Two brothers who hadn’t played on the same field since childhood were reunited on the turf against USF on Oct. 12.
When BYU’s second-string quarterback Jaren Hall left the game against USF with a head injury late in the fourth quarter, he was replaced by red shirt freshman Baylor Romney. His brother, Gunner Romney, plays on BYU as a wide receiver.
During Baylor’s time on the field during the USF game, he targeted Gunner four times. Of those four targets, two passes fell incomplete while the other two passes tallied 27 total yards for the Romney duo. Though he said he didn’t realize until after the play just who he was throwing to, he also admitted that it’s almost second nature for the two to play well together.
“We’ve been working on that all offseason since we were little kids,” Baylor said.
The brothers never had the opportunity to play together in high school. Baylor graduated from Franklin High School in El Paso, Texas and Gunner graduated from Chandler High School in Chandler, Arizona.
While Gunner has been playing for BYU since 2018, Baylor originally signed with Nevada under head coach Nick Rolovich. After serving a mission in Carlsbad, California, he decided to walk on at BYU in an attempt to play with Gunner.
Other members of the team have been impressed with both brothers and the effort they put into improving themselves and helping the team.
“Both of the Romney boys are hard workers and are always out there getting extra work in together,” running back Lopini Katoa said.
As much as the brothers love playing together, the most important thing for them is playing ball. Gunner said that when they’re playing it doesn’t matter who the quarterback is. What matters is moving the ball down the field and putting the team in a position to win.
“In that situation you’re not focusing on celebrating, you’re focusing on the moment,” Gunner said.
With the injury to Jaren Hall carrying over to Oct. 19, Baylor took over as the starting quarterback against Boise State.
Baylor had been preparing all week for the Boise State game, even though he didn’t know until Wednesday that he would be the starting quarterback. He said he wanted to be ready to play if the team needed him again. Head coach Kalani Sitake said he was confident in Baylor’s ability to play in the game if needed.
Baylor and BYU upset No. 14 Boise State in a 28-25 Homecoming win on Oct. 19 at LaVell Edwards Stadium. Baylor had a standout performance, throwing 15 of 26 for 221 yards and two touchdowns. Baylor didn’t have a single turnover in his first collegiate start, and he was able to connect with his brother, Gunner, one time for a 10-yard gain.
