After lighting it up at Riverside City College and earning the top JUCO quarterback ranking in the Class of 2023, Jake Retzlaff transferred to BYU during the offseason. He made his third start for the Cougars on Saturday as the Oklahoma Sooners made their first-ever trip to Provo.
His religion makes him something of an enigma on campus.
Retzlaff is one of five students of Jewish faith at Brigham Young University, and one of just three undergraduates. He is the only Jewish quarterback in program history!
BYU was founded in 1875 and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Of its 34,980 undergraduate students, approximately 98% are of the Mormon faith.
Retzlaff, a Reform Jew, is not one of them.
My family is all practicing Jewish, particularly my mom. I had a bar mitzvah and am a member (at Temple Beth Israel, a Reform synagogue in Pomona, California) of a congregation. I love my Jewish journey.
— Jake Retzlaff, via Deseret News
The 6-foot-1, 205-pound junior was back atop the depth chart this weekend. Kedon Slovis has been dealing with an injury, so Retzlaff has been the guy in his absence.
College football fans have coined some amazing nicknames for Retzlaff, like ‘The Hucking Hebrew.’ However, he prefers a more simple play on words: ‘BY-Jew.’ Brilliant!
Jake Retzlaff is a black sheep at BYU.
As Retzlaff walks around campus amongst a predominantly Mormon student body, he wears a silver Star of David pendant around his neck. He appreciates every opportunity to share his faith with other students and teammates, even joking that he might convert some of his non-LDS teammates.
Orthodox Jews observe Shabbat, a day of rest, from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday. No work is to be done on Shabbat, including athletics.
That could create some issues for a Jewish athlete in a sport that mostly plays on Shabbat. Retzlaff, though, is more reformed in his faith.
For me personally, I choose to play football. It is what I am here at BYU to do and what I choose to do. It is just as much of who I am, almost as much who I am, as being Jewish.
— Jake Retzlaff, via Deseret News
The BY-Jew arrived to LaVell Edwards Stadium in style on Saturday. He had so much swagger ahead of his third-career start on the FBS level.
Stories like Retzlaff are what make college football so awesome. Having a Jewish quarterback lead a predominantly Mormon university while wearing the Star of David is pretty incredible.
And he looks great while doing it!