Beau Knows: Getting to know BYU Football Quarterback Beau Hoge ahead of Saturday’s Wisconsin tilt

With Tanner Mangum looking unlikely to play Saturday after suffering an ankle injury versus Utah, BYU will likely turn to sophomore quarterback Beau Hoge when the Cougars welcome the 10th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers to Provo.

As is usually the first thing brought up with Beau, he is the son of former NFL running back and ESPN analyst Merrill Hoge. He is also the cousin of teammate Tristen Hoge, who is redshirting this season after transferring from Notre Dame.

Beau redshirted in 2016 after playing in three games in 2015 as a true freshman. Many will remember Beau’s relief appearance versus ECU in 2015 which was.... less than ideal, shall we say. He finished 1/5 for 9 passing yards and an interception.

His best performance came against FCS opponent Wagner, where he threw for over 100 yards and had three TD’s on the day. His highlights from the game can be viewed here:

Beau is relatively new to the quarterback position. He was a wide receiver for most of his high school career until switching over to QB his senior year. He threw for 3,459 passing yards and 35 touchdown passes while rushing for 865 yards and 26 rushing TD’s. Yeah, over 60 total TD’s on the season.

HIs claim to fame was this 82-yard touchdown rush, which was number one on the nightly SportsCenter top 10:

How will BYU’s offense look with Beau under center? With Ula Tolutau now healthy and battering opponents, BYU will probably feed him early and often. Tolutau was a Wisconsin commitment prior to his mission, so he will surely want to show well against the team he once planned on playing for.

BYU employed more read option last year with Taysom Hill, and will likely have a similar offensive style with Hoge. Hoge has been learning Detmer’s pro-style system the past two seasons, but odds are that Detmer will put Hoge in more shotgun sets than Mangum has been in as a way to better utilize Hoge’s mobility.

BYU will have its hands full as a massive underdog against a top 10 team, but BYU will hope that the lack of film on Hoge and his athletic ability will put a spark into an anemic BYU offense.