Tyler Lytle shares his thoughts on the Pac-12's shutdown

BOULDER — The competition was supposed to be heating up right now.

With two weeks of practice before the 2020 season-opener against Colorado State, new head coach Karl Dorrell would likely be on the verge of choosing his quarterback. It could have been true freshman Brendon Lewis, the junior Tyler Lytle or senior Sam Noyer.

Who knows; maybe the late addition, Mike Chandler II, would have given the other three a run for their money.

Instead, we’re left without a conclusion to the storyline for at least a few months following the Pac-12’s decision to cancel all fall sports until at least 2021.

“As hard as it is, it has to be business as usual,” Lytle told reporters Thursday. “Back to workouts, back to throwing on the weekends and during our free time. Everything we did this offseason to get better, you have to keep on chugging.”

Lytle has spent the past three years growing behind Steven Montez, who is now competing for an NFL job. There was never a favorite in the Buffs’ quarterback competition, but for Lytle  2020 was supposed to be his first real chance at significant playing time since he was in high school.

“I have had to wait my turn to be able to compete,” Lytle said. “I am still here, I’ll be here next year, see what they decide for what football is going to look like next year.”

Despite watching the Buffs play from the sidelines over the past few years, the sting of losing a chance to play still hurts.

“This is going to be my first fall without football since I was six years old,” Lytle said.

Lytle has developed every part of his game during his time in Boulder but there’s one area that really stands out: his speed.

The 6-foot-5, 220-pounder is a more traditional pocket passer, but he’s shown up on some of the speed leaderboards for combo players. His top speed this offseason, at least on the leaderboards, was 20.4 mph.

🏍💨💨💨 #physicallyCUltured #s2s@_Flash_22 @BrendenRice @Dimitri_114 @17sackmangt @sam_noyer @tylytle5 @tlang_0 @WillSherman78 @FrankFillip @kingstafa_34 🖤💛 pic.twitter.com/Hm9MwdHP68

— Drew Wilson (@CoachWilsonDrew) August 8, 2020

“My speed is one of my areas that’s grown the most in the last couple of years, especially this offseason,” Lytle said. “I want to become as well-rounded as a player and quarterback as I can possibly be.”

Lytle will have even more time to become well-rounded due the season’s postponement, but he’s more interested in finally getting a chance to prove himself than more time to nit-pick his game.

“I’ve had three years to figure out what I need to work on,” Lytle said.