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PROVO -- It was a busy day in Cougartown Monday, as BYU head football coach Bronco Mendenhall kicked off his spring football camp. For the first time in three years, the coach is looking for a starting quarterback.
Junior Riley Nelson, sophomore James Lark and true freshman Jake Heaps are trying to get that quarterback position.
"You worry about what you can do," Nelson says. "You can't worry about what the other guys are doing, or what anyone says, or what anyone else thinks. You've gotta control what you can do and concentrate on how you can get better, and that's the best way to approach it, I think."
"I'm going out there and giving it my best shot," Lark says. "I mean, I think all three of us are competitors, we all three have the same idea. We want it, but we're also good friends. It's a fun competition."
And this competition could go into the fall.
"When you add Jason Munns coming back from his mission this summer, that is four," Mendenhall says. "There's only so many reps, so how efficient we can be to give fair looks to each and every one, in real situations to determine who's the leader of the team, it's gonna be quite a challenge."
"As talented as these guys are, and as hungry as they are, it's kind of a fun time," says BYU quarterback coach Brandon Doman.
The quarterback position is not the only one in question. In fact, Coach Mendenhall has to replace 10 other starters before the team opens its season on Sept. 4 against Washington.
We won't hear from the highly-recruited quarterback Jake Heaps until late August. BYU's policy keeps freshman away from the media until the first game.
E-mail: kaiken@ksl.com
