From High School Standout to BYU Freshman QB: How Bear Bachmeier's High School Stats Stack Up Against Zach Wilson's

On Tuesday, BYU named true freshman Bear Bachmeier as the starting quarterback for the 2025 season. Bachmeier beat out a pair of transfers with FBS starting experience to earn the starting nod. The last time BYU started a true freshman at quarterback, and the only time with Aaron Roderick on staff, was Zach Wilson.

Wilson, of course, eventually became a top two pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. Years before his breakout 2020 season, however, he was earning his stripes at BYU as a true freshman. In his true freshman season, Wilson experienced ups and downs. He had tremendously high highs and some memorable lows.

What Wilson and Bachmeier have in common is they had to make the transition from Friday Night Lights to big-time college football in less than a year.

In this article, we will compare the high school stats of Zach Wilson to those of Bear Bachmeier. Both Wilson and Bachmeier were multi-year starters for their respective high schools. It's important to caveat that high school stats aren't perfect. The actual accounting of the statistics is imperfect, and once you factor in the varying levels of competition, you typically can't draw too many conclusions from any individual high school stat.

However, when used directionally, high school stats can point out some strengths and weaknesses of a quarterback as they enter the college game.

Passing Stats

Both Bachmeier and Wilson were prolific passers in their high school careers. Bachmeier threw for 6,800 yards in 2.5 years as a starter and Wilson threw for 5,800 yards in two seasons. Bachmeier averaged 227 passing yards per game and Wilson averaged 254 yards per game.

Bachmeier had a higher completion percentage, completing 68% of his passes compared to 62% for Zach Wilson. However, Wilson was more aggressive and pushed the ball downfield more often. Wilson averaged 10.3 yards per attempt whereas Bachmeier averaged 9.6 yards per attempt.

When Bachmeier was named the starting quarterback, Aaron Roderick noted that Bachmeier had thrown less interceptions than the other quarterbacks competing for the job. Bachmeier has a long history of taking care of the football dating back to high school. Both Bachmeier and Wilson threw 14 interceptions apiece in high school, even though Bachmeier had 140 more pass attempts.

In terms of TD/Int ratio, Bachmeier edged out Wilson 4.2 to 3.2.

Rushing Stats

The rushing category is where Bachmeier really impressed in high school.

Zach Wilson ran for 1,300 yards and 11 touchdowns on 211 carries in his high school career. Wilson averaged 6.2 yards per carry at Corner Canyon High School.

Bear Bachmeier ran for 1,700 yards and 33 touchdowns on 163 carries in his high school career. Bachmeier averaged 10.6 yards per carry and he had a nose for the endzone, averaging a touchdown every 4.9 carries.

When you look at total TD/Int ratio (rushing + passing TDs), Bachmeier was dominant. Bachmeier's total TD/Int ratio was 6.6. Zach Wilson's total TD/Int ratio was 4.0.

It remains to be seen how high Bachmeier's ceiling can be. Wilson's ceiling turned out to be exremely high - high enough to be a first-round pick. High school stats can't really indicate how high a ceiling can be. However, they can indentify the starting point. Bachmeier's starting point appears to be either at the same level as Wilson, or maybe even further ahead than Wilson was as a true freshman.

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