SO SAD: This Is The End Of The Journey Am Done I Won’t Play Again “GERRY BOHANON” Says As He Depart In The…

Since then, Bohanon showed through 15 spring camp practices and scrimmages that his surgically repaired right shoulder is where it needs to be to warrant oderick and BYU offensive analyst Matt Mitchell flew to Florida last December to watch Bohanon throw in person, then signed off on giving the former Baylor and South Florida quarterback a chance to compete with incumbent Jake Retzlaff for the starting role this fall.

In one of the final practices of camp, Bohanon uncorked a 60-yard pass that landed a good five yards in front of his intended receiver, a sign that, at least on that day, he had almost fully recovered from the November 2022 surgery.

“It felt good,” he said in a news conference on March 30 after BYU’s final spring practice. “To be honest with you, that was a sign I am back, kind of, but not really. I want to be able to do that with ease, again and again and again, and just continue to be able to do that every day.

“So for me, I have had moments where I am like, ‘OK, I am feeling like myself,’” he continued. “You have those moments where you feel you can make all the throws now. That is a good feeling to know that I can rip a deep ball down the field. But can you do that back to back, and continue to do that throughout a game, throughout a practice?”

Bohanon said at the start of camp his shoulder “got a little sore,” but as he stacked practices and workouts, the soreness decreased to a point where it was hardly noticeable the final couple weeks of March.

It was Oct. 15, 2022, and Bohanon’s South Florida team was hosting Tulane on homecoming at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. Bohanon was trying to pick up some extra yards with his feet when a Tulane linebacker drove his shoulder into the turf. He knew immediately his season was over. What he didn’t know was that he wouldn’t play at all the next season, 2023, either.

South Florida, which had opened the season with a 50-21 loss to BYU in which Bohanon completed 17 of 30 passes for 172 yards and no touchdowns, with one interception, would finish 1-11 and see its entire coaching staff fired.

Bohanon would see a surgeon’s scalpel — he had the shoulder operated on in November for a torn labrum.

“I didn’t throw a ball for six months. That was difficult. Very, very difficult,” he said. “But I knew I could do it. So when I came back after six months, I started throwing a tennis ball. … I couldn’t throw a tennis ball 10 yards, my first day throwing it.”

Roderick told the Deseret News that when the 2023 season ended, he saw the need to add an experienced quarterback to the room, but not for the sake of just getting one. It had to be the right fit. Through friends in the business, such as former Baylor and BYU offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes, �

Now it was just a matter of seeing if Bohanon could make all the throws necessary in BYU’s offense. He and Mitchell jumped on a plane bound for Florida a day or two after making contact with the former four-star recruit from Arkansas.

“The year before Gerry went to South Florida (from Baylor), we tried to get him to come and be Jaren Hall’s backup,” Roderick said. “He decided on USF, because he knew he would be the starter right away.”