Jake Heaps (born June 19, 1991) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

who is the personal quarterback coach for

Russell Wilson Russell Carrington Wilson (born November 29, 1988) is an American professional American football, football quarterback for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He has primarily played for the Seattle Seahawks. With the Sea ...

of the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

. He was signed by the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

in 2015. Heaps played for three universities during his collegiate career including Miami (FL),

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

and

Brigham Young Brigham Young ( ; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second President of the Church (LDS Church), president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1847 until h ...

. Heaps worked as a radio host on 710 ESPN Seattle in addition to working for the Russell Wilson Passing Academy. On February 5th, 2025, Heaps was announced as the new head football coach at Legend High School in Parker, Colorado.

Early life

Heaps attended Skyline High School in

Sammamish, Washington Sammamish ( ) is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 67,455 at the 2020 census. Located on a plateau, the city is bordered by Lake Sammamish to the west and the Snoqualmie Valley to the east. Sammamish is s ...

, and played as a

for their football team. He led the football team to the 3A Washington state title in 2007 and 4A titles in 2008 and 2009. During those three years he passed for a combined 9196 yards and 114 touchdowns, the bulk of those touchdowns to Gino Simone and

Kasen Williams Kasen Williams (born December 5, 1992) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Washington Huskies. Early life Williams attended Skyli ...

. After his senior season at Skyline in 2009, Heaps signed a letter of intent to play

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

(BYU). Despite the fact that BYU was his parents' desired school, Heaps wanted to play for the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

. Coming out of high school, Heaps was the number one rated high school quarterback in the country according to the recruiting services Scout.com and

Rivals.com Rivals.com (stylized as ''rivals'') is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was found ...

. Heaps was also named as top quarterback on the ''Parade'' All-America Team and was invited to play in the

U.S. Army All-American Bowl The All-American Bowl (currently branded as the Navy All-American Bowl for sponsorship reasons) is a high school football all-star game, held annually at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Typically played in January, the All-American Bowl is p ...

. Some recruiting analysts felt that his poise, judgment, and throwing accuracy, would be a good fit in the

Cougars The cougar (''Puma concolor'') (, '' KOO-gər''), also called puma, mountain lion, catamount and panther is a large small cat native to the Americas. It inhabits North, Central and South America, making it the most widely distributed wild ...

' spread offense.

College career

Brigham Young University

Heaps began his

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or colloquially frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational in ...

season sharing time with starting quarterback Riley Nelson. After Nelson was injured against Florida State, Heaps led the Cougars the rest of the season to six wins and four losses. He improved as the season progressed and had only a single loss in his last six games, to 20th-ranked

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

. He surpassed Ty Detmer's freshman touchdown record that stood for 22 years with 15 touchdowns. In the month of November and the December bowl game, Heaps threw 13 touchdowns and two interceptions and passed for 1,259 yards. He was the first freshman quarterback to ever lead the Cougars in Brigham Young's 29 bowl game appearances. Heaps was named the

New Mexico Bowl The New Mexico Bowl is an NCAA-sanctioned post-season college football bowl game that has been played annually since 2006 at University Stadium (Albuquerque), University Stadium, on the campus of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New M ...

's Most Valuable Player, breaking some of the bowl's records after leading BYU to a comfortable victory with a quarterback rating of 122.5 throwing 4 touchdowns with 1 interception. As a true freshman, Heaps threw for 2,316 yards, 15 touchdowns, and 9 interceptions with a quarterback rating of 116.2. He completed 219 passes on 383 attempts with a completion percentage of 57.2%. During the 2011 season, Heaps started the Cougars' first five games. During those first five games, Heaps threw 3 touchdowns and 5 interceptions and failed to garner a QB rating higher than 116.3 or complete a pass greater than 37 yards. After a horrendous 29.3 QB rating during a 44-point home loss against the

, he was benched during the fifth game, in which backup quarterback Riley Nelson led BYU to a come-from-behind victory. Heaps saw limited action until Nelson was injured during a game against the University of Idaho. Heaps finished the game against Idaho, and started the next game against New Mexico State, but was replaced when Nelson was cleared to play the following week. Heaps ended the 2011 season with a completion percentage of 57.1, 9 touchdowns, 8 interceptions, and a QB rating of 111.0. After the December 3 game against Hawaii, Heaps announced that he would not travel with the team to the

Armed Forces Bowl The Armed Forces Bowl, formerly the Fort Worth Bowl from 2003 to 2005, is an annual postseason college football bowl game. First played in 2003, the game is normally held at the 45,000-seat Amon G. Carter Stadium on the campus of Texas Christian ...

game, but would instead be seeking to transfer schools.

