This is not what anyone pictured for BYU quarterback Tanner Mangum.

As of his freshman season, when he led BYU to a 9-4 record and passed for more than 3,000 yards in 2015, Mangum’s career was unfolding nicely. Absolutely no one could have seen this coming: a total of three quarterbacking victories over the next two years.

Mangum’s junior season ended Saturday night with an Achilles injury in the fourth quarter of a 20-13 loss to Fresno State. The Cougars are 2-8; they went 2-6 in games he started this year, beating Portland State and San Jose State, after he produced a Poinsettia Bowl win over Wyoming last December.

What’s lost immediately is Mangum’s opportunity to finish 2017 to some positive degree, but the bigger issue is what happens in 2018? It’s crazy to think that Mangum went into this season with thoughts about entering the NFL draft, if his junior year played out as he hoped. Now, he’ll face a long recovery period and competition from Beau Hoge and Joe Critchlow just to remain the Cougars’ starter next season.

He deserves better. That’s true of any college athlete whose season ends prematurely, yet it seemingly applies even more to Mangum. He was gracious about losing his starting job to Taysom Hill last season and he has been exemplary in publicly discussing his issues with anxiety and mild depression.

Mangum came back in early October after missing two games with an ankle injury and struggled through losses to Boise State, Mississippi State and East Carolina. The Cougars then beat lowly San Jose State and he was doing some good things against a decent Fresno State team before getting hurt, merely while setting his feet as he prepared to throw a pass.

The consolation for Mangum, perhaps ironically, is Hill’s example. Hill already had endured three season-ending injuries when he returned as a fifth-year senior in 2016 and played well after displacing Mangum as the starter. Mangum’s challenge is to do what Hill did, to come back and regain his job over Hoge and Critchlow and have a strong 2018 season.