Copyright Salt Lake City Deseret News
Before Bear Bachmeier took the field for a game at LaVell Edwards Stadium for the first time and helped lead BYU to a 69-0 win, he opened up about his religious beliefs and habits. Bachmeier is not a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the university’s sponsoring institution. But he spoke about his faith in a BYUtv Sports Nation interview that aired before the win over Portland State. Bachmeier’s family is Catholic and he regularly attended church growing up. “We still go to church actually in Orem,” he said of himself and his older brother and teammate Tiger Bachmeier. The starting quarterback praised “the faith-oriented environment” at BYU and its impact on his play. “I think just the faith-oriented environment — I mean, I use the word elevate — but it elevates our spiritual game exponentially. Before every meeting, we say a prayer. Before every class, we say a prayer,” he said. It has also helped with his personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the quarterback said. “So just being in this environment has just helped immensely in growing my spiritual aspect with Jesus Christ, and that played a big factor in coming here,” he said. What Bear Bachmeier said about family Head coach Kalani Sitake’s three pillars of faith, family and football at BYU has helped Bear Bachmeier gain a greater appreciation for his family’s sacrifices to help him get where he’s at. “When Coach Kalani’s talking about family and it just brings tears to your eyes because you take for granted what your dad, what your mom did for you,” he said. “After a lot of meetings, when he’s talking about parents and how much they gave to you, I call my mom and I just say, ‘I love you and thank you for everything.’ Likewise, with my dad. Being here has been the best experience I’ve ever had and learning so much from Coach Kalani. It’s awesome. It’s great.” BYU hosts Stanford on Saturday in its second game of the season.
