BYU defense focusing on changing culture and 'buying in'


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PROVO — As spring practices wind down for BYU, defensive players and coaches hope that the progression and identity developed throughout the spring carries over into summer workouts and eventually into fall camp.

BYU, known for it’s stalwart defense under head coach Bronco Mendenhall, experienced some defensive lapses last year that led to an increase in big plays by opponents, particularly in the secondary. In order to fix last year’s mistakes, the defense has focused this spring on creating a culture where every player “buys in.”

Junior defensive back Chris Badger talked about a lack of unity between the secondary players last season. Besides the injuries and other issues the defensive backs faced, Badger believes that lapses in cohesion and effort were the main cause for the decrease in the level of play.

“Honestly, I think it was more of not buying in and not being 100 percent focused on what you need to do every play,” Badger said on Monday morning after practice. “As defensive backs, we control the points. There was so many times last year when a defensive back was being lazy, wasn’t focused on his assignment, and tried to make a play for someone else. When that happens, that’s how we lose games.”

Badger discussed how the secondary is using this spring to fix last year’s issues and make sure every player has bought into the BYU system.

“This spring has been about learning the defense, buying into the culture, and building on those fundamentals in order to become that dominant defense that we are looking for,” Badger said.

For BYU to improve on last year’s 8-5 record, and get victories against talented teams such as Nebraska and Michigan this coming season, the secondary will need to lower the number of big-yardage plays allowed.

“Coach Mendenhall has made clear that as defensive backs, we control the game,” Badger said. “When a defensive lineman makes a mistake, maybe the (opponent) gets a five-yard gain . . . if a defensive back makes a mistake, they score a touchdown and everyone sees it. As defensive backs, he’s really hit home that we control the points. So we can’t give up those easy touchdowns. It just can’t happen.”

Mendenhall, who is once again making defensive play calls on gameday, believes the secondary still has some steps to take to fix the cultural and execution issues from last year.

“Defensively, the secondary still has to come along and be improved,” Mendenhall said. “Execution took a step forward, but I would still say quite a bit of work to go in terms of what I would like to see . . . in terms of culture, effort and performance. But showing some signs.”

When asked what the secondary needed to accomplish to reach the next level, Mendenhall responded with three main criteria: mental effort, fundamentals, and execution.

“Trying hard isn’t only physically, it’s a lot of pressure in our secondary for those guys to identify, recognize, and make adjustments, so they have to do that,” Mendenhall said. “Then their fundamentals have to hold. Neither one of those are at the level that I would like. Then the execution comes after that. It’s just going to take time. They are working hard enough, it’s just going to take a little more time than what we thought.

On the other side of the ball, the offense saw the development of multiple players during spring ball, such as running backs Algie Brown and Nate Carter. BYU hopes to capitalize on the development of the running backs to increase the efficiency of last year’s fast-paced offense.

Running backs coach Mark Atuaia expressed his pleasure with the performance of the running backs throughout spring ball.

“They have been doing a really good job for the limited amount of folks that we have,” Atuaia said. “With Algie and Nate, they have been doing really good. We have put a lot on them and they have responded. I’m happy with their progression.”

With star running back Jamal Williams still recovering from knee surgery, Brown and Carter have seen increased roles within the offense. Mendenhall is pleased with their contributions this spring, and predicts a strong core of running backs going into the fall.

“The running backs will be strong and deep,” Mendenhall said. “Over the spring, Algie Brown is obviously the main point to talk about. He’s a really good player . . . big, fast, and strong. Adam Hine has been out, but when you add Hine and Jamal back to that group, I really like it.”

Spring practices concludes on Friday, April 3.

******NOTES******:

-- Justin Anderson has been hired as BYU’s player personnel director. Anderson is a former graduate assistant and player at BYU.

-- Sophomore defensive back Jordan Preator has not participated in spring practices for academic reasons.

-- Junior linebacker Sae Tautu, who injured his knee during BYU’s spring scrimmage on Friday, had an MRI on his knee Monday morning. Early diagnosis is a sprained knee.

-- Senior quarterback Taysom Hill was excused from practice Monday due to an illness. Trevor Woller is a public realtions student at Brigham Young University and sports enthusiast.

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