The Cougars were back at work after an unscheduled day off on Thursday, returning to the Indoor Practice Facility for a 90-minute session in helmets only--a practice that head coach Bronco Mendenhall called "great...really sharp. The intensity is almost unmanageable right now, which is great."

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Mendenhall says yesterday's trip to Provo Beach Resort had "a lot" to do with the energy and execution levels on display at this morning's practice.

PROVO -- It doesn't happen every year, but it happens enough for us to kind of expect it by now: an unscheduled day off for the Cougars at camp.

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Bronco Mendenhall gave his team a break and replaced practice #13 with a team activity Thursday morning.

It was practice number 12 on Day number 10 of camp for the BYU Cougars Wednesday morning in Provo. "I don't think (the offense) responded that well today," said head coach Bronco Mendenhall. "Defensively, they had a good day."

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You can hear all of Mendenhall's post-practice comments and an interview with RB Bryan Kariya by going to the "Cougar Cuts" area to the right.

The BYU Cougars ran through their 11th practice of camp on Tuesday morning, with head coach Bronco Mendenhall calling the offense v. defense segments of practice "inconsistent and sloppy."

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You can hear Mendenhall's post-practice assessment, in addition to shorter interviews with Offensive Coordinator Brandon Doman, CB Corby Eason and NT Romney Fuga, by going to their audio links in "Cougar Cuts" to the right.

On a day that gave the Cougars their first cloud cover of camp, a few depth chart positions began to clear up as BYU ran through its ninth practice of the month.

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You can hear head coach Bronco Mendenhall's post-practice assessment by going to his interview in "Cougar Cuts" to the right.

The first scrimmage of Cougar camp got off to a terrible start on Saturday, as a player projected to contribute "heavily" to the BYU offense was lost for the season.

Fullback Iona Pritchard suffered a dislocated ankle and fractured fibula on the very first play--a kickoff return in which get tangled up in the pile after having run down on the coverage team. "Really difficult," said head coach Bronco Mendenhall after the scrimmage. "It's the worst part of coaching, seeing that."

Mendenhall was clearly emotional as he discussed having consoled Pritchard while the sophomore return missionary was receiving medical attention. "He was apologizing for being hurt...amazing."

Following a morning practice in shoulder pats and helmets, the Cougars took the field in helmets only Friday afternoon, as appreciative fans again crowded the sidelines for a good look at the team on its first day of two-a-days.

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The roughly 75-minute session ended with three 11-on-11 "team" series in two-minute drill situations, with varying time amounts left on the clock.

Saying "it was nice to play in front of people," BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall guided his team through its first open practice of camp Friday morning--a session that drew 1,257 fans to the outdoor practice field complex.

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You can hear the entirety of Mendenhall's post-practice media session by going to "Cougar Cuts" to the right.

On the first day in full pads, the Cougars went through a two-hour morning workout on Thursday--a session that included the first interception thrown by QB Jake Heaps in camp.

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Heaps had been close to perfect through four days of camp, going 21/25 (one incompletion each day) for 337 yards and throwing four touchdowns. Thursday, Heaps went 1/3 in the "team" portion of practice, for nine yards, while Daniel Sorensen recorded the pick on a ball that Heaps floated for an open McKay Jacobson.

We've hit the midway point of the first full week of BYU Football camp, and on Wednesday the offense "came to life," according to head coach Bronco Mendenhall.

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The coach said the offense was moving "not only on the ground, but throwing the ball, which was a nice kind of complement."

Saying it was "just a change of routine more than anything," head coach Bronco Mendenhall brought his guys out of the heat and into the Indoor Practice Facility for day three of camp on Tuesday.

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"I like to kind of keep the team guessing as to what practice will be like and and what conditions we'll do it in," said Mendenhall. "Camp is long and the more that I can keep them guessing and and break the routine and break monotony, I like doing it that way."

