Heaps Is Done

This has nothing to do with talent, or how well Riley is playing right now. I don't think we will ever see Heaps play again as a starter. This is assuming Riley stays healthy. If he does come in for an injured Nelson, he will not be improved.



I am basing this completely on my belief that Heaps is mentally soft and sitting out, no matter how long, won't fix that. The kid is scared and can't or won't take a hit. Those things aren't fixable by riding the pine for a while.



I suspect he will play on Saturday, as ISU might be the worst team to ever come to LES. But he will play scared and rush his throws and over/under throw receivers all day.



Sad.

I think this is a little premature. If he gets a chance to run the scout team, take some hits, and realize that getting hit is not the end of the world, he may turn out to be a BYU great. I wouldn't write the end of his story yet. Many QBs go through a sophmore slump.

I seem to recall a lot of speculation last year after Riley Nelson got injured that he was going to (and should since he was completely incapable of being a D1 qb) switch to safety. This kind of speculation is not only harmful (what if family members read it and tell him about it) but is completely unfounded in fact. We don't know what the future holds for Heaps, hopefully he will be able to redshirt next year and come back a better QB after that, compete for the starting job, and if he is the best guy win it and lead us to a lot of wins.

I think Jake is done for 2011 as starter, unless Riley gets hurt. And with the way Riley plays, odds of getting hurt again are high, unless Riley learns to slide.

Too premature of and assessment for a mid-Sophmore QB. There is no need at this point to even come to a conclussion.

frdbtr wrote:
I seem to recall a lot of speculation last year after Riley Nelson got injured that he was going to (and should since he was completely incapable of being a D1 qb) switch to safety. This kind of speculation is not only harmful (what if family members read it and tell him about it) but is completely unfounded in fact. We don't know what the future holds for Heaps, hopefully he will be able to redshirt next year and come back a better QB after that, compete for the starting job, and if he is the best guy win it and lead us to a lot of wins.

Isn't that on the family for passing along something that obvious hurt Riley? I don't see how a discussion on a internet message board is something that a family member is compelled to pass on to a current player.

I hope I'm wrong but toughness isn't "solved". You either have it or you don't.



If Heaps reads this and it is the reason that he doesn't play well, then I am more right than I think I am. Many people said that Riley couldn't play at this level. It seemed to fire him up and have the opposite affect some are saying it did.

Toughness is learned, like anything else. Especially the part about time and place. Many QBS go through struggles before taking the next step. Including NFL Hall of Famers who sucked as rookies and year 2. Patience is what fans and Heaps needs to allow him to develop and take the next step.

Qman wrote:

I seem to recall a lot of speculation last year after Riley Nelson got injured that he was going to (and should since he was completely incapable of being a D1 qb) switch to safety. This kind of speculation is not only harmful (what if family members read it and tell him about it) but is completely unfounded in fact. We don't know what the future holds for Heaps, hopefully he will be able to redshirt next year and come back a better QB after that, compete for the starting job, and if he is the best guy win it and lead us to a lot of wins.

Isn't that on the family for passing along something that obvious hurt Riley? I don't see how a discussion on a internet message board is something that a family member is compelled to pass on to a current player.

Families are funny things. You read something, it makes you mad, you discuss it, it does its harm. Of course people shouldn't pass on negativity, but they do. I think it is pointless to make unfounded conclusions based on too little data. Like I said about Nelson, the whole "Nelson can't throw more then 10 yards" was based on a couple passes he threw last year while trying to play injured. In the FSU game, he had an injured throwing hand and his 2-3 passes he threw looked terrible so from that data pool, people said he couldn't throws more then 10 yards. It is all rubbish. Maybe Heaps needs to toughen up, we don't know all the reasons why he has played poorly this year. Bottom line is, my opinion is that if he runs the scout team for a year, it will help him to improve which is what we all want.

Lawboy wrote:
Toughness is learned, like anything else. Especially the part about time and place. Many QBS go through struggles before taking the next step. Including NFL Hall of Famers who sucked as rookies and year 2. Patience is what fans and Heaps needs to allow him to develop and take the next step.

Not sure I agree with this. The toughest QB's we have ever had at BYU came here with it. McMahon, Young, Detmer, Max. These guys had it. It was innate.



Heaps can get it together and I hope he does, but it is more than just an issue of needing to learn it. I think most are oversimplifying the problem. It isn't just riding the pine that will give him that. He has a long way to go.

northerncougar wrote:
This has nothing to do with talent, or how well Riley is playing right now. I don't think we will ever see Heaps play again as a starter. This is assuming Riley stays healthy. If he does come in for an injured Nelson, he will not be improved.



I am basing this completely on my belief that Heaps is mentally soft and sitting out, no matter how long, won't fix that. The kid is scared and can't or won't take a hit. Those things aren't fixable by riding the pine for a while.



I suspect he will play on Saturday, as ISU might be the worst team to ever come to LES. But he will play scared and rush his throws and over/under throw receivers all day.



