The connection was great with Coach Sitake right from the get-go. I just really like his mentality. It’s a good fit. – Austin Kafentzis

PROVO — After two years and three different college football experiences, recording-breaking Jordan High quarterback Austin Kafentzis was ready to do just about anything to get back out on the football field.

“Honestly, I was open to switching positions,” the sophomore said Tuesday, confirming he has enrolled at BYU for spring semester. “It’s been a long two years, and I know I can play. I am itching to get on the field. I’m hungry to play.”

BYU will be Kafentzis’ fourth college, but he has three years of eligibility remaining. He said he began to look at BYU after Kalani Sitake was hired last year.

“I’ve known about coach Sitake because he coached with coach (Gary) Andersen, and I knew they were the same kind of coaches,” he said. “He’s a players' coach.”

Andersen recruited Kafentzis, who set 15 prep records, including the most total offensive yards (19,678), to Wisconsin. The four-star recruit committed at the end of his sophomore year and enrolled in January of what would have been his senior year, competing in track for the Badgers.

But Andersen left for Oregon State that spring, and Kafentzis said he had a very small window of time to decide if he wanted to follow Andersen to Oregon State, a school he’d never looked at, or re-commit to Wisconsin. He decided to go to Wisconsin, and almost immediately began getting pressure to switch positions.

“I could have switched positions and stayed there,” he said. “I just wanted to be a quarterback.”

So he transferred to Nevada, using his redshirt season to sit out because of NCAA eligibility rules. Unfortunately, the offensive coordinator who prompted him to choose to play at Nevada left the program that season to take another head coaching job.

Kafentzis then decided to head to Arizona Western so he could play, and then try to find a better fit for him at a Division I school. That didn’t work out, either, he said, as the offense didn’t fit his skills.

In January, he began discussing the idea of going to BYU, and he even attended a few spring practices.

“I went out to their spring practices,” he said. “I’ve always loved BYU, their history, especially at the quarterback position.”

The fact that he’s Catholic had nothing to do with him never taking an official visit to BYU.

“I just committed really early,” he said, noting he didn’t really consider a lot of programs because he felt such a connection to Andersen and the Badger program.

Sitting on the sideline for the last two years persuaded him that there are worse things than changing positions.

So he started looking at BYU, keeping his interest discreet. But then a meeting with Sitake sealed the deal.

“I told him, ‘I’ll play special teams,’” Kafentzis said. “And he said, ‘You’re crazy. You’re a quarterback. That’s where you’ll compete.’ So, we’ll go from there.”

Kafentzis said he was impressed with the skills of the other BYU quarterbacks, including Tanner Mangum, and also their demeanor.

“The way (Tanner) carries himself was impressive,” he said. “He’s got a really good arm, a really strong arm. They’re a good group. They can all throw the ball well; they can all spin it. I’m pretty pumped about that. I’m pretty pumped about everything.”

Kafentzis said he will be a walk-on, and he attended his first classes at BYU Tuesday, which was coincidentally the same day the Cougars released their roster with his name on it.

Kafentzis said he spent three hours walking around campus enjoying being back in Utah and the possibilities that come with playing for a coach like Sitake.

“The connection was great with Coach Sitake right from the get-go,” he said. “I just really like his mentality. It’s a good fit.”

The former Mr. Football said he would even entertain playing defense, and he was actually a talented safety for Jordan before coaches deemed it to risky to have him playing both sides of the ball. Whatever happens, Kafentzis said he plans to work as hard as he can for and with his new teammates so he can get out onto the football field.

“I’ve been bouncing all over the place,” he said, “and just want to get on the field. I don’t want to be in college football to be on the sideline.”