PROVO, Utah (AP) Square jaw? Check.

Sculpted physique? Check.

Blue eyes? Buzz-cut hair? Muscular throwing arm?

Check, check, check.

BYU quarterback Ben Olson looks every bit like the schoolboy All-American that recruiting analysts proclaimed him last year. Clean-cut, 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds, he could have stepped out of a Gil Thorpe comic strip.

Olson even talks the part.

"It's fabulous being here, playing college football," he said. "It's always been a dream of mine. I was sitting in the orientation meeting the other day, saying 'Wow. I'm in college now."'

The only thing missing was a starry sparkle in his smile.

Olson would have been the gem of any school's recruiting class. He chose BYU over Stanford and UCLA, satisfying his Mormon faith while he plugged into coach Gary Crowton's high-powered offense.

After passing for 2,989 yards and 30 touchdowns as a senior in Thousand Oaks, Calif., Olson was rated the nation's top high school prospect at any position by SuperPrep magazine. He made the USA Today and Parade All-America teams.

"It doesn't mean anything now," said Olson, a left-hander. "It's a new start, and you've got to prove yourself. I'm just another freshman, and I'm going to work as hard as I can."

At a school where Ty Detmer won the Heisman Trophy and Jim McMahon and Steve Young launched their NFL careers, Olson will be closely scrutinized. He was one of the most popular interviews at BYU's media day.

"I'll just play the best I can," Olson said. "If there are high expectations for me, that's great. I like having the pressure on me. It makes me motivated to work harder."

Olson is assured of nothing.

Crowton has made it clear the starter going into fall camp is junior Bret Engemann, a 6-5, 235-pound NFL prototype who redshirted last season after starting five games as a sophomore.

Then again, Olson has looked good so far.

"We've had a few practices with the freshmen and he's shown some great things," said quarterbacks coach Robbie Bosco. "He's got a great arm. He can move around. The expectations are high, but he's putting a lot of expectations on himself."

Crowton won't know where Olson fits until a few weeks of fall camp have passed. A redshirt season is possible, considering the Cougars are loaded at quarterback.

Besides Olson and Engemann, BYU has sophomore Todd Mortensen (6-4, 221), redshirt freshman Lance Pendleton (6-0, 172) and Matt Berry (6-5, 218), a freshman who returned from a Mormon mission.

Like Olson, all were highly recruited.

Engemann turned down Stanford, UCLA, Arizona, Miami, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Washington and Washington State. Berry picked BYU over Arizona, Colorado, USC, Michigan, Oregon and Washington.

Pendleton was recruited by UCLA, Oregon and Kentucky, while Mortensen could have played at Arizona State, Colorado, Ohio State, Nebraska, Northwestern, Oregon or Stanford.

"We're in pretty good shape if we can keep them all here," Crowton said.

Another issue facing Olson is whether to serve a church mission.

The thinking around BYU has always been that the two-year interruption can disrupt a quarterback more than players at other positions, but coaches support everyone who goes because serving a mission is central to the faith.

"I haven't decided that. It will probably be at the end of the season," Olson said. "A lot of people have said if I don't play a lot this year, that it means I'm automatically going on a mission. That's not true.

"It's just something about when I feel right," he said.

The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast or redistributed without prior written authority of The Associated Press.