George Wilson, 12-year head football coach at Murrieta Valley High School in Southern California, was in the administrators' offices Wednesday, and even though classes had started, almost every fellow teacher, counselor and principal wanted to talk about the exciting news involving the Nighthawks' quarterback last fall.
Bear Bachmeier, despite being a true freshman and in Provo for only a couple of months, had been announced as BYU's starting quarterback on Tuesday .
"Everybody in town knows the Bachmeiers, and everybody follows all of them," Wilson said.
In an interesting twist, the starting quarterback who preceded Bear at Murrieta Valley, Brandon Rose, was Utah's starting quarterback last year when it lost 22-21 to BYU in Salt Lake City. Rose hit the transfer portal, as Bear did after going through spring practices at Stanford, and earlier this week was named the first-game starter for UMass.
As the Deseret News outlined earlier this week , Bear was a three-year starter at Murrieta Valley, which is 65 miles north of San Diego and 85 miles southeast of Los Angeles. The 35-year-old school sits at the base of the Santa Rosa Plateau and its most famous alum is probably professional golfer Rickie Fowler.
Bear and his brother, Tiger, who is a graduate transfer with two seasons of eligibility remaining, announced their transfer to BYU in early May. Bear will be the first true freshman QB to start in an opener for the Cougars when he takes the field Aug. 30 against Portland State.
"I am not surprised at all that he is starting," Wilson told the Deseret News on Wednesday. "He was a national recruit. He could have basically went to any school in the country. … Off the field, he's a really humble kid with high moral character. He's just a good, down-to-earth human being."
The Bachmeiers entered the portal after Stanford fired coach Troy Taylor due to alleged ongoing concerns about his hostile and aggressive behavior toward female staff members. Their older brother, Hank Bachmeier, is also a legend in the area and quarterbacked the Nighthawks for four seasons — throwing for 13,150 yards — before playing collegiately for Boise State, Louisiana Tech and Wake Forest.
Hank threw for 172 yards in Boise State's 26-17 upset of then-No. 10 BYU in 2021.
"The great thing about Bear is he had two older brothers that were Division I football players. So he grew up knowing that is what he wanted to do," Wilson said. "When he was in junior high, he was going to their practices. He was around it for a long time, so he is really calm, and he is just used to it. He is used to college football. It is not a big thing for him."
Wilson said Bear regularly played against some of the best teams in California, if not the nation, for three years (he made one start his freshman year) and is as equipped to handle Power Four competition as any freshman QB in the country .
Wilson would say, tongue only partly planted in cheek, that Murrieta Valley's best plays the past few years happened when everybody else was covered.
"Because then Bear runs with the football, and no one can tackle him," Wilson said.
"On paper, he is a true freshman quarterback, but I think mentally he is a lot further along than that. He is really smart, and he is not bright-eyed. He expects to play. … He is a quiet leader. He is not a big yeller or anything like that. He is just very quiet, very likable."
The coach said one of Bear's greatest strengths is his intelligence.
"On paper, he is a true freshman quarterback, but I think mentally he is a lot further along than that," Wilson said. "He is really smart, and he is not bright-eyed. He expects to play. … He is a quiet leader. He is not a big yeller or anything like that. He is just very quiet, very likable."
Wilson also coached Hank and Tiger Bachmeier. Tiger was a senior when Bear was a sophomore . Another brother, Buck, is on Murrieta Valley's freshman team this year as a left-handed quarterback. Their sister, Ella, recently completed a standout career in track and field (multiple events, including pentathlon) at Division III University of Redlands and was named West Region Women's Field Athlete of the Year.
"I would have to say that Bear is a different player than Hank," Wilson said. "Bear has a lot more athleticism. Hank is a very accurate pocket passer, a great pocket passer, where Bear has that added dimension where he is so big and strong that he can bring the ball down and pick up a first down very well."
Wilson said a common characteristic that all the siblings possess is their determination and grit.
"Bear's physical toughness is as good as I have ever been around," he said. "I mean, unless it is catastrophic, he is going to take hits. He is a tough, tough kid."
Tiger Bachmeier said BYU fans are in for a treat because his brother improvises like Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs.
"You will see throws with the arm slot (in different positions), quick throws, quick releases, and then these crazy, powerful runs as well," Tiger said. "I'm super excited about all of it."
All told, Bear went 20-9 as a starter for the Nighthawks, including a tough loss in the CIF Southern Section Division 2 championship game last year. That after leading Murrieta Valley to a 55-52 overtime win over Oaks Christian in the section semifinals.
Alex Rosenblum was there for all of it as the school's offensive coordinator.
Rosenblum, who came to MV from Sierra Canyon, where he coached current BYU receiver JoJo Phillips , said Bear is one of the best athletes he's ever been around. Like Wilson, Rosenblum was not surprised when he learned Bear had beaten out veterans McCae Hillstead and Treyson Bourguet for the starting job at BYU.
Rosenblum said that Bear didn't practice baseball all year, then would show up for the baseball season and be the best baseball player on the team.
"He went to play basketball his freshman year (without being on the traveling all-star circuit team) and was almost immediately on the starting five," Rosenblum said. "The basketball coach (was shocked) and asked, 'are you sure we can have him?' We were like, 'yeah, man, if he wants to play basketball, let him play.'"
Rosenblum said that when Bear was a sophomore and Tiger was a senior they were the best QB-WR combination in that part of the country. Bear completed 72.5% of his passes for 2,853 yards and 26 touchdowns in 2022, while also rushing for 644 yards and 18 TDs.
"Bear and Tiger are two of the smartest people I know. They are on a different wavelength in terms of how they think and their thought process, and especially the way they work together," Rosenblum said. "They would be driving home from practice, and they would talk about stuff that they had seen on film, or that they saw in practice, and it would just show up in games. It was pretty impressive."
Those drives weren't short. The family lives in a little mountain community up a winding mountain road some 40 minutes away from the high school.
"Both those guys were just so consistently good for us," Rosenblum said. "They are just amazingly smart, and amazingly athletic, and amazingly genuine, good people."
When they announced Bear as the starting QB on Tuesday, both Kalani Sitake and Aaron Roderick referred to the freshman's decision-making ability as being one of the attributes that put him over the top. Rosenblum agreed.
"He wants to win. He wants to do right by people. He is going to really think through every decision that is made," Rosenblum said. "… We played against some of the top teams in the country. It wasn't like we were playing, you know, nobody, and Bear was great against really good competition. I hope (the brothers) and BYU have a great year."
BYU wide receiver Tiger Bachmeier catches a pass during practice Aug. 15, 2025, in Provo. The Stanford transfer is expected to play a key role in the Cougars' receiving rotation. | Jaren Wilkey/BYU
