How Jewish QB Jake Retzlaff became the face, and the voice, of BYU’s undefeated football team

BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff warms up before the home opener against Southern Illinois at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. Saturday the Cougars head north to Salt Lake City to face rival Utah at Rice-Eccles Stadium. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

After attending his first BYU football game, a 38-9 Cougars rout of No. 13 Kansas State on Sept. 21, local Rabbi Chaim Zippel snapped a quick photo of himself and BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

The friends held up a T-shirt proclaiming Retzlaff as the “BYJew,” a nickname Retzlaff gave himself days after getting to BYU in 2023.

Then Zippel posted it on X, the social networking service formerly known as Twitter.

Then the photo went viral. As of Oct. 31, it had received more than 5 million views.

Since then, that T-shirt and others created by Zippel and the Chabad of Utah County that he established nearly two years ago in Lehi have been sold by the thousands, and Retzlaff’s national notoriety as the first Jewish quarterback at a school supported and sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has reached epic proportions.

“It has been crazy,” Zippel told the Deseret News on Monday. “It has almost become a full-time focus for me. It has been nothing short of amazing.”

Imagine what it has been like for Retzlaff, then. The junior college transfer from Corona, California, who was in a tight battle with Gerry Bohanon to be BYU’s starting quarterback last August, is suddenly the face, and the voice, of BYU’s No. 9-ranked football team.

The Cougars, and their Jewish quarterback, have become a national story, thanks to the uniqueness of the religious partnership and Retzlaff’s success. Once ranked by Pro Football Focus (PFF) as the worst starting QB in the Big 12, he’s now being talked about as a Big 12…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/jewish-qb-jake-retzlaff-became-024500278.html

Author : Deseret News

Publish date : 2024-11-06 02:45:00

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