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PROVO — Coming off a disappointing 4-9 season and looking ahead to a difficult schedule that includes road trips to such teams as Arizona, Washington, Wisconsin and Utah, BYU coach Kalani Sitake has gotten a little uncomfortable in the offseason.
And he's passed that discomfort on to many of the players, who have been forced outside of their comfort zone under new offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes and an almost entirely new offensive coaching staff, including quarterbacks coach Aaron Roderick, wide receivers coach Fesi Sitake and offensive line coach Ryan Pugh.
"I've been really impressed with the expectations they have with each individual they coach," Kalani Sitake said during BYU football media day. "They've raised the bar for each young man — both on the field, as well as in school and in the people they are."
The first uncomfortable task for the new offensive staff will be simple: selecting a new starting quarterback for the 2018 season.
The list of candidates appears to be down to five — senior Tanner Mangum, junior Beau Hoge, sophomore Joe Critchlow and true freshmen Zach Wilson and Jaren Hall, who recently returned from a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Grimes has never had a four- or five-man quarterback competition in his varying stops as an offensive line coach at BYU, Virginia Tech, Auburn or most recently Louisiana State.
But the man called "Grimey" by his friends is certain the group contains his preferred quarterback for winning games and improving on last year’s dismal 4-9 finish to improve on the Cougars' current reputation.
"I have absolute confidence that we will have a guy — if not two or three — that we can win with," Grimes said. "Will it be different early in camp? Yeah, but I’ve been in positions where we’ve had 3-4 guys competing for a running back job or left tackle or center, and I don’t see it any different.
"There's a lot of pressure on the guy playing center or x-receiver; they all have demands on them, so I’m not going to treat (the quarterback) different than any other position."
Regarding the quarterbacks, Grimes — in consultation with Roderick — hopes to have the quarterback competition trimmed to 2-3 players by the end of the first week of fall camp, and a starter determined by the end of the second week. It’s a timeline he can adjust at a moment’s notice, but that appears to be the ideal decision time as the Cougars prepare for the Sept. 1 opener at Arizona.
The players are trying to improve on last season, too, which has meant a little discomfort through spring practices and summer conditioning.
It's more than the pain of wind sprints or hitting a shoulder on a tackle drill.
It’s self introspection. It’s recognition and reinforcement of the right habits, Grimes said.
It's personal, defensive back Troy Warner added.
"We take it personal. We don’t want to be known as a group of guys who aren’t good," Warner said. "We want to be known as guys that are ballplayers, that know what they are doing, that go out and compete, that go out and play hard and keep it going."
It’s also about accountability, defensive end Corbin Kaufusi said.
"We can’t point blame anywhere, and it’s been a huge thing for us to figure out that (last season) has been on all of us," Kaufusi said.
"A lot of guys last year avoided that; we wanted to find scapegoats, and no one wanted to step up and say 'there’s something wrong with me.'"
Instead of pointing fingers and looking for blame, a lot of finger-pointing has been directed around — at themselves.
That started with the senior class, many of whom started a group chat thread the day after the Cougars' 2017 season with goals of figuring out how to fix their disappointment.
Many of them took quick accountability for their struggles.
"I struggled. It was a bad year," said senior linebacker Butch Pau’u, who finished third on the team with 74 tackles, including 37 solos tops. "I put on too much weight in the offseason. My goal was to get bigger, but it wasn’t a healthy weight that I gained. I struggled with mobility, and with everything — then with injuries, I struggled more."
Pau’u is back down to a 225-pound playing weight, nearly 15 pounds shy of where he was in 2017.
Another player who has shed the excess is quarterback Tanner Mangum, who dropped nearly 20 pounds as he prepares to battle for the Cougars’ starting quarterback job in his senior year — and after surgery to repair a season-ending Achilles’ tendon tear at the end of 2017.
He even returned to spring camp shortly after surgery, though he was limited to 7-on-7 drills and non-contact work.
And he’s been motivated to get back every day as he has reflected on the disappointment of his junior year.
"We know what it’s going to take: it’s going to take a lot of hard work and determination," Mangum said. "But that's part of the beauty of the journey — that’s what makes it worth it.
"I think it's easy when you are winning or you are successful. But after a bad year, what are you going to do? I would definitely say (last year) has been character building."
The statement sounds eerily familiar to his head coach, who said the same thing about the humbled attitude of many of his players through the spring.
"It's easy to show humility when you are winning," Sitake said. "But it’s really difficult to show humility when you lost. The only way to get back from it is to go to work.
"Sitting and reflecting on the past is good to learn, but you can’t live in it. We’re turning the page and getting to the next step. The next season can’t get here any faster for me."