Multiple defensive personnel combinations highlighted BYU's second day of camp Monday--a session shorter than Saturday's 3 1/2 hour-plus marathon. On another blazing hot wind-less afternoon in Provo, the Cougars went about 2 1/2 hours in their last practice before the pads go on Tuesday morning.

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You can hear post-practice interviews with head coach Bronco Mendenhall and OLB coach Kelly Poppinga by going to their respective links in the "Cougar Cuts" box to the right. You can also hear post-practice comments from OLB Kyle Van Noy, C Terence Brown and RB Bryan Kariya.

With temperatures expected in the mid-90s all week, the BYU Football team starts its first full week of practice today with a single afternoon session.

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Today will be the second and last day of newcomer acclimation, with the rookies starting and ending practice a half hour ahead of the veterans. Today will also be the final day of helmets-only practice; the shoulder pads go on tomorrow, and after two days in "shells," full pads are allowed for the first time on Thursday.

On a hot, cloudless afternoon in Provo, the 2011 BYU Cougars held their first practice of fall camp Saturday, and made it count--from when the newcomers took the field to when practice wrapped up took well over three hours.

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The newcomer acclimation period was followed by a 30 minute special teams period, after which the participants were allowed to rest and re-charge for the full-squad session that formally began closer to 4:45pm. After the solid two- hour session, Head Coach Bronco Mendenhall said "from structure, format and retention, that part looked good. From execution, precision and effort, that part has a ways to go."

For 105 players, the 2011 BYU Football season begins today.

Reporting day for the Cougars is a day for the newcomers to hear from their head coach, for orientations, paperwork, physicals, and the first team meeting.

Tomorrow, the players will pull on their white "Oval Y" helmets and hit the practice field. Four weeks from tomorrow, those players will come out of the tunnel at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, MS.

In the days leading up to camp in each of the last couple of seasons, I have compiled a list of ten questions to be answered or ten issues of interest during the ensuing three weeks of workouts.

In looking back at last season's pre-camp checklist, I found that many of the same things I mentioned in the summer of 2010 will be items of note again in 2011. Let's take a look at some of last year's "Ten Things I Am Interested To See In Camp" (besides the Heaps/Nelson QB battle, which grabbed all the headlines), and see how the same questions might be posed this summer.

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In two days, the football players who will comprise BYU's 105-man fall camp roster report for duty.

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After a Friday full of meetings, physicals and orientation, the team traditionally begins Saturday's Day One of camp with an early morning run to the "Y" serving as the team's annual conditioning test, before holding the initial practice that afternoon.

My freshman year as a BYU student was the Cougar football team's national championship year of 1984. I found out very quickly what it meant to be a Cougar fan; now a new book gives us insight about "What It Means to Be a Cougar."

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BYU Associate AD for Communications Duff Tittle has compiled an entertaining and inspiring chronicle featuring contributions from dozens of BYU Football coaches, players and others who have been close to the program, from its earliest days to the current decade.

Coming off a 32-5 dream season in 2010-11, BYU head basketball coach Dave Rose assembled his 2011-12 team for the first time Monday--the first day of practice ahead of the squad's preseason trip to Greece.

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Taking the newly-designed floor at the Marriott Center, 13 players ran through a workout that lasted a little under two hours. Rose met with the team as a group before the session to set expectations and get the newcomers familiarized with drills, etc.

BYU Basketball coaches will be arriving back in town on the weekend, capping a busy month of July in which recruiting takes center stage. Monday, the coaches will get their first official look at the 2011-12 roster as the team prepares for its mid-August trip to Greece.

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Out of state, the Cougars' number one target remains Chicago prep sensation Jabari Parker, a member of the Class of 2013. BYU is is seen by most recruiting experts as a long shot to acquire Parker's services, but Parker himself says BYU is very much in the mix. Considering his current five-star status and the fact he has two years left of high school, Parker is shaping up as perhaps the best LDS basketball prospect ever. Jimmer Fredette is arguably BYU's best ever player as a collegian, but as a prospect, he was reatively little-known. Parker is already a national force.