Game week arrives for BYU

After what he called a "great" Monday morning practice, BYU head football coach Bronco Mendenhall looked ahead to his team's Friday night season-opener at Connecticut, noting that "it's always difficult to tell exactly where you are going into the opener."

Reflecting on last season's 19-16 loss at Virginia to start the season, Mendenhall said "I was shocked that we didn't score a bunch of points in our opener last year, based on how our offense had moved it against our defense."

"I'm more cautious," said Medenhall on Monday, "and maybe less accepting of exactly what I see and then trying to predict what that will really look like."

"In the opener, there is always uncertainty, and I think that's the takeaway. I didn't think there was much (uncertainty) a year ago, and there ended up being a lot."

BYU is 6-3 in season openers under Mendenhall; last year's loss at Virginia snapped a six-game season-opening win streak.

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Monday saw the release of BYU's game notes, including a depth chart (see below).

While the chart is official, it may not be permanent, relative to the starting lineups BYU will put on the field Friday in East Hartford.

"As of today, that's the depth chart," Mendenhall said after practice. "We'll see how it ends up by the time we play."

BYU DEPTH CHART - CONNECTICUT - FRIDAY, AUG. 25

QB: Taysom Hill/Christian Stewart

RB: Adam Hine/Algernon Brown

HB: Paul Lasike/Algernon Brown

WR: Mitch Mathews/Kurt Henderson

WR: Jordan Leslie/Ross Apo OR Keanu Nelson

SLOT: Terenn Houk/Colby Pearson

TE: Devin Mahina/Bryan Sampson

LT: Ului Lapuaho/Brad Wilcox

LG: Kyle Johnson OR Edward Fusi

C: Terrance Alletto OR Tejan Koroma

RG: Brayden Kearsley OR Tuni Kanuch

RT: DeOndre Wesley OR Brock Stringham

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LE:Graham Rowley/Tomasi Laulile

NT: Travis Tuiloma/Logan Taele

RE: Remington Peck/Tanner Balderree

SLB: Alani Fua/Fred Warner

MLB: Zac Stout/Harvey Langi OR Austin Heder

BLB: Manoa Pikula/Jheremmya Leuta-Douyere

WLB: Bronson Kaufusi/Michael Alisa OR Troy Hinds

FC: Jordan Johnson/Michael Davis

BC: Rob Daniel/Jordan Preator

Kat: Dallin Leavitt/Kai Nacua

Free: Craig Bills/Skye PoVey

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PK: Trevor Samson

P: Scott Arellano

LS: Kevin O'Mary

H: Scott Arellano

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PR: Jordan Leslie OR Keanu Nelson

KR: Adam Hine and Paul Lasike

--

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With regards to the offensive line, Mendenhall referenced the number of either/or assignments, and said that "I'd love one or two or three to of those 'ORs' to come off by Friday, if possible. Hopefully I can get (ten offensive linemen) down to about eight, once a couple of those 'ORs' go off. I don't think we need ten; I hope we don't."

"I'd be leery of the two-deep, and say 'that's Monday's depth chart.' I'm not promising that's going to be Friday night's depth chart."

Mendenhall did acknowledge that true freshman Tejan Koroma "probably will be" BYU's starting center on Friday night.

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About the Huskies, who opened last season 0-9 before winning their last three games of the 2013 campaign, Mendenhall said "it's hard to say" what to expect from them on Friday.

"They finished on a strong note," said Mendenhall. "(They have a) brand new (coaching) staff on both sides of the ball. What that will look like, in terms of chemistry, in terms of effort, in terms of what they do with personnel, even with schemes, it's hard to know."

"That makes me more reserved also, in terms of predicting the opener. They're certainly capable; I've seen their personnel. I think the focus has to go more back to us, because we can control that. I'm not quite sure what we'll see from them."

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BYU will hold two more in-state practices before leaving for Connecticut on Wednesday--an extra day earlier than for previous Mendenhall-led trips to the Eastern time zone.

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You can hear post-practice interviews with Mendenhall, WR Ross Apo and RB Adam Hine, in "Cougar Cuts," top left.

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