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Under the direction of a revamped coaching staff, the BYU football team ran through its first spring practice on Monday at the Indoor Practice Facility.
The almost two-hour session was run at a brisk tempo, with head coach Bronco Mendenhall saying for an opening day, "I think it is probably the hardest our collective team has worked since I've been the head coach."
Offensive Coordinator Robert Anae was also pleased with his players' effort on the first day of learning a new scheme with an entirely new collection of offensive coaches.
"First day, I'm glad the guys are running hard. They worked hard today. There's a lot of guys running into each other;, but that's expected. New offense, fast tempo. I'm very proud that they went hard today. They went fast, they went hard. I think when we look at film, we're not going to find many corrections without guys going hard, going fast."
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Anae wasted no time in assimilation, bringing out the headsets and even incorporating jumbo-sized signal cards on the sidelines. This practice has been gaining traction with a number of programs nationally, but is new for BYU. Anae said the system was not used at Arizona (his most recent coaching stop), but that the cards are just another way to get the play in.
"Cards, signals...whether you signal 'em or show 'em, it's a language," said Anae on Monday, "and in an up-tempo offense, you've got to have language, so that's what we're doing--we're communicating."
Asked if the cards would remain a feature moving forward, Anae said "Sure, tell the opponents we're going to use cards."
"I'll bet our communication is pretty complex, so whether we have cards or not, the idea is to communicate...fast."
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The offense ran with Taysom Hill quarterbacking the ones; Jason Munns ran with the twos, and Ammon Olsen led the third team. Freshmen Tanner Mangum and Billy Green, and junior walk-on Christian Stewart also got reps.
Mendenhall said the QB reps "would start with Taysom Hill, just because of some experience from a year ago, but that's really not enough to say then 'he's the heir apparent,' or he's the established quarterback. If you had to say 'is there a pecking order?' it would start there first, but that's not a huge lead over anybody else."
Mendenhall said he was impressed by Hill's effort on opening day, saying of the workload that "I didn't know how much he would go... but he handled it pretty well."
"It might lead us to be in no-pads more," said Mendenhall, "just for the sake of developing a quarterback. It might be slightly at the expense of the rest of the team, but that's an important position."
"If it would allow me to get two or three more practices out of looking at our quarterbacks--especially Taysom--in non-pads then it probably would trend that way."
Anae said Hill, who is coming off season-ending knee surgery last season, is "on restriction, but, boy, they didn't restrict him too much today...he ran around, did some good things, made some good reads."
As to the naming of a starting quarterback, Anae said "that's way down the line right now...right now, we're assessing all positions. We're coming into a year without a bona fide (QB) starter returning, so it's open; all positions are open--they're all up for competition."
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You can hear post-practice media sessions with Mendenhall, Anae, QB coach Jason Beck and a variety of BYU players, in "Cougar Cuts," above left.
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A number of key players are currently limited or being held out of spring practices due to injury concerns and/or offseason surgeries, among them receivers Cody Hoffman and JD Falslev, and offensive linemen Ryker Mathews and Brock Stringham. Additionally, defensive players Craig Bills and Spencer Hadley were present but not practicing today.
Juco transfer DB Trent Trammell was a day one casualty, injuring his left knee. BYU staffers said imaging would be needed to determine the severity of the injury, but Trammell was clearly upset after going down.
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With Bronson Kaufusi on the basketball team, former tight end Austin Holt was running with the ones at left defensive end today. Marques Johnson (nose tackle) and Remington Peck (right end) made up the rest of the first-string defensive line. Asked if he envisions anything in particular for Holt after bringing him over from the other side of the ball, Mendenhall said it is "really hard to say, after the first day. Work ethic-wise, I really like him, and he's tough. Right now, we're just trying to get him in a stance and teach him where to go, but he sure works hard."
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About his team's offensive line, which was an area of weakness on last year's squad, Mendenhall said "We're lucky; we have about three deep (during spring), but not many are scholarship players."
"We have at least three starters out to injury, and we have six junior college players coming, so there's up to nine players who will be in the two-deep, that aren't here. It's nice to be able to practice, though."
On day one, the first-string offensive line was made up of Brad Wilcox (LT), Solomone Kafu (LG), Manaaki Vaitai (C), Kyle Johnson (RG) and Michael Yeck (RT).
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Safety Mike Hague is back after getting a medical hardship waiver; he was in the first-string secondary alongside Daniel Sorensen, with Jordan Johnson (field) and Adam Hogan (boundary) at the corners. Linebackers Kyle Van Noy (weakside) and Alani Fua (strongside) took their spots outside, with Uani Unga (middle) and Manoa Pikula (Buck) inside.
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Onetime wide receiver Jordan Smith is now listed as a DB.
Transfer safeties Mike Wadsworth (Hawaii) and Drew Reilly (Colorado State) are coming off of redshirt seasons and are in the secondary mix.
RB Michael Alisa was getting primary reps along with fellow back Jamaal Williams. Other main RBs today were Adam Hine, Paul Lasike and Iona Pritchard. AJ Moore is back from a mission and took some backfield snaps, along with walk-on Nate Carter.
Lasike, by the way, is now on a football scholarship, although he intends to continue playing rugby.
Monday's practice concluded with a conditioning gauntlet. Mendenhall said the team worked hard enough that the drill "is probably going to go away, from what I've seen in practice."
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Asked about an anticipated contract extension, Mendenhall said "I've made it really clear that I would like to stay, and that's big news in and of itself, because I didn't expect to be here that long, but I feel compelled--that there's more to do."
"All I've done is express my interest to the administration...the time frame and the details will come from the administration."
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