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PROVO -- A snowy day in Provo marked the "spring" blue and white game for the BYU Cougars football team. What was primarily a defensive battle ended in an 18-17 overtime thriller in favor of the white team.
"It felt good just to watch our team play. Just enjoy kids having fun. Competing and playing a game they like," said head coach Bronco Mendenhall.
Cougar Tracks:
White-Out
Snow fell before game, and late in the game, but 5,500 BYU Football fans were treated to an enjoyable 2011 Blue/White spring game.Perhaps the biggest difference with this year's team than what we've seen in recent years past is depth.
"It's the strongest we've been in six years as far as depth and talent," said new offensive coordinator Brandon Doman. "I think right now, coming out of spring [we're] pretty happy with where we're at."
The battle between quarterbacks Jake Heaps and Riley Nelson goes on. Heaps completed 76 percent of his passes (16/21) for 126 yards, and Nelson completed 72 percent of his passes (8/11) for 149 yards and a touchdown.
Offensively, besides the 73-yard touchdown pass from Nelson to wide receiver Rhen Brown, the ball was spread out very well. The running backs (JJ Di Luigi, and Brian Kariya) combined for five receptions for 33 yards. The wide receivers (Brown, McKay Jacobson, Ross Apo, and J.D. Falslev) combined for nine receptions for 147 yards. The tight ends (Austin Holt and Bryan Sampson) combined for five receptions and 51 yards.
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"This particular team I think is anxious to go faster, harder, and more in this next time period than other teams have," said Mendenhall. "This team is anxious to lead, and anxious to keep going."
There was a lot of anticipation and questions on how running back Drew Phillips would do, but the freshman redshirt never really reached expectations with just eight yards on five carries.
"With the field how it was, it's pretty hard to cut and plant and stuff," said Phillips. "I feel I did my job. There were a couple plays where I maybe could have been a little more patient with the cut backs."
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Defensively we saw a great overall outing. Junior linebacker Austin Jorgensen and sophomore defensive back Daniel Sorensen both had two pass breakups, and combined for eight tackles.
Mike Hague, who moved from running back to safety this year, laid a big hit on Nelson that could have been considered a "helmet to helmet" penalty. Later on, Nelson went on to score the game tying touchdown in overtime that eventually led to the winning two-point conversion.
"You got to come up and hit Riley, or he'll hurt you. [He] ended up hurting us later on," said Hague.
Excitement will not be an issue with this team. Emotion and competition appear to come second nature.
"This is a new group, I don't know that they need much motivation from anything last year," said Doman. "They're a pretty highly motivated group right now."
Email: onlinesports@ksl.com
