Stephen Covey's dream was not to knock down a pass or tackle a receiver a yard short of a first down.

His dream is and always has been to throw touchdown passes like Ty Detmer. To scramble like Brandon Doman, to air it out like John Beck, to do it all like Steve Young.

After setting aside his dream, Covey has picked it up where he left off three years ago.

"To be honest, it's always been my dream since I was a little guy to play quarterback at BYU. That's really my passion, my love," Covey said. "I loved the defensive side of the ball when I was there, but I've always felt like I was born to play quarterback. Hopefully I can be a bigger help to the team as a quarterback eventually, than on the defensive side."

In two years as a starting quarterback at Timpview High School in Provo, Covey led the T'Birds to a 22-3 record, including a 12-1 record as a senior as he helped Timpview win the 2004 state 4A title.

In his senior year, Covey completed 143 of 231 attempts for 2,503 yards and 31 touchdowns.

But Covey was also an exceptional defensive back and during his freshman year at BYU the team was hurting in the secondary, so Covey agreed to make the switch to defense.

Covey ended up redshirting his freshman year. He saw action on the scout team, but did not use a year of eligibility. He then left to serve an LDS mission to St. Louis, Mo. He returned in December and was allowed to compete at quarterback. He quickly found out what other return missionaries learn -- you can't take two years off without falling behind.

"I feel like I have a long ways to go," Covey said. "I'm not the same in my quickness and my footwork and everything. My arm is really sore right now. I just haven't thrown for so long. I'm not as accurate as I was in high school. But I feel over the next few weeks, I'll be able to improve. So far right now I feel like I've done decent, I don't want to say good, I don't want to say bad, I'd say decent."

When asked about the backup quarterback situation, BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said, "At this point it's a little early, but Brenden Gaskins last year kind of emerged on the scene in the spring game and really from there didn't have many opportunities to be developed at least in game experiences. So spring is more important time than even fall for backup quarterback as we can distribute the reps more evenly and put him in more contact situations than we can in fall camp so we think this is a huge spring for Brenden. Kurt McEuen is behind him and Stephen Covey, we won't be able to get them all equal reps, but finding a backup quarterback just like identifying our two-deep at all positions is one of the primary objects in spring."

Covey is not expecting to steal snaps from Hall or even emerge as the backup this spring; he's just focusing on getting in shape and learning the offense.

"To be honest, it's been three years since I played quarterback so it's nice to be back in that position. Coming in and trying to learn a new offense is a little overwhelming at first because there's a lot of little things you have to remember and you have to do," Covey said. "I don't even know all of the plays yet, but Max and Brenden, Kurt, all of the guys have been really helpful in helping me grasp the offense. They'll give me little pointers right before a play. So I see it right now as just getting a basic grasp and understanding of everything. Not necessarily competing so much yet. I just want to get that foundation first and think about that in the fall. That's how I view the spring."

Since Covey spent his first year on defense, he's not only trying to get back in football condition, but cram for most difficult test in football: Playing quarterback.

"His first year was on the defensive side. Because the need was so great in the secondary that first year, I promised him when he came back off his mission (he could compete at quarterback) and he was willing to do that," Mendenhall said. "Not necessarily in return, but I promised him when he came back he'd have a chance to compete at quarterback. I've been impressed with not only who he is but just his athletic ability. The style of offense that we can play when his is in there will be different than what we're playing now because he's such a run threat."

Clearly, one of Covey's strengths is running the ball. As a junior at Timpview he rushed for more yards than Harvey Unga. He finished the season with 1,163 yards and 11 touchdowns. As a senior, he racked up 958 yards rushing and scored 11 times on the ground.

Could his quickness and mobility open the door to see some action as a situational quarterback as early as this year?

"Maybe. I think the team right now with what Max has done, why change anything if it's not broken?" Covey said. "I've thought about that. I've seen some other college teams use a change-of-pace quarterback. I feel like that's one thing I can bring to the team is my mobility, running the option, something in that aspect. I think I can contribute to the team in that sense. Maybe even this year."

If not this year than when?

Ah, patience. To be a quarterback at BYU requires an incredible amount of patience. Quarterbacks must hold out for the hope that one day it will be their turn. For many that day never comes.

So how long will Covey keep his dream alive? Will he at some point give up and try defensive back or will the coaches ask him to move?

"That remains to be seen," Mendenhall said. "He played in the secondary his first year. He's fast, he's athletic, he's tough, and he's an excellent leader. Besides switching positions, he also just came off a mission so patience will be one of those things here.

"He has to learn the position. He has to get back up to speed and master the offense. All those things take time and he has quarterbacks in front of them right now. Ideally here at this place they won't play until their juniors anyway. Whether he chooses to stay at quarterback or how long it takes, it's hard to project right now, but I like him."