Mourning the loss of Juice Quezada

Josh "Juice" Quezada will not play another game as a BYU Cougar. I never saw that one coming . . . It makes me very sad. He was one of my favorites. And he was one of the few jersey numbers I already knew by heart, making my quest to memorize the entire BYU football roster this year that much harder. Sigh . . . I, along with my fellow cougar faithful, loved shouting "JUUUUUICE!" when he made a great run at LaVell Edwards Stadium (it was even funnier when the opposing team and fans thought we were booing).

I'm really curious why he is transferring. Some of the news outlets are saying it's because he lost his brother in a car accident last year. That's really sad, but I'm confused as to why that would actually be the reason. Can anybody enlighten me? Would it put him closer to family or something? He hasn't even decided where he's going.

Is it because he came to BYU with Jake Heaps and decided he wants to leave with him, too? I sure hope not. Jake Heaps is a whiner, and I hope no one else ever wants to follow in his footsteps as the ultimate BYU letdown.

Is it because he's not LDS and feels like he doesn't fit in? I don't think so. I think he really fit in well and he seemed to agree with the values and standards at BYU. I'm not 100% sure, but I think he was even at the team fireside in Provo last year before the Utah game. Lots of the football players aren't LDS-- it's not like he was the only one or an outcast or anything.

Is it because he's afraid of Alisa being the star RB instead of him? Again, I doubt it . . . although I suppose this is the most likely possibility. In my opinion, Juice is better than Alisa and had a really good shot at having an amazing year at BYU. And if I haven't made this point already, he's not an arrogant curmudgeon like Heaps. I don't think he's one to insist that the world to revolve around him.

I'm really interested to know what factored into his decision. I'm definitely perplexed. But no matter what, Juice, you will be missed. As I said with Heaps, good luck wherever you go . . . as long as it's not Utah.