| No. 3, 12 | |
|---|---|
| Position | Quarterback |
| Personal information | |
| Born | (1991-06-19)June 19, 1991 (age 34) Issaquah, Washington, U.S. |
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) |
| Weight | 208 lb (94 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Skyline (Sammamish,WA) |
| College | BYU (2010-2011) Kansas (2012-2013) Miami (FL) (2014) |
| NFL draft | 2015: undrafted |
| Career history | |
| |
* Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |
Jake Heaps (born June 19, 1991) is an American former professionalfootballquarterback who is the personal quarterback coach forRussell Wilson of theNew York Giants. He was signed by theNew York Jets as anundrafted free agent in 2015. Heaps played for three universities during his collegiate career includingMiami (FL),Kansas andBrigham Young. Heaps worked as a radio host on 710 ESPN Seattle in addition to working for the Russell Wilson Passing Academy.[1][2] On February 5, 2025, Heaps was announced as the new head football coach at Legend High School in Parker, Colorado.
Heaps attendedSkyline High School inSammamish, Washington, and played as aquarterback for their football team. He led the football team to the 3A Washington state title in 2007 and 4A titles in 2008[3] and 2009.[4] During those three years he passed for a combined 9196 yards and 114 touchdowns, the bulk of those touchdowns to Gino Simone andKasen Williams.[5][6]
After his senior season at Skyline in 2009, Heaps signed a letter of intent to playcollege football atBrigham Young University (BYU).[7] Despite the fact that BYU was his parents' desired school, Heaps wanted to play for theUniversity of Washington.[8] Coming out of high school, Heaps was the number one rated high school quarterback in the country according to the recruiting servicesScout.com andRivals.com.[9][10] Heaps was also named as top quarterback on theParade All-America Team and was invited to play in theU.S. Army All-American Bowl.
Some recruiting analysts felt that his poise, judgment, and throwing accuracy, would be a good fit in theCougars' spread offense.[11]
Heaps began hisfreshman 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-rankedUniversity of Utah. He surpassedTy 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 theNew Mexico Bowl's Most Valuable Player,[8] 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 the2011 season, Heaps started the Cougars' first five games.[8] 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 theUniversity of Utah, 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 theArmed Forces Bowl game, but would instead be seeking to transfer schools.[8]
Following BYU's 2011 season Heaps announced he would be transferring to theUniversity of Kansas to play for new head coachCharlie Weis.[12][13] Due to NCAA transfer rules, Heaps redshirted for the 2012 season. He was expected to compete for the starting quarterback position atKansas with Michael Cummings.
Heaps struggled with Kansas, completing fewer than half of his passes. He lost the starting quarterback job toMontell Cozart during an open competition. On June 13, 2014, the University of Kansas announced Heaps was leaving the program to transfer to another school.[14]
Heaps transferred to theUniversity of Miami to play for theMiami Hurricanes football team in June 2014.[15]Brad Kaaya, a true freshman, beat Heaps in the competition to start at quarterback for Miami.[16] He appeared in three games for the Hurricanes, going 6-for-12 on passing attempts for a total of 51 yards.[17]
| Season | Games | Passing | Rushing | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Record | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Avg | TD | INT | Rtg | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | |
| BYU Cougars | |||||||||||||||
| 2010 | 13 | 10 | 6–4 | 219 | 383 | 57.2 | 2,316 | 6.0 | 15 | 9 | 116.2 | 34 | -100 | -2.9 | 1 |
| 2011 | 9 | 6 | 4–2 | 144 | 252 | 57.1 | 1,452 | 5.8 | 9 | 8 | 111.0 | 14 | -57 | -4.1 | 1 |
| Kansas Jayhawks | |||||||||||||||
| 2012 | Redshirt | ||||||||||||||
| 2013 | 11 | 9 | 2–7 | 128 | 261 | 49.0 | 1,414 | 5.4 | 8 | 10 | 97.0 | 40 | -162 | -4.1 | 1 |
| Miami Hurricanes | |||||||||||||||
| 2014 | 6 | 0 | — | 6 | 12 | 50.0 | 51 | 4.3 | 0 | 0 | 85.7 | 3 | -10 | -3.3 | 0 |
| Career[18] | 39 | 25 | 12–13 | 497 | 908 | 54.7 | 5,233 | 5.8 | 32 | 27 | 108.8 | 91 | -329 | -3.6 | 3 |
Heaps was rated the 43rd best quarterback in the2015 NFL draft by NFLDraftScout.com.[19]
| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | 20-yard shuttle | Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump | Bench press | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | 217 lb (98 kg) | 30+1⁄4 in (0.77 m) | 9+1⁄2 in (0.24 m) | 5.08 s | 1.79 s | 2.98 s | 4.34 s | 6.99 s | 30.5 in (0.77 m) | 8 ft 10 in (2.69 m) | 11 reps | |
| All values from Kansas and MiamiPro Day[19][20][21] | ||||||||||||
Heaps was signed by theNew York Jets on May 11, 2015.[17] He was released on August 27, 2015.[22]
Heaps was signed by theSeattle Seahawks on May 2, 2016.[23] On September 3, 2016, he was released by the Seahawks as part of final roster cuts.[24] He was signed back onto the Seahawks' practice squad on September 13, 2016.[25] He was released on October 3, 2016.[26]
Heaps was signed by theSaskatchewan Roughriders on April 25, 2017.[27] He was later released by the Roughriders so he could sign with the Seahawks.[28]
On May 2, 2017, Heaps re-signed with the Seahawks.[29] He was waived on June 5, 2017.[30]
On July 24, 2017, Heaps was signed to the practice roster of theBC Lions of the CFL.[31] He was released on August 8, 2017, being an emergency practice squad quarterback.[32]
On June 19, 2022, Heaps left his radio show to becomeRussell Wilson’s full-time quarterback coach.[1][2]
Heaps is a member ofthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 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.[8] Steve playedcollege baseball at BYU.[33]
Heaps is married to Brooke, whom he met at BYU. They were married during his sophomore year at BYU.[8]
Until June 2022, Jake was a contributor and radio personality on 710 ESPN, now Seattle Sports 710.