It was a short term problem -- they'll have two more scholarship QBs in fall camp (Magnum and Hoge). Granted, there is a question if they will be ready to play if Taysom is injured but they still posed a recruiting issue. First, the issue is if BYU wants to have that many QBs, even just for a year or two, on scholarship -- especially when the QB recruited will only play if there are injuries (at least to Taysom and very possibly to Mangum, as well). BYU had too many other positions where they needed players to use a scholarship on a player that will only start if there are injuries.

Next, the issues of trying to recruit a JC QB who has to know that he will never see the field. Hosick may have had the best shot to start, either in 2016 or if Hill were to be injured this year. Most JC QBs are likely not going to be nearly as talented as Hosick -- they'll know they have little chance of beating out an MVP of the Elite 11 QB camp. Because of this, it would have been hard to recruit a QB that would even beat out McCoy Hill.

Last, there is the issue of spring football. In essence, there is a huge advantage to using Stewart, in that the coaches aren't having to use the spring to teach a new player the offense. Stewart knows the offense and runs it very effectively; this allows the coaches to work with the other offensive and defensive players.

It also won't hurt the QB progression much -- Taysom is still going through most of the various QB drills, they can work on his passing. Basically, they will be able to help Taysom with the area of the game he most needs improvement this Spring. Mangum, though he will be out of shape and rusty, knows the basics of the offense already. If Taysom goes down after the first month or so, Mangum should start being conditioned enough, and have enough rust knocked off, so that he'll be about as effective as any JC QB they might have actually been able to recruit -- and likely better.

It is an interesting situation, and far from ideal, but I think the coaches are being smart about this. I think they did try to recruit another QB but, since they couldn't promise any playing time, I suspect most QBs had no interest -- especially with BYU's other back ups transferring out because they didn't see a realistic chance at starting. And you likely won't see this at other schools as it is directly influenced by the problems missions have caused.