BYU Cougars - The Salt Lake Tribune

BYU football: Most position battles have been won, except at offensive line

Sun, 18 Aug 2013 16:30:02 MDT

Provo • Before almost every BYU football practice this month, a couple of offensive linemen have walked into new offensive line coach Garett Tujague’s office to find out who would run with the first team that day. “It is that unsettled,” Tujague said, when asked Friday if he’s ready to name a “starting five” along the offensive line. “Not even close [to naming starters]. We don’t want anybody feeling comfortable.” Even the only returning full-time starter, sophomore Ryker Mathews, has not been t...

BYU football: While defense adjusts, offense shows signs of steady progress

Sat, 17 Aug 2013 23:17:44 MDT

Provo • The storylines at BYU’s preseason football camp the past week revolved around the defense and how banged up the secondary is two weeks before the Cougars travel to Charlottesville to take on Virginia on Aug. 31 at Scott Stadium (1:30 p.m. MT, ESPNU). Meanwhile, new offensive coordinator Robert Anae’s up-tempo offense, which was pretty much the focus in Week 1 of camp, continues to roll along and improve, according to quarterback Taysom Hill, receivers Cody Hoffman and Ross Apo and receiv...

BYU football: Cody Hoffman could become top receiver in team history

Fri, 16 Aug 2013 23:05:11 MDT

Provo • Having grown up in the small Northern California town of Crescent City in one of the most remote corners of that state, BYU senior receiver Cody Hoffman says he will never get used to Utah’s crazy drivers, or seeing his likeness plastered on billboards throughout Provo and Utah County. “Surreal,” he said of the billboards. Also hard to believe, to many, is the fact that Hoffman has been able to not only survive for five years in Provo, but flourish. On the field, Hoffman ranks third on B...

BYU football: Cornerback situation sparks gallows humor from coach

Fri, 16 Aug 2013 18:16:29 MDT

Provo • The cornerback situation has gotten so bad at BYU that head coach Bronco Mendenhall told reporters with any eligibility left to “report with your cleats out on the field [at 3 p.m.] and we will see what you look like.” He was joking, of course, but the gallows humor from the normally stoic Mendenhall illustrates just how much injuries have taken their toll on the position’s depth. In Friday morning’s practice, during the 25-minute 11-on-11 team scrimmages that occurred after players remo...

BYU football: Other outside linebacker isn’t bad, either

Fri, 16 Aug 2013 13:34:28 MDT

Provo • Kyle Van Noy is deservedly receiving all kinds of preseason accolades and honors this summer after putting together one of the best junior seasons for a defender in BYU history in 2012. But there is another Cougar senior who also plays outside linebacker that deserves some attention as well, coach Bronco Mendenhall said. That would be Spencer Hadley, the mustachioed strongside linebacker from the tiny farming community of Connell, Wash. “Based on the NFL traffic coming in already, they l...

BYU basketball: Cougars announce 2013-14 nonconference schedule

Thu, 15 Aug 2013 18:04:03 MDT

Provo • Games against Oregon, Iowa State, Stanford, Texas and three in-state foes highlight BYU men’s basketball’s 2013-14 nonconference schedule, released Thursday by head coach Dave Rose. “This is a terrific nonconference schedule that will really help our team for league play,” Rose said. “It is a compliment to our program to be invited to play in the College Basketball Experience Tournament [in Kansas City]. We will face many tests and teams from coast to coast.” In all, the Cougars will pla...

BYU football: Terrance Alletto emerging at center on green offensive line

Thu, 15 Aug 2013 09:17:29 MDT

Provo • There are a lot of questions surrounding BYU’s offensive line, after coaches brought in eight newcomers — five junior college transfers and three freshmen — in the offseason. But as preseason camp reaches its midpoint, it has become fairly clear that redshirt sophomore Terrance Alletto will be the starting center. “That’s what the word on the street is, but we will see what happens come game time,” said Alletto, a 6-foot-3, 290-pound returned missionary from Parker, Colo. “Nothing is set...

BYU football: Mounting injuries force Cougars to make a position change

Wed, 14 Aug 2013 16:55:02 MDT

Provo • Coach Bronco Mendenhall lightened BYU’s practice Wednesday morning, focusing mainly on individual drills and keeping hitting to a minimum. The Cougars didn’t even conduct their usual 11-on-11 scrimmage to end the practice. A wave of injuries will do that to a coach. “Injuries, fatigue, just general reasons,” Mendenhall said. “I thought we started to lose some momentum in camp.” Certainly, the Cougars are losing players. The latest hit was freshman Dallin Leavitt, who was in a battle to b...

BYU football: Walk-on defensive back PoVey has persevered

Wed, 14 Aug 2013 11:10:36 MDT

Provo • Because he is a walk-on, BYU defensive back Skye PoVey probably should have given up college football the first time he tore the plantar fascia tissue in his foot last season. Or the second time, in January. Or the third time, in June. But PoVey has persevered through all three setbacks, and now the 5-foot-11, 200-pound junior from Ogden’s Ben Lomond High School and Snow College is on the verge of being a regular contributor on BYU’s defense. That’s especially true after junior cornerba...

BYU football: Cougars scrambling to replace injured cornerbacks

Mon, 12 Aug 2013 19:09:25 MDT

Provo • The cornerback situation for BYU this season has gone from scary to an outright nightmare for coach Bronco Mendenhall’s otherwise stellar-looking defense. During the Cougars’ first practice Monday, projected starting cornerback Jordan Johnson suffered a torn ACL in his knee while he was returning a kickoff. The injury happened when Johnson planted his foot wrong in the grass at the outdoor practice facility and was not from contact. An MRI revealed the tear and BYU football spokesperson ...

