Harvey Unga, BYU's all-time leading rusher will not be coming back. He had requested to be reinstated, after admitting to an honor-code violation. At any other school this wouldn't even be a topic of discussion, but at BYU it's all the buzz. As much as I love the guy and all he did at BYU, sorry to say but his career is over. The LDS Church is all about keeping their good name, and letting Harvey play again is will not happen after making national news.
That being said let's take a look at Josh Quezada. In my mind he is in the same position that Austin Collie found himself in last year. A guy with a lot of talent, and a shot at making it big. To be quite honest I didn't have super high expectations for Austin Collie. I knew he was good, but the NFL is a different game. I was pleasantly surprised at his breakout rookie season, and somewhat upset I took Terrell Owens instead of Austin Collie as a receiver on my fantasy team.
Josh Quezada has landed in the right place at the right time. I did not get to see him play at the blue and white game, but everything I heard about the kid matched up with his highlight videos from high school. So the only real difference with Austin Collie's situation last year and Josh Quezada's situation this year would be expectations. I can say that I do have expectations for Quezada, as I should. If he can not preform from the get-go he will be put into the rotation rather than a mainstay. While I think that Quezada is the best combination back with a mix of speed, power and shiftiness, BYU has speed backs, power backs and shifty guys, they would just have to rotate.
Of course the game will speak for itself, and come September 4th when the now infamous PAC-10 rolls into town all the talk is just speculation, and Quezada has a chance to prove himself. Do I think he will be the starter as a freshman? Yes. Will he be the running back that we all hope he is? Depends. A lot of that will have to do with the quarterback position. If Reilly Nelson is the QB, I don't think Quezada will have the same impact he would if Lark, or Heaps were taking snaps. That being said, from what I hear I think Quezada will have a huge impact as he brings a new dynamic to the BYU running game. If he is as good in the flats as Harvey was then watch out. It will be time to rise and shout!