Not necessarily in order:

1. Hype coming out of high school. He had the presser and then arrived on campus thinking he was the man. This doesn't fly all that well with upperclassmen many of whom have served missions and are married. He compounded this several times as his career progressed with moves like working out with Stroshine in between seasons instead of the team and being soft on the field. The presser probably wouldn't have mattered if had Jake been more willing to be a typical humble freshman and not sought a leadership role immediately.

2. His parents marriage fell apart in a worse than typical way. Getting married fairly young during this tumultuous time didn't help although it was probably ultimately a good thing for Jake.

3. Already mentioned soft on the field but it went beyond that. His head was messed up which led to poor play both physically and mentally. This is evident when Jake was skipping or overthrowing easy passes and staring down receivers. The guy was hearing footsteps on and off the field but that is something you have to overcome in contact sports.

4. BYU's line wasn't the best during that era.

5. Some of you are roasting Doman who had an issue or two but he was better than many here think. Doman's big blunder with Jake wasn't X's and O's but was not making him the backup his freshman season or even a redshirt. This plan may have worked out if the line was a bit better. With this said BYU had to make certain promises to get Jake and lived in fear that if they made the wrong move with him he'd transfer. They knew that when they benched Jake vs USU that he'd most likely transfer. It was literally discussed on the headset between Doman and Bronco. Give Doman credit for that benching as all hell would have broken loose if BYU had lost to USU two times in a row. Don't even bring up Anae who was no great developer of QB's. The only argument for this is that Anae's offense was much more simple. Keep in mind that the QB coach under Anae was Doman. Jake should have been able to handle Doman's offense and most likely would have without the factors listed above.

6. Riley Nelson. Not because Riley was a jerk to Jake but because Riley did the things on and off the field that earned the respect of his teammates. It didn't help that Riley was oftentimes the more effective QB behind the sub-par offensive lines.