BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick did not reveal who the Cougars’ starting quarterback will be for Saturday’s season opener against Southern Illinois when he met with reporters after practice on Wednesday.

If he did, that deviation from the established plan would be big news, as head coach Kalani Sitake said Monday it wouldn’t be announced until junior Jake Retzlaff or senior Gerry Bohanon runs onto the field to take the first snap.

“We’re not saying what we’re doing, again, because I want Southern Illinois to prepare for both of those guys,” Roderick said, repeating the general sentiment he expressed Monday on his “Coordinators’ Corner” program on BYUtv.

All signs point to Retzlaff as the starter — from revelations on subscription-based fan websites to the host’s opinions on the BYU television show BYU “Sports Nation” to a consensus among media members who cover the program.

So the game continues. For what it’s worth, Southern Illinois isn’t revealing its starting quarterback either. The candidates are returning Hunter Simmons and Murray State transfer DJ Williams. A pair of BYU defenders said Tuesday they’ve been preparing for both, but expect Williams, the 6-foot-3, 218 pounds, to get the starting job.

Roderick, one of the most honest shooters on Sitake’s team, revealed a few other interesting tidbits about the quarterback situation in Provo as the program enters its second season in the Big 12. For example:

• The OC said the SIU game will not be used as a tryout of sorts, with the QBs rotating through a series, or each playing one quarter in the first half, or anything like that.

“We have a clear starter now, yes,” he said, when asked if they wanted to go into next week’s game against SMU with a “clear” starter.

• Roderick said he didn’t factor the quarterback’s remaining years into the decision, and he never did. This is Bohanon’s final season of eligibility. Retzlaff still has this year and next to play.

“It’s about winning now,” Roderick said. “College football is too competitive to think that far ahead, and there’s too much turnover in this game. Every week is a great opponent. So we don’t think about the future at all. You’ve got to win now.

“And I want to say – I’ve always coached that way, for the last 20 years. It’s a win-now-first (approach),” he continued. “Of course you want to develop players, but it’s too competitive to think too far ahead.”

• Roderick also declined to reveal who will enter the season as QB3: Utah State’s McCae Hillstead or Western Michigan’s Treyson Bourguet.

“That’s kind of an ongoing battle. I will say that, man, those guys are both good players,” he said. “I feel really good about our quarterback group right now. This is the solid group we’ve had since I’ve been here, and I think we’ve had good quarterback play the last six years, and I expect that to continue.”

• Roderick has been saying for months that if the right man came along for the job, the coaches, players and everyone involved with the program would see it for themselves. He confirmed that this is what happened.

“I will say that what I was hoping would happen during camp was that someone would stand out enough to be the clear starter. We feel like that’s what happened,” he said. “And so we’ll have a starting quarterback Saturday night, and we’re expecting good things.”

Several people who watched the second practice game of fall camp said Retzlaff clearly outplayed Bohanon that night. When asked a few days after the game if that was true, Roderick said it wasn’t a fair comparison because the QBs were put in different situations, with different players.

“They’re both good players and it was a good competition,” Roderick said Wednesday. “It took a while for some separation to happen, but we felt like we got what we were looking for, and I think everyone on this team saw it happening.”

• Roderick said the non-starting quarterbacks and the entire team handled the news with class.

“First of all, both quarterbacks were great. They were very professional throughout camp. And I think those guys are good friends. And you see them compete on the field, but they also help each other out. And I feel like our players have a lot of respect for both of them as well,” Roderick said.

“The quarterbacks are a great example of how to be professional here every day, how to compete and be a great teammate. And so I don’t feel any division with anybody at all. Everybody wants to win and we’re going to rotate a lot of people at receiver, tight end and running back and once you’re playing, everybody that’s in the game is in the game. And you’ve got to execute.”

Is BYU’s offense ready for action?

Throughout camp and game week, Roderick has reserved his praise for the offense and the progress it made last year. He was a little disappointed when he said last year that the unit had improved at every position except quarterback, only to see it not do much until the last two games.

“Well, I want to be careful about how much credit I give them until we get to do it in a real game,” he said Wednesday. “But I see an improvement from where we were a year ago. I keep using the word ‘continuity.’ We have returning players now who know this offense and have had a Big 12 season with this system. I expect a higher level of execution than we had a year ago.”

Passing game coordinator and receivers coach Fesi Sitake agreed with Roderick’s sentiments on Wednesday.

“We feel really good about it,” Sitake said. “We got a lot of experience back and I think it showed. We were able to do a lot more with our playbook. We gave them a lot early on. We toned it down. I think the execution is at a really high level now because of it.”

Despite all the “or” designations on the receiver depth chart, Fesi Sitake said that when BYU starts its “11 personnel” on Saturday, the starters will be Chase Roberts, Darius Lassiter and Kody Epps. He said Keelan Marion, Parker Kingston and JoJo Phillips also will play a lot.

“The ors (on the two-deep) just indicate who might be next,” Sitake said.