University of Kansas

Following BYU's 2011 season Heaps announced he would be transferring to the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

to play for new head coach

Charlie Weis Charles Joseph Weis Sr. (born March 30, 1956) is a former American football coach. He was the head coach for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish from 2005 to 2009 and the Kansas Jayhawks from 2012 to 2014. He also served as an offensive coordinator in ...

. Due to NCAA transfer rules, Heaps redshirted for the 2012 season. He was expected to compete for the starting quarterback position at

with Michael Cummings. Heaps struggled with Kansas, completing fewer than half of his passes. He lost the starting quarterback job to Montell Cozart during an open competition. On June 13, 2014, the University of Kansas announced Heaps was leaving the program to transfer to another school.

University of Miami

Heaps transferred to the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

to play for the

Miami Hurricanes football The Miami Hurricanes football team represents the University of Miami in college football. The Hurricanes compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Foot ...

team in June 2014.

Brad Kaaya Bradley Mathias Kaaya Jr. (born September 3, 1995) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at the University of Miami from 2014 to 2016, and was drafted by the Detroit Lions in sixth round of the 2017 NFL draft. Ka ...

, a true freshman, beat Heaps in the competition to start at quarterback for Miami. He appeared in three games for the Hurricanes, going 6-for-12 on passing attempts for a total of 51 yards.

College statistics

Professional career

Heaps was rated the 43rd best quarterback in the

2015 NFL draft The 2015 NFL draft was the 80th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football, football players. It took place in Chicago at the Auditorium Theatre and in Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park ...

by NFLDraftScout.com.

New York Jets

Heaps was signed by the

on May 11, 2015. He was released on August 27, 2015.

Seattle Seahawks (first stint)

Heaps was signed by the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

on May 2, 2016. On September 3, 2016, he was released by the Seahawks as part of final roster cuts. He was signed back onto the Seahawks' practice squad on September 13, 2016. He was released on October 3, 2016.

Saskatchewan Roughriders

Heaps was signed by the

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 19 ...

on April 25, 2017. He was later released by the Roughriders so he could sign with the Seahawks.

Seattle Seahawks (second stint)

On May 2, 2017, Heaps re-signed with the Seahawks. He was waived on June 5, 2017.

BC Lions

On July 24, 2017, Heaps was signed to the practice roster of the

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions playe ...

of the CFL. He was released on August 8, 2017, being an emergency practice squad quarterback.

Coaching career

On June 19, 2022, Heaps left his radio show to become

’s full-time quarterback coach.

Personal life

Heaps is a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

. His parents, Steve and Kelly, now divorced, supported his career by moving him into the Issaquah School district so he could learn the "Skyline system" under coach Steve Gervais. He has one older sister, Brittany, who is a dental hygienist in Utah. Steve played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

at BYU. Heaps is married to Brooke, whom he met at BYU. They were married during his sophomore year at BYU. Until June 2022, Jake was a contributor and radio personality on 710 ESPN, now Seattle Sports 710.

References

External links

Kansas Jayhawks bio

BYU Cougars bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heaps, Jake 1991 births Living people Latter Day Saints from Washington (state) Sportspeople from Issaquah, Washington Players of American football from Washington (state) American football quarterbacks Canadian football quarterbacks Players of Canadian football from Washington (state) Brigham Young University alumni BYU Cougars football players Kansas Jayhawks football players Miami Hurricanes football players New York Jets players Brooklyn Bolts players Seattle Seahawks players Saskatchewan Roughriders players BC Lions players