BYU football: Mendenhall touts Cougars’ athleticism

Mon, 12 Aug 2013 18:04:02 MDT

Provo • BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall learned a couple new things about his team after watching film over the weekend of Saturday’s open practice and event-ending scrimmage at LaVell Edwards Stadium. “I think our team is deeper and more athletic that what I had noticed [before],” Mendenhall said. “More players, playing faster. ... That’s what I have seen. We have enough running backs. We have enough receivers. I like our quarterbacks. The skill players, in particular [on offense], showed that to m...

BYU football: Starting corner Jordan Johnson lost for season

Mon, 12 Aug 2013 15:39:45 MDT

Provo • Brigham Young’s depleted secondary got more bad news on Monday. One of the players the Cougars could least afford to lose, projected starting cornerback Jordan Johnson, suffered a knee injury during practice Monday morning and has been lost for the season. BYU sports information direction Brett Pyne confirmed that Johnson underwent an MRI after practice and an ACL tear was revealed. The junior from Springfield, Mass., started in 12 of 13 games last season at the field corner position for...

BYU football: Cougars’ kicking competition is close

Sun, 11 Aug 2013 19:32:21 MDT

Provo • The 10,000 or so fans who attended BYU’s open practice Saturday didn’t get to see as much scrimmaging as most of them would have liked, but they did get to see the football go through the uprights quite a bit. And that made coach Bronco Mendenhall happy. If anyone was doubting that the Cougars are spending an inordinate amount of time trying to find a reliable kicker for the 2013 season, those doubts were erased at LaVell Edwards Stadium, as senior incumbent Justin Sorensen (5-for-6) and...

BYU football: Offense’s pace not pleasing Anae, but it is still early

Sat, 10 Aug 2013 22:54:10 MDT

Provo • Offensive coordinator Robert Anae returned time and time again to an analogy about running a marathon on Saturday as the BYU Cougars wrapped up their first full week of preseason camp with a short post-practice scrimmage in front of 10,000 or so fans at LaVell Edwards Stadium. Anae cautioned that the offense he has installed is still trying to get out of the starting gate and has a long, long way to go before it gets to where it needs to be. Apparently, “go fast, go hard” is more about t...

Cougars will conduct open scrimmage Saturday at Edwards Stadium

Fri, 09 Aug 2013 15:33:08 MDT

Provo • The last time BYU’s football team took part in a scrimmage at LaVell Edwards Stadium, new offensive coordinator Robert Anae’s offense concluded spring camp with a favorable showing against a defense that was missing many of its key parts. The Cougars will hold their first scrimmage of fall camp on Saturday (10 a.m., free admission) at LES, and it should be a more fair fight, although coach Bronco Mendenhall won’t say publicly how many projected starters will participate. “I think we will...

Kragthorpe: Bronco fumbles, recovers in BYU jersey issue

Fri, 09 Aug 2013 09:50:39 MDT

Texas Christian’s 40-point rout of Utah in a meeting of unbeaten teams once turned the specially chosen words on the back of the Utes’ jerseys into material for mockery. BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall made a mess of similar strategy and deservedly became a target for derision, even before his team took the field. Mendenhall broke the No. 1 rule of uniform alterations in college athletics: Let the players decide about such things, or at least make them believe it was their own idea. So Mendenhall re...

BYU football: Coach changes mind on Cougars’ jerseys

Fri, 09 Aug 2013 07:48:19 MDT

Provo • BYU football coach Bronco Mendenhall has at times been criticized as an inflexible and stubborn leader who doesn’t listen to the concerns of his players as much as he should, but on Thursday night he changed his mind on an issue that had Cougar fans and players alike yelping in disgust. Five or so hours after saying the core values of his football program — Spirit, Tradition and Honor — would adorn the backs of BYU’s jerseys during every game this season, rather than players’ last names ...

BYU football: Van Noy all about getting better, helping team in his surprising return

Thu, 08 Aug 2013 20:05:42 MDT

Provo • Not long after his somewhat surprising announcement last December that he was turning down probable millions in the NFL and returning to BYU’s football team for his senior year, the thought hit Kyle Van Noy like an uppercut to the chin. “It wasn’t, ‘How do I stay healthy and not blow it all?,’ ” Van Noy said. “It was, ‘How do I get better and help my team more?’ ” So Van Noy turned to boxing and mixed martial arts, naturally. He said he spent time this past offseason at a local gym, lear...

BYU football: Prep LB Tyler Cook picks BYU over Boise State, Arizona, others

Thu, 08 Aug 2013 13:29:02 MDT

Provo • Brigham Young football coaches don’t have a lot of scholarships left to hand out to members of the class of 2014, but on Thursday they were happy to dole out one of their few remaining spots. That’s because they landed one of the top linebackers in California. Tyler Cook, a 6-foot-3, 220-pound linebacker from Vista Murrieta High School in Murrieta, Calif., committed to BYU, lifting the total number of BYU commits for 2014 to 11. Cook had decided on BYU for quite some time, but waited unt...

BYU football: Search is on for Ziggy’s replacement along defensive line

Wed, 07 Aug 2013 23:06:18 MDT

Provo • It’s crazy, but true. Last year at this time, BYU football coach Bronco Mendenhall and defensive line coach Steve Kaufusi found themselves answering questions about whether athletic dynamo Ezekiel “Ziggy” Ansah had progressed enough to earn more repetitions in preseason camp practices, maybe see the field once or twice when games began. Now, everybody wants to know how the Cougars are going to replace Ansah, taken No. 5 overall in April’s NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions and slated to star...