Breaking Down Jake Heaps

Everyone who saw BYU’s 55-7 win over UNLV on Saturday witnessed a major improvement in BYU true freshman quarterback Jake Heaps.

But, having had the opportunity to go back and break down Jake’s game on Wednesday, I came away even more impressed than I was on game day.

First off, Heaps completed 13 of his 19 pass attempts for a 68 percent completion rate in the first half as BYU raced out to a 38-0 halftime lead.

Of Heaps’ six incomplete throws in the first half, three balls were thrown right into the hands of the receivers and were either dropped or batted away.

A short pass to Mike Meuhlmann was dropped, a pass down the middle to Mathews was dropped on a play in which pass interference could have been called, and a deep out-and-up throw to the endzone that went off the hands of McKay Jacobson were all well placed balls.

Heaps also threw one incompletion when he got rid of the ball to avoid pressure, and another that was a catchable ball thrown to Ashworth who was well covered by the Rebel defender.

The only off-target pass thrown by Jake came on the first drive of the game when he was hit as he tried to deliver on a 3rd-and-10 play.

After the pain of watching the freshman struggle with his accuracy and control during the first eight games of the season, it was truly amazing to see Heaps so completely dialed in during the first half of this game.

This was the Jake Heaps that everyone had been waiting to see emerge.

Heaps sliced and diced UNLV’s zone coverage throughout the first half. He was able to find the holes and seams in the Rebel defense with regularity. He also easily read blitzes on multiple occasions and delivered the ball to his hot receivers for good gains. He even found his tight ends on occasion during this game.

He also converted on multiple third-and-long situations that required him to step up into the pocket and deliver the ball.

The 3rd-and-12 completion for 36 yards to Jacobson in the second quarter was a thing of beauty and a laser shot down the middle of the field. That pass and the completion along the sideline prior to it to JJ really showed off Heaps’ ability as he hit both players in stride.

On the following series when Jake read the blitz and calmly hit Di Luigi circling out of the backfield for a nice gain, I was thinking that the Rebel defense was becoming putty in the youngster’s hand.

Jake also showed more touch on his short throws and screen passes throughout the day. All of this is evidence that he is beginning to feel comfortable in the pocket and that the game is really starting to slow down for him.

Early in the second half, UNLV tried to mix things up by throwing man coverage at Heaps, and Jake made them pay. He hit Ashworth on a crossing route, and Luke used the rub by Hoffman to get loose and take it 42 yards to the house.

On that play Heaps was originally looking at the tight end Devin Mahina down the seam in the center of the field, but came off of him and went to Ashworth when it was apparent that Luke was more open that Devin.

It was a beautiful play that was also made possible because the outside linebacker for UNLV took himself out of the play by going man-to-man on Josh Quesada, who ran his route out of the backfield and down the left sideline.

The most impressive play of the day to me though came later in the 3rd when Heaps avoided the safety blitz, stepped up into the pocket looking like John Elway and delivered a bullet to Ashworth on a deep curl. The completion of 18 yards converted a another third-and-long situation for the the Cougar offense.

The only thing to even complain about on Saturday, was the way Heaps was used in the option game.

I didn’t like it.

First of all, does the defense really think that Jake is going to keep the ball? They know the ball is going to Di Luigi on a long developing play and that gives them a chance to pursue to JJ.

Second, when Jake is out there running the option, he is considered a runner and defenders can take free shots on him—so, why would you expose your freshman QB like that?

Finally, if you want to get JJ the ball on the outside, just pitch it to him. That allows him to get his eyes up the field earlier and gives him more opportunity to use his vision and cut it up or cut back against the grain if needed.

All-in-all though, it was a great game plan, a well-called game by Anae and a well-executed game by Heaps. Now let’s see if the Cougar offense can take its newly-found show on the road and ring up the scoreboard at CSU.