Sad.

While he appeared to be that way this year, he didn't appear that way last year. I think he is simply struggling with something. look at how poised and well he played against utah last year. i can't mesh that with what i saw at the utah state game this year. something was eating at him. he is playing with too much to lose. he needs to get out of that mind set and realize he has nothign to lose. he is not in the nfl yet and he just lost his starting spot. he needs to play without fear again.

I think we will all see Heaps in 3 years as a starter who has rewritten the record books in an interview where he talks about how a chat with Doman in his Sophomore year made him realize that the best thing for him was to redshirt his junior year and let Riley (and Lark if Riley gets hurt) play his senior year. He will talk about how he had started to lose his confidence in his Sophomore year and had to regroup. After a year and a half of watching Nelson do pretty well and fight tooth and nail for every yard, he realized that he had to fight like that if he wanted to ever be great. So he practiced his butt off all offseason and during his time on the bench to become better and even started spending more time with his teammates and becoming more of a leader. Then he will field any questions about winning the National Championship. ;)

There are some locker room issues with this team. There are player cliques, and such that cause a bad dynamic in many cases. Unhappy Sr. RB about touches after the SJSU win yelling at coaches in the locker room. QB player dynamics that are not good or healthy for a team. In many cases they are seniority based issues, as Bronco has built the culture that way. Jake has had locker room issues since last year. I am sure there are those here that know more than me and can confirm this. Not an excuse for poor play, though, but does explain some of the team dynamics that have played out this year since USU game. Winning seems to unite, so hoping it keeps up.

Like frdbtr and others have said, this is inappropriate and useless speculation. I have a feeling you were one of those last year saying Riley must be feeling pretty stupid for giving up a starting career at USU just to become the useless backup at BYU.

When you KNOW things, it is not speculation. And I did not name any names, for specific reasons. Does not make it less true.

northerncougar wrote:
I hope I'm wrong but toughness isn't "solved". You either have it or you don't.



If Heaps reads this and it is the reason that he doesn't play well, then I am more right than I think I am. Many people said that Riley couldn't play at this level. It seemed to fire him up and have the opposite affect some are saying it did.

I'm going to disagree as well. Sure, you can be born with toughness, but you can also learn toughness. I think John Beck is a good example of one who had to learn to become more mentally tough because he took an absolute pounding as a freshman (or was it a sophmore?). Everyone gets hit in football and feels pain. Toughness is about attitude.



If Beck could become more mentally tough, I am sure Heaps can too.

Give it a rest. I think it is clear that Heaps isn't our best option at QB this year, but to say he is done is premature.



Heaps is still very young. Heaps could be a Redshirt Junior when Nelson graduates and I like his chances of winning the starting job then. As he learns hopefully the game slows down for him.

Lawboy wrote:
When you KNOW things, it is not speculation. And I did not name any names, for specific reasons. Does not make it less true.

:roll: Unhappy sr. runningback. Thank JEEBUS you had the decency not to name names.

jonnylingo wrote:

This has nothing to do with talent, or how well Riley is playing right now. I don't think we will ever see Heaps play again as a starter. This is assuming Riley stays healthy. If he does come in for an injured Nelson, he will not be improved.



I am basing this completely on my belief that Heaps is mentally soft and sitting out, no matter how long, won't fix that. The kid is scared and can't or won't take a hit. Those things aren't fixable by riding the pine for a while.



I suspect he will play on Saturday, as ISU might be the worst team to ever come to LES. But he will play scared and rush his throws and over/under throw receivers all day.



Sad.

While he appeared to be that way this year, he didn't appear that way last year. I think he is simply struggling with something. look at how poised and well he played against utah last year. i can't mesh that with what i saw at the utah state game this year. something was eating at him. he is playing with too much to lose. he needs to get out of that mind set and realize he has nothign to lose. he is not in the nfl yet and he just lost his starting spot. he needs to play without fear again.

I thought he was great in multiple games last year, including Utah and the bowl game. That is what scares me. What happened from then until now? I don't have a clue, but what I can see is a guy getting worse every game this year. That is the scary part.

Cougarfan87 wrote:

I hope I'm wrong but toughness isn't "solved". You either have it or you don't.



If Heaps reads this and it is the reason that he doesn't play well, then I am more right than I think I am. Many people said that Riley couldn't play at this level. It seemed to fire him up and have the opposite affect some are saying it did.

I'm going to disagree as well. Sure, you can be born with toughness, but you can also learn toughness. I think John Beck is a good example of one who had to learn to become more mentally tough because he took an absolute pounding as a freshman (or was it a sophmore?). Everyone gets hit in football and feels pain. Toughness is about attitude.



If Beck could become more mentally tough, I am sure Heaps can too.

Agree. But Beck didn't regress like Heaps did. To go from what he did at the end of last year to getting worse in every game this year is a huge problem. The elephant is in the room and no one wants to talk about it.



My point is simple: Whatever the issue is, is not easily solvable by sitting on the bench.