslinger,” said Madison of his brother. “He was a very raw talent as a freshman, but he could definitely sling it. He threw for a ton of yards.”

That early success attracted plenty of attention from college recruiters across the country, but it was still Tanner’s childhood-favorite program (BYU) and hometown team (Boise State) that kept the closest watch on him. Despite not having the benefit of playing all of his important junior season because of an injury, the youngest Mangum was still a highly regarded quarterback in the region before he truly started to blow up in recruiting circles.

First Comes Fame, Then Comes Silence

Having grown a couple more inches and tacking on some extra pounds, Tanner Mangum first jumped onto the national football radar in the summer between his junior and senior year of high school.

Already committed to BYU, he developed into a top-100 recruit in the class of 2012 thanks in part to competing with—and beating—a number of highly ranked players on the summer camp circuit.

“He’s a kid who is ridiculously competitive but uncommonly upbeat,” said Pac-12 Networks analyst Yogi Roth, a former quarterbacks coach at USC who helps run the prestigious Elite 11 competition. “You kind of didn’t know a lot about him coming in, but his personality jumped off the T-shirt he was wearing and his ability matched it. He had this spirit about him.”

Mangum was labeled the top quarterback at Nike’s The Opening, slinging passes alongside every other top player in the country. Later that summer, he was named co-MVP at the Elite 11 quarterback competition alongside future Heisman winner Jameis Winston, beating out others such as current Cincinnati starter Gunner Kiel.

While some may have thought the small-school star from a state not known for its high school football would have been overwhelmed by all the attention, Mangum was instead a cool customer. Not only did he show off his football skills standing shoulder-to-shoulder with future stars, but Mangum reminded all of them that he was the best that week, too.

Courtesy of 247Sports

After winning the accuracy challenge two days in a row, it was no coincidence that Mangum sported his special yellow jersey in a camp photo to let everybody know who was the top dog.

“You get to the finals and we paired him with Jameis (Winston) and they have, quite honestly, similar outgoing personalities. I think that they were great competitors and had really good respect for one another’s game,” Roth said. “Those two knew they were the top two and had this presence about themselves. Those guys, pretty much every day, were setting the pace.”

Almost as quickly as he made it into national headlines, Mangum fell off the map.

Sure, he was known locally in Boise for passing for more than 4,000 yards as a senior and to the recruitniks of the BYU fanbase who saw his lofty ranking on Rivals.com. But it says plenty about the nearly three-year gap between high school success and now that some of Mangum’s high school peers are making their first NFL starts, while the 22-year-old true freshman was preparing for just his second game as a starter with the Cougars.

Cliff McBride/Getty Images

You see, this is where the story of Mangum takes a unique twist that is typically only applicable at a school such as BYU. He enrolled down in Provo, Utah, alongside this year’s QB1, Taysom Hill but did not immediately join the football team. By preserving a year of eligibility using a technique known as grayshirting, Mangum ended up setting himself up as the Cougars starter of the present and distant future.

After participating in spring football in 2013, he set off on the unique experience of a two-year Mormon mission to Northern Chile. He was only able to communicate with his family a handful of times per year, and the remote locale provided few opportunities to think about—let alone train for—football.

With Mangum out of sight and out of mind, his co-MVP from the Elite 11 days, Winston, was winning a national title. By some accounts, the time off the college football radar was well spent for Mangum and allowed him to return to school wiser about the world.

“The mission definitely changed him for the better. It allowed him to mature and he came back with a different perspective on life. He definitely grew up a ton,” Madison said. “He was always a pretty confident and outgoing kid, even before the mission. But afterward, he was that much more polished and confident in himself. You could see those changes when he got home.”

That appears evident in every interview Mangum gives, most after late-game heroics no one thought possible even a few weeks ago. In many ways, so much time away from the gridiron has only added to the remarkable feats he’s accomplished on it. 

The Likable QB 

You could probably give BYU a pass if all it wanted to do on offense the rest of this season is have Mangum roll right, plant his feet and heave the ball downfield. It's working quite nicely so far.

The Cougars are averaging just 3.1 yards per rush as a team, which is a stark contrast to having six different players average 10-plus yards per catch through two games. While the team just as easily could be 0-2 heading into a two-week stretch of games that features trips to UCLA and Michigan, you wouldn’t know about that thin line between wins and losses judging by the confidence the program is starting to exude with its new starting quarterback.

“It’s been the funnest two games of my career,” BYU offensive coordinator Robert Anae told KSL radio on Wednesday. “There was a lot of growth (from Mangum) going on and I expect a lot of growth from last week to the next one. We are just starting out tapping into his skill set.”

That’s a good sign for BYU’s offensive development this season. And it could present huge problems to opposing coaches who are tasked with figuring Mangum out.

While Mora may have brought up the Manziel comparison, it’s become obvious that Mangum isn’t exactly like some of his predecessors who have also been labeled gunslingers with the ball in their hand. More to the point, people outside the BYU fanbase seem to have bought into the always-smiling quarterback as much for his heroics between the lines as his clean record off the field.

“I don’t know about Johnny Football, Tanner isn’t much of a runner,” brother Madison joked. “I think he looks like former BYU quarterback John Beck. He also wore No. 12. Tanner reminds me of him. Even a little bit like Tom Brady. 

“To compare Tanner to Tom is a little far-fetched but, style-wise, I think he has a similar style.”

Mangum certainly has shown off some of the accuracy and poise of a Brady when his team needs him most. His background suggests there won’t be any worries of late-night, off-field issues, either.

Only time will tell if he lives up to the high praise he’s received so far, after a pair of remarkable victories. One thing does ring true for now, though: The happy-go-lucky kid from Idaho wearing the BYU jersey with pride just might be the most likable quarterback in the country. 

Maybe, that is, until an opponent sees him take the field in the final minute.

You can follow Bryan Fischer on Twitter at @BryanDFischer. Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.